For the second straight season, it looks like big changes are coming to the Tennessee Titans wide receiver room.
Last year the Tennessee Titans lost starting receiver Corey Davis and rotational player/occasional deep threat Kalif Raymond. This year the Titans are moving on from Julio Jones and they have already moved on from Josh Reynolds.
So, instead of being in a position where they are looking to replace one of their top three receivers, now the Titans have to figure out how to find a new starter on the boundary and in the slot. Luckily, it is a deep draft for wide receivers and it is a pretty nice free agency class as well.
It has been a slow, painful market for the Tennessee Titans to watch, but after signing Harold Landry they seemed destined for a slow first week or so. However, we are now getting to the point where the Titans must feel like they need to add a player or two.
Since the market changes quickly in free agency (Allen Robinson was actually signed while writing this), here is a quick list of which free agent targets they could be looking at in the next 36 hours.
Tennessee Titans free agent targets
1. Juju Smith-Schuster
Allen Robinson gets a lot of publicity, but signing Juju would be the perfect move for this team. Throw out your concerns about his TikTok or whatever, and look at the player. JJSS is one of the best slot receivers in the NFL and when he was allowed to play inside with Antonio Brown on the outside, he thrived.
The Titans could use a first-round pick on a boundary receiver and then slowly allow that boundary receiver to transition to the NFL by letting him slowly ramp up his reps. Then, when the rookie is good enough you can move JJSS into the slot full time.
2. A.J. Green
Before you write off A.J. Green as another Julio Jones, the big difference is that Green has played in 32 out of 33 games over the last two years and he was incredibly effective for the Arizona Cardinals as the WR2 beside Nuk Hopkins. In Tennessee, he could fill that same role and all the Titans would ask is that he stay healthy. (Save the blocking for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine)
3. Emmanuel Sanders
Like JJSS, I think the obvious move here would be to use Sanders as a boundary receiver until you can kick him inside into the slot. Sanders always seems to outperform expectations wherever he goes and he seems like the sort of veteran addition Vrabel would love.
4. Cole Beasley
Personality aside, ff the Titans add any of the boundary options above, then Beasley would become pretty valuable. As a slot receiver, there are a lot of similarities between him and Adam Humphries and if you can get a slightly better version of Humphries it would help this offense move the chains.
5. Marquez Valdez Scantling
The Titans drafted a height/weight/speed guy last season in Racey McMath and MVS is the best-case version of that. So, if the Titans want to bring in a starting-caliber WR2/3 then MVS is a great option for that even though he probably is best as an elite WR3.
6. T.Y. Hilton
At this point in his career, Hilton is a rotational starter that is best as the WR3. Still, over the last two years, he has converted first downs at an incredible rate (72.2%) and this is the part of the list where you start to look more for guys who might be able to help you for a year instead of big impact players.
7. Will Fuller
If he is healthy he could be a star, but he has never been healthy so…
8. Sammy Watkins
Please don’t let it come to this, but if it does then you have to hope that hitting on a rookie makes him a very good WR3.