In a scrum Tuesday with Nashville media, new Titans coach Brian Callahan touched on the offensive line vs. wide receiver debate. He brought up the conversation from a couple years ago around Ja’Marr Chase, whom Cincinnati selected with the fifth overall pick in 2021, and Penei Sewell, who was selected two picks later by Detroit.
At the time in their rebuild, the Bengals needed both a premier wide receiver and a left tackle for Joe Burrow‘s development. They elected to go with the receiver.
Callahan may have a similar mindset for Tennessee in this draft.
“At the end of the day, the NFL is about scoring points. Having people that can score points is important,” he said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “When all things are equal, guys that can score touchdowns tend to make more of an impact.”
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Callahan’s remarks were part of a larger theme from Titans brass in Indianapolis: a strong emphasis on improving at receiver. It could inform how Tennessee proceeds with the seventh overall pick, which prior to this week, many league observers penciled in being a left tackle (Notre Dame‘s Joe Alt and Penn State‘s Olu Fashanu are popular choices in mock drafts). After all, the Titans have failed to find a long-term answer at left tackle since a declining Taylor Lewan was cut last February.
The hole at left tackle has been at the forefront of what has been arguably the NFL’s worst offensive line since the start of 2022. Callahan has hired his father, legendary O-line coach Bill Callahan, to help turn the tide, but it’s also going to take an infusion of new talent.
The same could be said about Tennessee’s receiver corps. Treylon Burks, a 2022 first-round pick drafted to essentially be A.J. Brown‘s replacement, has been a disappointment through two seasons. He has just 49 catches for 665 yards and one touchdown in that span, missing 12 possible games. Behind a 31-year-old DeAndre Hopkins, who last season became the team’s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2020, the Titans didn’t have another pass-catcher reach 600 receiving yards (tight end Chig Okonkwo was second on the team with 528 yards).
So while Will Levis needs to be better protected in 2024 — he was pressured on 44.5% of his dropbacks last season, the third-highest rate among qualified quarterbacks (minimum of 292 dropbacks), according to Next Gen Stats — he also needs more weapons around him. Callahan and general manager Ran Carthon have indicated that repeatedly this week.
Maybe that means prospects like Washington‘s Rome Odunze and LSU‘s Malik Nabers could be at the forefront of Tennessee’s draft board.
“I think we’ll always look for a premier wide receiver, whether it’s for the next two-to-three years or 10 years,” Carthon said. “In order for Will to be successful, he has to have playmakers around him. He can’t throw the ball to himself. He can’t hand the ball to himself, if you will. So we’ve got to continue to add playmakers around him.”
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Callahan, who worked with the NFL’s best wide-receiving trio in Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd in Cincinnati, discussed the importance of having a diversity of receivers to work with, too.
“There’s guys that are good with the ball in their hands,” Callahan said. “There are guys that are really fast. There are guys that are big and strong. There’s a good mix of talent that fits. And when you’re building the receiver room, you’re trying to collect a little bit of all those things. It’s a fun class to evaluate and hopefully, we can find a couple guys that fit us.
“Team speed, you can never have enough of it,” Callahan continued. “So we’re going to be looking for plenty of it. We need to be faster. We need to be more explosive. That’s always going to be part of it. And you always want a good mix. You want guys who can win in the physical battles and the 50-50 balls and the contested catch range, but you also need guys who can stretch the field and threaten a defense. Those are things that we’ll obviously be looking for in the free agency and draft process coming up.”
Callahan did make one thing clear, though: He doesn’t believe elite talent can be replaced.
So even if the Titans are indeed valuing wide receivers over left tackles (or another position of need), that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll take the former over the latter at No. 7.
Carthon has also said that the draft is “really deep” at both receiver and on the offensive line, which not only impacts what the Titans might do at the top of the draft, but also in the later rounds and free agency.
“I’ll never pass up on elite talent just because I think we have a great coach,” Callahan said when asked about how much his father can help the line. “Great coaches with elite talent is special, so we’re trying to get to that point.”
The Titans have a long way to go to reach that point, at both wide receiver and on the offensive line.
Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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