Titans Evaluate Wide Receivers On the Run

Size and an ability and willingness to block in the run game matter as much -- or more -- as the ability to catch passes.

Size matters to the Tennessee Titans when it comes to their wide receivers. So does strength. And a willingness to use them for more than just receptions.

It is not a coincidence that wide receivers Dez Fitzpatrick and Racey McMath, two of the Titans’ eight selections in the 2021 NFL Draft, are similar in stature. Fitzpatrick, a fourth-round pick out of Louisville, is 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, and McMath, a sixth-round selection from LSU, is 6-foot-3, 217 pounds.

The Titans want guys on the outside who can get in front of defensive backs or even the occasional linebacker and move them out of the way in order to ensure that two-time NFL rushing champion Derrick Henry has room to run. Henry is coming off a season in which he rushed for 2,207 yards, the fifth-highest total in history, and franchise officials have no intention of doing things differently this fall.

“(Fitzpatrick and McMath) are not afraid to go stick their face in there and dig out a safety or go stalk a corner and try to drive them out of bounds,” general manager Jon Robinson said following the draft. “You know, that toughness component … that's huge for our football team.”

Fitzpatrick and McMath are currently involved in this weekend’s rookie minicamp, which began Friday.

On some teams, those two would stand out among the others at their position when the entire roster is on the field or in the locker room. Not so with Tennessee. They are among six wide receivers on the current roster who are taller than 6-foot and weigh more than 200 pounds. Free agent Josh Reynolds, at 6-foot-3, 196 pounds, is not far off the mark.

“Part of our identity is to go in there and block for whoever we hand the ball to,” Robinson said. “Much like when we ask the running backs to block in pass protection, when (the receivers) are trying to get open and catch a football. They have to do their job in the run game and the running backs do their job in the pass game so that they can get open and catch.”

A rundown of the biggest wide receivers on the Tennessee Titans’ 2021 offseason roster:

Player	Height	Weight
A.J. Brown	6-1	226
Cody Hollister	6-4	216
Racey McMath	6-3	217
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine	6-2	211
Dez Fitzpatrick	6-2	208
Marcus Johnson	6-1	207
Josh Reynolds	6-3	196

Each of those players has been added in the last two years, when the identity of the offense became closely aligned with Henry and the run game.

Brown was a second-round pick in 2019, who has become the Titans’ best option in the passing game in addition to what he can offer in support of Henry. Westbrook-Ikhine was an undrafted rookie in 2020 who earned a roster spot and – eventually – playing time because, in part, he is “a very good blocker,” according to coach Mike Vrabel. Hollister was added as a low-profile free agent in 2019, and Johnson was brought on board last season as a member of the practice squad.

Contrast the current group with that of 2018, Vrabel’s first season as coach and the year before Henry became a rushing champion.

Then, the offseason roster included 12 wide receivers, only four of whom were more than 200 pounds. And just two of the four – Corey Davis and undrafted rookie Jordan Veasy – also were taller than 6-foot. Davis built a reputation as one of the Titans’ better run blockers before he signed this offseason with the New York Jets. Veasy never played a down in the NFL.

Now, that kind of size is practically required given what is expected from that position.

“One of the more unsung jobs is (wide receivers’) ability to block because we’ve got a guy we like to hand the ball to a lot,” Robinson said early in the offseason. “We’ve got to have guys that can go in and dig out those safeties, dig out those weakside linebackers.”