The Tennessee Titans continued their puzzling Day 2 of the 2023 NFL draft by once again ignoring the wide receiver position to select Tulane running back, Tyjae Spears.
Before I continue, to be perfectly honest, this rant doesn’t have much to do with Spears. He was my fourth highest-graded running back, and I think he’s a fantastic eventual heir apparent to Derrick Henry.
My opinions solely revolve around the ignorant negligence going on at the wide receiver position. Unless there is some master plan to acquire a veteran, this makes no sense to leave the first two days of the draft without a single wide receiver.
Keep in mind, this is after the Titans’ only free-agent addition thus far was signing veteran Chris Moore, who is somehow the only receiver on the team to have eclipsed 500 receiving yards in a single season.
Even worse, the Titans are coming off a season in which they were the least productive receiver group in the league — and somehow they’ve managed to make the group worse.
2022 receiving yards by receivers aligned out wide:
2,575 – MIA
2,397 – PHI
2,205 – MIN
2,164 – CIN
2,157 – BUF
2,074 – LAC
2,014 – TB
1,998 – KC
1,981 – SEA
1,971 – LV
1,879 – WAS
1,875 – DET
1,809 – NYJ
1,765 – IND
1,762 – JAX
1,731 – ARI
1,702 – DEN
1,656 – NE
1,610 – NO…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 17, 2023
And for my sanity, let’s not even get into the A.J. Brown fiasco.
Sadly, right now, the only receivers on the roster are:
- Treylon Burks
- Chris Moore
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
- Kyle Philips
- Reggie Roberson Jr.
- Racey McMath
- Mason Kinsey
I have no idea how the Titans can look at that group and not even take a Day 2 swing on someone.
As far as Spears goes, he undoubtedly improves the Titans’ third-down role, but it’s hard to justify this move in any sort of way.
The Titans are clearly preparing for life without Derrick Henry one way or the other. This doesn’t mean a trade is inevitable or anything of that nature, but they saw enough in Spears to put him in the driver’s seat to take over in 2024.
At the end of the day, I can’t pretend like this move doesn’t baffle me given everything else I just said. And for that, I’m unfortunately going to give this selection a failing grade.
Grade: F
