The Tennessee Titans could desperately use some help at wide receiver and that's where many hoped they'd go with the 82nd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Well, if I'm sitting here writing the article about how it was a need and people expected them to go in that direction, you can probably assume that's not what the Titans did.
You'd be correct with that assumption. The Titans opted to spend their third-round draft choice on Penn State safety Kevin Winston Jr. in a move that likely had fans a bit perplexed. When Winston played at Penn State, he was a lot of fun but that's the problem... Winston barely played. He appeared in just three games for the Nittany Lions last year.
Meanwhile, the Titans have a massive hole at the wide receiver position and it feels like they could have really bolstered the position with this pick instead. Their current starting trio of wide receivers as of this writing are Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, and Van Jefferson, so yeah, the position could use some fine-tuning to say the least.
Titans roll the dice with Kevin Winston Jr. while WR need grows louder
According to NFL.com, the best wide receivers available when the Titans took Winston were Jalen Royals, Isaiah Bond, Dominic Lovett, and Nick Nash, any of whom would have helped Cam Ward out as he enters his first year in the NFL. That's what makes the whole not addressing wide receiver thing even more perplexing is that the Titans took a quarterback with the first pick and he doesn't have many weapons to help him out.
Maybe Winston goes on to ball out for the Titans and we look back with relief when looking at this pick. For now, however, it's hard not to be disappointed that the Titans not only ignored wide receiver but did so for a prospect who battled injuries during the 2024 season.