Tennessee Titans should keep an eye on free agent WRs
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans probably won’t be making a big free agent move this week, but that doesn’t mean that they can take their eye off of the market.
In the last 24 hours, the Miami Dolphins signed Mohamed Sanu, the Indianapolis Colts said that they were interested in re-signing T.Y. Hilton, Cole Beasley said that he had multiple offers on the table, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Julio Jones to be their WR5.
Nearly every Titans fan agrees that if Jon Robinson dips back into free agency, it should be for a wide receiver or an offensive lineman.
While there are two offensive line spots up for grabs, I still think the easiest addition would be at wide receiver. Even if there isn’t a clear-cut starter, the Tennessee Titans have options that they want to try out at left guard and right tackle and there can only be one of those players on the field at the same time.
Wide receiver is different because you generally see 2-3 receivers on the field on any given play and the Titans have always rolled their receivers in and out. For example, A.J. Brown only played 90% or more of the offensive snaps in 8 of his 43 games with the Tennessee Titans.
Mike Vrabel wants to make sure his guys have rest so that they can go full speed when they are on the field, and that means that you need those guys who can play 20% of the snaps and make an impact when they are on the field.
I am on record saying that I think that the Titans’ pass-catching options are better as a whole this season. Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, NWI, Austin Hooper, Chig Okonkwo, and Kyle Philips should be better than what Tennessee put on the field last year.
Still, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for another dynamic playmaker if they can find one.
Free agent options for the Tennessee Titans
There are a handful of free agent wide receivers that the Titans should be keeping an eye on with all of the moves that are happening.
T.Y. Hilton and Emmanuel Sanders are both past their prime, but for the right price, they definitely make sense as rotational players. Both have played a lot of snaps on the boundary and the Titans don’t have many receivers on the roster with experience on the outside.
Will Fuller is an obvious choice and he could be a glass cannon for this offense. Whether he plays a full season or just one game, defenses will have to account for his speed on every snap he takes.
Odell Beckham Jr. is another name to watch just because he has the talent to make plays when he is healthy and if you can get a handful of games out of him at the end of the year, you can strengthen your offense and set yourself up for a compensatory pick down the road.
At the end of the day, the Tennessee Titans want to give Treylon Burks every chance to win the top spot opposite Robert Woods, or at the very least they want him to be the WR3. They are going to make him earn that during training camp, and that means that they are going to give him as many reps as he can handle.
Until they have a good idea of what he can be this season, they probably don’t want to make a move in free agency. Having said that, if they like four wide receivers and three of them get signed tomorrow, then they would be smart to make a quick call to that fourth option.
Don’t expect anything to happen that quickly, but keep an eye on that short list as it gets shorter and shorter during training camp.