3 Tennessee Titans named to the 2022 All-Rookie team
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans have some really nice hits in Jon Robinson’s last draft class, and three players earned post-season accolades from The Athletic’s 2022 All-Rookie team.
Interestingly enough, the Tennessee Titans were one of three teams (Tampa Bay, Chicago) to have a player representing all three phases of the game on this list.
One that everyone is going to talk about is punter Ryan Stonehouse. While Tennessee Titans fans might have wanted to see fewer punts this season, that was never going to happen with Todd Downing calling plays.
What made it slightly more bearable was the rookie who was booming punts so well that he broke an NFL record (not a rookie record, an NFL record) in yards per punt.
In a perfect world, the Tennessee Titans don’t see him nearly as much next season, but if his name is called he has proven that he can be a weapon.
Tennessee Titans standout rookies on offense and defense
Tight end Chig Okonkwo is someone that I pounded the table for after the first day of training camp. Not only was he someone that was constantly getting praised because of his work ethic and commitment to getting better on a team that asks their tight ends to do everything, but he had elite athleticism.
Fast forward to a year later and Okonkwo made the All-Rookie team despite Todd Downing refusing to use him as a receiver for the first ten games of the season.
Okonkwo should be a key building block for the Titans going forward and he has all the tools to be a Pro Bowler.
Speaking of people who should put up better stats with a different coach, cornerback Roger McCreary landed on this list as well.
Somehow the rookie managed to survive an entire season with this training staff and start every game at cornerback for the Tennessee Titans. He led the team with more than 1,200 snaps and he was third on the team in tackles, but his reliability isn’t his only good quality.
Several times this season he flashed the ability to be a playmaker tipping passes, picking them off, and even assisting Joshua Kalu with that incredible interception in the L.A. Chargers game.
Next season he won’t be asked to play slot corner and boundary corner and a new coach should be able to refine and develop him into a very nice cover corner.
It is nice to see these three get recognized, but you have to wonder what a healthy season could have meant for Treylon Burks and Kyle Philips. Both had incredible training camps but both had to deal with injuries this season (Philips more than Burks) and it snuffed out their chances to stack up productive performances.