Tennessee Titans have two of the NFL’s best chain-moving WRs

Last year should have shown Tennessee Titans fans that consistency isn’t guaranteed in the NFL, and when it isn’t there you can see how much harder everything on offense becomes.

In 2021, the Titans’ offense was a revolving door of offensive linemen, running backs, tight ends, and more importantly receivers. There were only a handful of plays all season where Julio Jones, A.J. Brown, and Derrick Henry were all on the field together, and they never had a game where all three played well.

Health isn’t something you can predict, but what you do when you are on the field matters. While the Titans might not look as explosive on paper this year, they definitely look much more consistent.

Instead of rolling the dice on Anthony Firkser, they have Austin Hooper who is a two-time All-Pro tight end.

The Tennessee Titans went into the 2021 season with A.J. Brown, Julio Jones, and Josh Reynolds as the top-three receivers. In 2022 they have Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, and NWI.

Despite anything you may have heard about Treylon Burks from a coach that hasn’t always been known for giving accurate descriptions of his former players, that group is still more consistent than the 2021 group.

The Tennessee Titans have chain-movers

Marcus Mosher recently posted a list of the receivers that turned targets into first downs at the highest rate last season.

A.J. Brown was the only receiver from 2021’s top trio to qualify for this list and he finished up 24th. If Julio Jones (38%) and Josh Reynolds (30%) had qualified, neither would have cracked the top 50.

Robert Woods was elite on this list and finished as the 4th best receiver in the NFL at turning targets into first downs. NWI wasn’t bad either finishing 34th, well above where Jones or Reynolds would have ranked if they qualified.

If Austin Hooper and these two receivers can just be consistent in this offense (and there is good reason to expect that they will be more than “consistent”), the Tennessee Titans should have an improved offense this year.

Jon Robinson drafted a class full of guys with the ability to make plays on both sides of the ball including Burks, Chig Okonkwo, and Kyle Philips.

This offense isn’t based around force-feeding one receiver, instead, it is back to a pick-your-poison style of an offense similar to what it was in 2020 under Arthur Smith. With Tim Kelly drawing up the passing plays, they should have plenty of matchups to exploit and every first down conversion just means that the Titans get three more chances to exploit those mismatches.