Looking at this Tennessee Titans' unraveling offseason, a large focus has been placed on this team's plans to upgrade the offense after a brutal year of production on their scoring end for 2024.
Things were unorganized under center, at various skill positions, and especially so at the offensive line to derail this unit entirely, ultimately leading to their status as one of the worst offenses in the league and a rough 3-14 record to show for it.
During this offseason, the Titans have made a few solid strides in addressing those questions. The front office had added a couple of new starters on the offensive line, and with a franchise quarterback likely on the way in Cam Ward, the arrow is pointing up for this side of the ball next year.
However, there's still one major hole the Titans will have to address once the draft officially to truly get the offense right, and one that many experts have pointed out: wide receiver.
Pro Football Focus expert Zoltan Buday reinforced the Titans' need at the position when outlining the worst position groups in the NFL across the entire league; when it came to wide receiver, no team seemingly has a worse outlook than Tennessee.
"The Titans have quite a few roster holes, but perhaps none more glaring than at wide receiver," Buday wrote. "The room consists of only two players who logged more than 150 snaps last season: Van Jefferson and Calvin Ridley."
"While Ridley earned a 73.1 PFF overall grade, which ranked 40th among wide receivers, and surpassed 1,000 receiving yards, he played on the 17th-biggest contract at the position by average annual value, making it a somewhat disappointing season for a No. 1 wide receiver," Buday continued. "On the other hand, Jefferson ranked only 116th among 133 qualifying wide receivers with a 57.2 PFF overall grade. He has never earned a PFF overall grade above 70.0 in his career."
Following last season, the Titans don't have either of Nick Westbrook-Ikhene or Tyler Boyd currently on the roster; two big contributors from last year in an offense already lacking firepower.
Now, with just Calvin Ridley and Van Jefferson positioned as the two best contributors in this pass game, the Titans will have to make receiver a primary focus come draft time, likely further into the draft early on day two after selecting Ward.
Especially factoring in a young and budding name like Ward for the foreseeable future, surrounding him with strong weapons is a significant part of that development. Time will tell if the Titans can make those aspired upgrades with the draft approaching later this month, but if they don't, things could get ugly offensively for yet another season.
The 2025 NFL Draft will kick off on Thursday, April 24th in Green Bay, WI.
