Could the Tennessee Titans trade for Panthers WR Robby Anderson

How could a Baker Mayfield trade to the Carolina Pathers help the Tennessee Titans offense? Well, it isn’t that much of a leap actually.

The Tennessee Titans need a speed element in their offense, and for a long time, the easiest solution has been to match them up with Will Fuller in free agency. However, the reason why he is still a free agent is that he already has some strikes against him in terms of PED suspensions, and he has struggled to stay healthy over the course of his NFL career.

For the Titans, availability and consistency are two things that they have really tried to improve this offseason after a rash of injuries and inconsistency plagued them throughout the 2021 NFL season.

Right now the Tennessee Titans offense may not be as talented (on paper) as it was in 2021, but there is much more depth at every position. However, they are still missing that speed element that I talked about at the start of this, and even if they add Will Fuller they don’t get that consistency that they have valued.

That is where Robby Anderson enters the conversation.

If you have been on social media at all, you have probably seen Robby Anderson’s old Instagram comment pop up. That comment was on a post that suggested that the Panthers were the favorites to trade for the former Cleveland Browns quarterback and Anderson’s response was “nooooo.”

Well, unfortunately for Anderson the Panthers disagreed and now there is going to be some awkwardness on both sides when they meet up.

The good news for everyone involved is that Anderson has been on the trade block for months now, and it appeared that he might be headed to New England.

Now that this move has been made, I would guess that the Panthers would be even more open to moving their speedy wide receiver.

His perfect fit might be the Tennessee Titans where he would instantly have a role in this offense.

Pitching Robby Anderson to the Tennessee Titans

If you exclude the abysmal 2021 season where the Carolina Panthers used three quarterbacks, Robby Anderson has averaged 60 receptions, 831 yards, and 5 TDs in his first five seasons. Those numbers are even more impressive when you realize he did that with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bryce Petty, Josh McCown, Sam Darnold, and Teddy Bridgewater as his quarterbacks.

That is me being nice by the way, those are only the quarterbacks that started 6+ games. If I wanted to really impress you with what he did, I would talk about the two games where the Jets started Luke Falk at quarterback.

The point is, he put up great numbers in offenses where he didn’t have much talent around him and he didn’t have great minds calling the game.

In Tennessee, he would get a chance to play with the best quarterback he has ever played with, the best running back he has ever gotten to play with, and potentially the best pass catchers he has ever gotten to play with.

You also would have Tim Kelly calling the passing plays and during his time as the primary play-caller in Houston, Will Fuller averaged 79.9 yards per game (2020) and Brandin Cooks averaged 76.7 yards per game (2020) and 64.8 yards per game (2021). It is safe to say that Kelly would know exactly how to use someone like Anderson.

It makes sense for the Tennessee Titans because he is exactly what they need. If they are fine with his character and they think he is a locker room fit, then they are getting a guy who has played in 95 of 97 possible games over the course of his career.

Trading for Anderson would only cost around $1.2 million in cap space this season which is well within the Titans’ spending range. They could open up even more space and create some for the future if they want to extend Derrick Henry.

This isn’t just spending money and a pick for a receiver who won’t have a role in a year either. This is a player that the Titans could use for years to come. Looking at the Titans’ roster you can see how he would fit perfectly with the receivers that they added this offseason.

The vast majority of his snaps have had him line up out wide, but he does have some slot versatility if they want to use him inside on rare occasions. That would allow Treylon Burks to move around in year one with him and Robert Woods alternating between the slot and the boundary.

They could also rotate in Kyle Philips in certain situations which would allow him to make plays but it wouldn’t make Mike Vrabel uncomfortable given how hesitant he is to play rookies.

If they don’t mind dealing with figuring out his contract in 2023 and if they do their due diligence to make sure that he is a good fit in this locker room, then Anderson would be a great fit for the Titans’ offense.

Carolina may want to keep him, but they have enough mouths to feed on that offense between Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Terrace Marshall, D’Onta Foreman, Chuba Hubbard, and Tommy Tremble. If Anderson doesn’t want to be there and if he has already been floated out as a trade candidate, go ahead and rip off the Band-Aid to make your quarterback more comfortable.