Nobody would accuse the Tennessee Titans of being a well-run organization over the last 15 years or so. Of course, they had a brief blip of promise under Mike Vrabel, but it's been largely misery for Titans fans since Jeff Fisher left the franchise.
Even with a promising young quarterback like Cam Ward and an offseason full of roster reconstruction, Tennessee is still struggling during the 2025 NFL season. They sit at just 1-7, and all three of their AFC South foes appear to be lightyears ahead of them.
Perhaps part of these struggles can be attributed to the organization not learning from its mistakes. When Tyler Lockett was shockingly released after Week 7's loss to the New England Patriots, it brought up bad memories for Titans fans; ones that the franchise has clearly not learned from.
Tyler Lockett is latest Titans veteran WR to flame out in Tennessee
Lockett had an incredible 10-year run with the Seattle Seahawks before he signed with Tennessee in April. However, Lockett managed just 10 catches on 21 targets for 70 yards and zero touchdowns for the Titans, and his average of 10.0 receiving yards per game was well below his career average of 53.4.
This is eerily reminiscent of other veteran wide receivers who have signed with Tennessee later in their careers and completely laid an egg for the Titans. Most recently, this happened with Tyler Boyd, but it began with Randy Moss back in 2010.
Moss signed with the Titans for the back half of the 2010 NFL season, but he caught just six passes for 80 yards and no touchdowns. He retired after the year and sat out in 2011, but returned in 2012 to catch 28 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns for the San Francisco 49ers.
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Not only did this hurt Titans fans to see, but it started a troubling trend of players either abruptly retiring after playing in Tennessee, seeing their production fall off a cliff for the Titans or being able to find their footing again in their careers after leaving the franchise.
This phenomenon has struck other players like Andre Johnson, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Robert Woods, and now, Lockett. This is not even to mention the Titans' blunder of trying to replace A.J. Brown with Treylon Burks.
Luckily, the Titans have a handful of promising young wideouts like Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and, potentially, Xavier Restrepo, to supplement Calvin Ridley as the team attempts to grow up around and support Ward.
But Lockett's sudden release was a brutal reminder for fans in Tennessee of just how bad they've had it in the wide receiver department over the years, and just how crucial it is to find young talent in the draft instead of patching up the roster with free agents. Maybe they'll learn their lesson now.