Tennessee Titans free agent targets
The world looks monumentally different for Tennessee Titans fans than it did a week ago.
Jon Robinson had to make the best out of a bad situation when A.J. Brown demanded a trade to play with his best friend, but waiting wouldn’t have helped anyone.
There is a real chance that if Robinson doesn’t trade Brown on the night of the draft, A.J. Brown forces a trade later and the Titans don’t get a chance to add A.J. Brown 2.0 on the night of the draft.
Luckily, the deal worked out so that Tennessee’s offense will get virtually the same thing out of Treylon Burks and it gave them the flexibility to trade out of the first round.
After wheeling and dealing the Titans ended up with a really good crop of rookies including top-100 picks at 4 of the 5 premium positions (QB, OT, CB, WR, but not EDGE).
Every team in the NFL would be better with A.J. Brown on their roster, so trading him away hurts the team in that regard. However, it does create an interesting opportunity for the Titans now.
Instead of worrying about trying to pay him record-breaking guaranteed money, Tennessee can evaluate the third wave of free agency to see if there is anyone that they can spend some of that money on. Not someone to replace Brown, but free agents who could improve the roster.
Several names stand out, but here are three of my favorite options.
Why not Odell Beckham Jr.?
It looked like Beckham was going to be a lock to go back to Los Angeles this year and play with the Rams.
Then they signed Allen Robinson to a deal. Now that doesn’t mean anything because the Rams collect pieces and they could try to make a deal work for Beckham. At least that is what everyone thought until they gave away Odell Beckham’s number to Cam Akers.
Does that mean that he is gone for sure? Obviously not, but it doesn’t exactly scream “we want you back” either.
On paper, Odell Beckham is everything that the Titans need. He is a dynamic player who is an instant mismatch on the outside and he needs a one-year home to show that he is fully recovered from his ACL injury.
The problem is, that Beckham’s ACL injury happened in the Super Bowl. Robert Woods tore his ACL 14 weeks earlier and there are still some questions on whether or not he will be at 100% to start the season.
Even though it would be a great addition to the playoff run, it doesn’t solve any of the Tennessee Titans’ problems for the first three months of the season.
1. Will Fuller, WR
There is a reason why Will Fuller isn’t on a team right now. After back-to-back seasons in Houston where he missed five games, he only played in two games in Miami before missing the season.
His injury history means that his unavailability isn’t a matter of if, it is a matter of when. That is teams didn’t want to commit anything to him before the draft.
However, when he is on the field he can be a scheme-breaking deep threat that easily stretches the field vertically. New Tennessee Titans OC (passing game) Tim Kelly knows that well because Fuller had his two best seasons when he was the OC (2019, 2020).
17 receivers were drafted in the first three rounds, more than any other position. While the Tennessee Titans added two receivers in the draft, they still could use a player like Will Fuller on the offense to stretch the field.
In the best-case scenario, he could be signed to a one-year deal now and then reevaluated at the end of the season to see if there is a reason to keep him long-term.
At worst, you end up with a player who misses significant time but hopefully plays a few games early in the season and it eases the strain on Robert Woods.
2. Jarvis Landry, WR
It looked like Jarvis Landry was going to be a target for the New Orleans Saints once the NFL Draft was over, but after trading for Chris Olave it isn’t clear how Landry would fit in with Olave, Michael Thomas, and Marquez Callaway.
If he isn’t a fit there, he would be a good fit in Tennessee.
A lot is made about the difference between slot receivers and boundary receivers, and there is a distinction that needs to be mentioned. So the natural question is whether or not a slot receiver like Landry would be a fit in the Titans’ offense now that they have Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, and Kyle Philips who have played a lot of snaps in the slot in the past.
The truth is, the Titans really haven’t focused too much on that differentiation in the past and Landry often gets miscast as a slot receiver when he moves around more than he gets credit for. Over the last two years, Landry has played about 55% of his snaps in the slot and 45% of them on the boundary.
Jarvis Landry had a quote mildly criticizing Ryan Tannehill a few years ago despite the fact that he had his second and third most productive season as a pro with Tannehill. Since then he has paid for that by being forced to play football with Baker Mayfield, so he is probably ready to walk back anything he thought about Tannehill when he was younger.
Either way, Landry has to be realizing that beggars can’t be choosers and there are worse places to be than Nashville where the Titans are likely to repeat as AFC South Champions for the third year in a row.
3. Keelan Cole, WR
You have to feel bad for Keelan Cole.
After serving his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he signed on with the New York Jets in the hopes of getting a better quarterback, and all he got was Zach Wilson whose tough rookie year was only overshadowed by the absolute disaster that is Trevor Lawrence.
When you talk about bringing a WR3, people usually mean a slot receiver but that isn’t what the Titans need. The two receivers who get the most snaps for the Tennessee Titans this seasons are Treylon Burks and Robert Woods, both of which can thrive in the slot. On top of that, Kyle Philips is a great prospect as a slot receiver.
Cole could be a WR3 in the sense that he could come in and play X or Z on three-receiver looks so that one of the starters can kick inside.
What makes Cole even more interesting is that he has played a ton of special teams in his career and he has even returned a few kicks and punts so he could give the Titans some depth there.
Since he won’t be an every-down player on offense, Cole can really provide value by grabbing extra snaps on special teams and being insurance in case the Titans lose a return man in the middle of a game.