Little Respect for Receiving Corps

After A.J. Brown was traded and Julio Jones was cut, analysts see little to like among quarterback Ryan Tannehill's targets for the 2022 NFL season.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans’ pass-catching corps features plenty of question marks and new faces heading into the 2022 season.

One thing we do know about the group: It will not lack for motivational material going forward.

Some of the early projections for the Titans’ receivers and tight ends – whether as a whole or as individual players – have not been especially flattering.

The departure of A.J. Brown (and Julio Jones) appears so far to be greatly overshadowing the additions of veteran wide receiver Robert Woods, rookie wide receivers Treylon Burks (first-round pick) and Kyle Philips (fifth-round pick), and two new tight ends – veteran Austin Hooper and rookie Chig Okonkwo (fourth-round pick).

The advanced stats and analysis website Football Outsiders, for instance, recently ranked all the NFL receiving corps (wide receivers and tight ends) into tiers. Tennessee and Green Bay were lumped into the “F” group, which left those two ranked higher than only one other team – Chicago – in the league.

Also taking a swipe of sorts at the Titans’ pass-catchers was longtime NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum, who recently ranked each team’s offensive weapons (this one also included running backs) from Tier 1 to Tier 7. Tannenbaum placed the Titans Tier 6 along with the Indianapolis Colts.

“These teams in Tier 6 have top tier run games, with the ability for their RBs to create explosives on the ground and in the air,” Tannenbaum wrote. “They lack talent on the outside and have serious concerns beyond their WR1. These are the bottom half of the WR1’s in the NFL, and while their run games are strong their pass catching options beyond WR1 are shaky and hard to trust consistently.”

Individually, the new members will also have to answer questions.

How well will Woods – who has averaged 63 catches and 786 yards over a nine-year career – rebound from the ACL he tore last November? How much impact will we see from Burks, Philips and Okonkwo in their rookie seasons? Can Hooper bounce back from last year, when his totals of 38 catches and 345 yards were the lowest since his rookie season of 2016?

Some of those concerns were evident in Pro Football Focus’ ranking of the NFL’s top 32 receivers and top 15 tight ends, neither of which included any Titans.

In ESPN’s ranking of its top 50 fantasy-football wide receivers from earlier this month, Burks topped the Titans’ at No. 40 followed by Woods at 44.

One key to exceeding low outside expectations will be how quickly quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the many new faces find chemistry.

The fact that the Titans, like all NFL teams, are scheduled to have a full in-person offseason – as opposed to the COVID-shortened ones of the past two years – should be helpful in that regard.

“I think that was important, this year especially, with all the new faces we have offensively at skill positions,” Tannehill said. “A couple years past, we had a bunch of returning guys, so it might not have mattered quite as much. But you’ve got a bunch of new guys, guys you haven’t thrown the ball to. These reps are important. I’m enjoying getting to know these guys on a personal level. I’m getting to know how they play, how they move and just building that chemistry from a passing standpoint.”

The NFL experience of Woods and Hooper may well speed their adjustment period with Tannehill – in comparison to the rookies.

“I think there’s a little more general understanding a lot of times from a veteran player,” Tannehill said. “They’ve played more football, frankly, and kind of understand how things work. Even if you might have called it something differently (with another team), they’ve repped things in the past.

“A lot of these guys coming out of college haven’t run these types of concepts or were in different types of offenses. So, they’re just having to pick up more information and incorporate it into their game. But ultimately it just comes down to getting the reps -- seeing it happen, whether I’m throwing them the ball or just seeing it on tape here on the backside route or something.

“I always take a peek at how those guys run their routes. Were they able to win? Did they use their leverage right? And I just file it away and know like, `Hey, I can trust it and come back to that guy on a later opportunity.’ So it’s a little bit different, but at the end of the day, it just takes a little bit of time and reps.”

The more reps, chemistry and connections made this offseason, the more likely the Titans’ receiving corps is to catch the eye of its critics during the regular season.