[FREE] The Titans & The One Football Dilemma
The Tennessee Titans have better depth than ever before at the wide receiver position. But how do the Titans distribute one football among three top flight wide receivers?
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Will Levis — wherever he is — is probably rejoicing at the sight of the Titans’ updated receiving group.
Last year, he was between a rock and a hard place. Outside of DeAndre Hopkins, there wasn’t another option on the roster you could trust.
And while that may seem harsh, it was most certainly true.
Treylon Burks struggled with availability and consistency, Kyle Phillips wasn’t effective enough, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was fine depth but he once again couldn't provide more than just that.
Depth.
To take it a step further, even Chig Okonkwo had a weird sophomore slump, developing a drop and consistency problem.
The Titans recognized these problems obviously and decided to address them accordingly by bringing in veterans Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd.
Both will immediately slot in with the starters and give the Titans a 3 wide group that’s as talented as any in the franchise’s history.
All good news right? Well, it depends on how much you’re looking into the situation now. With Hopkins, Ridley, and Boyd now on the roster, Brian Callahan and his staff are now faced with a problem that any team would like to have right now.
And that’s the distribution of alignment between the 3 receivers.
Off the rip, you’d probably assume I’m just finding problems just for the sake of it. In which I’d respond by saying I would never…..hehe.
Seriously though, this is a problem.
Still don’t believe me?
Let me explain.
Alignment Numbers
To launch this discussion into space, we gotta take a look at the numbers first. Not on a whim, but because it’s necessary for the problem to be understood.
We’ll start with Tyler Boyd, since he’s the true catalyst of this whole ordeal. As we know, Boyd is strictly a slot guy, and has been for the most part — and by most, I mean moooost — throughout his entire career.
As PFF will tell you, during each year Boyd has been relatively healthy, he’s played at least 552 snaps in the slot since he entered the league in 2016.
Tyler Boyd’s Slot Snaps vs. Boundary Snaps
That’s a lot of slot snaps and a big number comparison wise between slot and boundary.
“But that’s what Boyd was brought in to do!”, you’re right, that is what he was brought in to do. The Titans needed a productive slot presence when Boyd was on the market and a veteran that could help smoothen out the install period for Callahan’s offense.
But with Boyd strictly being a slot guy and the other two needing slot snaps as well — one potentially needing them sooner than expected — you open up a new, but fun can of worms that dive into the balance of alignment between the top three receivers on this roster.
The Actual “Problem”
Because if you evaluated the Calvin Ridley signing — like everyone else did — then you’d know that Ridley himself is a receiver that’s maximized when he’s moved all around the formation.
He was used the exact way when he was in Atlanta, before Julio Jones fell off the face of the earth, and the results were impressive.
The Jaguars didn’t envision that when they brought him in last off-season, as they threw him out there with a strict boundary role, while Christian Kirk — when he was healthy — dominated the slot snaps.
It’s why many saw Ridley’s play last season and left with a feeling he could’ve produced more, that there was just so much potential left on the field from an offense that looked promising on paper.
The bottom line is this on Ridley.
Ridley is going to command slot snaps since his productivity reaches its climax when his versatility is taken advantage of.
Quite the groundbreaking correlation huh…
Ridley isn’t the only factor in this either, as DeAndre Hopkins could be a correlating component in this discussion as well.
Why?
Hopkins is 31 and isn’t getting any younger. And while it might seem unethical to start talks of Hopkins falling off when he was clearly an effective receiver on the outside, you can’t dismiss the dreaded number of 30 and tread on the tires.
It’s a conversation you have to have at some point, in fact it’s one Titans fans had to have last season surrounding Derrick Henry and his future at the time.
You can’t run from it whatsoever.
This isn’t to say the Titans should be preparing some grand signing off for Hopkins, especially when he’s still producing and isn’t logging a broken, worn down body on the field, while holding an important role offensively.
But if there’s any signs of Hopkins slowing down, who’s to say he might need a more elevated role in the slot, just so he can age gracefully instead of struggling.
Again, this isn’t to say Hopkins is slowing down, just a what if scenario regarding any potential of Hopkins looking a little worn down when the season comes.
However, managing these three and their alignments isn’t some negative problem to have. If Hopkins was slowing down and he needed way more slot snaps than expected, then it would be.
But based on last season, he isn’t.
If Hopkins can still consistently hold his own on the outside for another year or two, then this discussion becomes redundant, since it’s hard to envision the Titans holding onto Boyd for another year beyond 2024.
Now that could change as well, if Boyd reverses trends and shows he can still be a solid productive slot receiver that doesn’t warrant any changing. That’s a little hard to envision though, at least right now.
This is a fun little game that Brian Callahan has to beat and it’s one I’m looking forward to watching this upcoming season.
These three guys all have potential responsibilities for one select spot.
How will the situation be managed?
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