One of the most eye-catching changes to the Tennessee Titans offense since Mike McCoy took over is Chimere Dike’s increased involvement in the passing game. He was able to make an impact on special teams from day one, but it was a bit of a struggle on offense to start the season.
After amassing just 26 receiving yards on 17 targets in the first six weeks of the season, Dike has now put up back-to-back 70+ yard performances. So what exactly has changed in these two games, and can we expect this kind of production to continue?
It’s glaringly obvious that whoever has taken control of the personnel decision making, whether it’s Coach McCoy or play-caller Bo Hardagree, has a much better understanding of how to get the most out of the young receiver.
Titans WR Chimere Dike is breaking out and his emergence is here to stay
According to data from Pro Football Focus, a whopping 47% of Dike’s targets in the first six weeks were behind the line of scrimmage. That was the highest rate in the NFL among receivers with at least 15 targets. Dike's targets yielded a meager 1.7 yards per reception, which ranked 52nd out of the 60 receivers with at least two of such targets.
On paper, it makes sense to get the ball in his hands given his success as a kick returner, but Dike’s athleticism is much better expressed when he can build up speed rather than catching the ball at a standstill on a perimeter screen pass.
So how have the Titans leveraged that skillset? According to charting from the Week 8 game against the Colts, Dike ran either a slant or crossing route 44% of the time, by far his most common routes. This is exactly the type of usage he should be seeing. Not only does it better compliment his athletic profile, it also highlights what is easily his best attribute as a receiver - his feel for zone coverage.
Dike has a good sense for when to tempo his routes to avoid running into coverage, and the number of times he settled between two zone defenders over the middle of the field was really encouraging. He was also consistently on the same page as Cam Ward, who made a couple of nice anticipatory throws to his fellow rookie.
To pour a little bit of cold water on things, Dike is still very raw as a technician when facing man coverage. We charted him as having a 54.5% success rate against man in Week 8. It’s a very small sample size, and that’s not an awful mark, but it’s definitely discouraging for a starter caliber receiver.
Until that part of Dike's game shows growth, he could struggle to replicate these performances against certain defeses. For now, he has the skillset to be a reliable security blanket, and the importance of his growing connection with Ward is huge for the development of both players.