Tajae Sharpe was the talk of the summer last year in Nashville. Drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, he raised eyebrows as he worked his way towards a Week 1 start at wide receiver. For good reason, too! How many receivers picked in the first round struggle in their first year? We’ve seen it happen quite a bit.
Sharpe was a hyper-productive receiver at UMass. He played four full seasons and amassed 277 receptions for 3,486 yards and 16 touchdowns. General manager has a certain model for drafting – he likes guys that produce. Having a full and productive college career is clearly a valued trait. If I haven’t put it plainly enough, the more productive you are in college, the more likely you are to be drafted by the Titans.
A lot of pundits thought Sharpe would be a nice little project at wide receiver – an area of the team that the Titans were clearly thin at. But, he ended up alongside Rishard Matthews as the week one starters.
He’s a dependable route-runner who gets open with smooth, polished technique more so than raw speed. Sharpe isn’t going to be the hitch-and-go deep threat, nor is he going to go up and win one-and-one battles that often. But, he carved out a nice spot on the team.
In his debut performance, Sharpe caught seven passes for 76 yards. That stat line isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it was encouraging for a fifth round draft pick to pull off. However, in the remaining 15 games of the season, Sharpe wouldn’t catch more than four balls in a game. His yardage never surpassed 100 yards, and he caught two touchdowns. On the season, Sharpe finished with 41 catches for 522 and the two touchdowns.
Those aren’t bad numbers given the context. But, let’s be honest with ourselves. The preseason hype got to us. Sharpe is not the long term solution at wide receiver. For context, Matthews finished with 65 receptions for 945 yards and nine touchdowns – all nine of those touchdowns coming in the final 12 games. He was the Titans best receiver. In fairness, Matthews isn’t the long term solution at receiver, either. So, a need was born.
The Titans needed a “true #1” receiver and they needed a speedster, a dynamic this efficient offense was missing.
But, then at the end of March, Paul Kuharsky reported that Sharpe wasn’t communicative towards the Titans throughout the offseason:
To a question from the team website at the owners meetings, coach Mike Mularkey offered this on Sharpe:
“I think he needs to come back in here and show that he’s been doing something this offseason to improve,” Mularkey said. “I haven’t seen him, so when he comes back here in April, it’ll be a good chance to see what he’s been doing to try to improve his game.”
Uh oh. To a regime that preaches accountability and places a premium on producing, I don’t think this is a good look. Specifically, that bit about “doing something this offseason to improve” doesn’t seem to bode well for Sharpe.
Of course, we aren’t in the room. It could be nothing more than an attempt to motivate Sharpe. But, now that the draft is over with, the writing on the wall is starting to show.
The Titans drafted uber-productive Western Michigan receiver Corey Davis at #5 overall. Then, Robinson traded up in the third round to select Western Kentucky speedster, Taywan Taylor. Considering that Matthews’ production was greater than Sharpe’s, and – lest we forget – Delanie Walker is still the primary receiving option in this Titans offense, I’d say the writing is on the wall.
Sharpe still has plenty left to prove. Is he on the roster bubble? No, of course not. But, he could realistically end up as the 4th option in the passing game. And, how often is the 4th option in the Titans receiving game going to be relied upon?
I’m not ready to say the Titans have completely given up on Sharpe, but they certainly recognized that his 2016 production won’t be enough to manufacture a lethal aerial assault for this offense.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork
