Xavier Restrepo's chances of making the Titans roster could hang in the balance of something completely out of his control

Yesterday I wrote about the three ways Xavier Restrepo can make the Tennessee Titans 53-man roster this summer. He’s the most talked-about UDFA in the entire NFL right now, and while I think he has better than a coin flip’s chance of making the team, I also think too many people are far too confident he’s already a roster lock. This is still an uphill climb for the young receiver.

Something that became pretty evident to me last week was that as well as Restrepo plays this summer, his inclusion on the roster may very well come down to something out of his control. And that thing is the scheme specifics of the Titans offense. How Brian Callahan, Nick Holz and this coaching staff choose to deploy their chess pieces could have just as much a bearing on Restrepo’s roster chances as his actual talent.

Fit Could Be The Key

Ever seen Apollo 13? What a great movie. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon. It’s Director Ron Howard’s fast ball if you ask me. Well anyways, if you’ve seen it (or you just know your space flight history), you know that at one point NASA had to retrofit a square air filter to fit into a round filter slot. “I suggest you gentlemen invent a way to put a square peg into a round hole rapidly”, the great line goes.

It feels like that could end up being the fate of Restrepo on this team.

He’s a receiver in the mold that, for my money, is hardest to roster in today’s NFL. A slot-only, non-special teamer, role player receiver can be a tough sell when you only have 6 or 7 spots.

I asked Titans WR coach Tyke Tolbert about positional versatility in his room, and here’s what he had to say:

“I think it's important because when you look at the roster… how many guys get on the roster, and how many guys are up for game day, it's very limited. Especially if they're not on special teams. you’ve got to be able to say ‘okay, you can't be just an X or just a Z, you have to be able to be all of them.’ Because if somebody breaks a shoestring and goes out of the game, somebody has to go and be able to play that position whether they've been practicing it all the time or not. So versatility I think is very key to our particular position.”

The NFL sometimes feels like it’s going to way of the NBA when it comes to valuing positionlessness for skill players. And for a guy like Restrepo, unless he wins the job as a returner on special teams, he just doesn’t offer that. So no matter how good he is as a slot option, he’s less attractive as a roster option unless he proves to be an every-down starter you can’t turn away.

The good news/bad news of all this is that another hallmark of the modern NFL is creative utilization of slot skillsets. Head coach Brian Callahan talked about this at the podium last week:

“There's definitely a route tree inside that takes a particular skill set to do. There's teams that I think you're finding have more slot receivers because formations are more condensed. And so a lot of things are inside the numbers and you're kind of working with two or three different versions of slot players. I think the the Rams are a good example of that style of offense, but there's a lot of different ways you can use players and there's a lot of different body types that you can use inside. But there is a certain skill set. You have to have…there's a recognition you have to have, and a feel, because everything inside is different than it is just going one-on-one with a corner or just being able to see a corner and a safety.” Perhaps that’s the saving grace for a player like Restrepo in today’s league. That slot-specific skillset is in demand, even if his specific body type and athleticism are not.

Ultimately, he’s focused on being the best football player he can possibly be this summer. From the practice field to the preseason, he’s focused on producing. That’s what he can control as he works to make this team. But when it comes down to it, the types of players the Titans desire for their offense may be just as important to his chances of making the roster.