The 2023 NFL Draft takes place April 27-29 this year, emanating LIVE from Kansas City, Missouri. As it stands, the Tennessee Titans have one first round draft pick. New general manager Ran Carthon and head coach Mike Vrabel currently hold the 11th overall selection. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be taking a look at some of the prospects who are either rumored to be tied to, have met with, who make sense for the Titans, or who are for some reason being mocked to the Titans even though they don’t really have a need at the position. Whatever – there are no rules here. Today, we’re lumping all of these fringe first round receivers together and talking about Jordan Addison, Josh Downs, Zay Flowers, Jalin Hyatt, Quentin Johnston, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Honestly, I just think receiver is completely off the table at #11, so I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time evaluating each guy at the top of this class this draft season when there’s a lot of offensive linemen, edge rushers, and defensive backs to get through. Not to mention, I’m drooling over Darnell Washington and would rather watch his tape for the thousandth time. Anyway, I don’t know that I think any receiver in this class is a true WR1. I think I’d rather have Rashee Rice in the second round than any of these guys in the first. I’m also fine with waiting until the 5th round or later to tackle receiver because, while people keep saying this isn’t a deep group, I disagree. I think it’s chock full of WR3s with WR2 upside. But, I don’t see much of a difference between getting a Puka Nacua or Michael Wilson in Round 5 and getting a Xavier Hutchinson in Round 3. So, for me…you might as well just wait if you’re the Titans. Nonetheless, the wide receiver hype train keeps on rolling and it ain’t stopping anyone from mocking receiver to the Titans. So, allow me to just go ahead and cross this entire position group off of my 2023 NFL Draft Content Plan.
Jordan Addison – Addison is one of my bigger “buyer beware” prospects in this draft. He is a gifted route runner and a beautiful technician. I will not debate you about that. But, hot damn…he played some bad defenses with defensive backs that just gave him a ton of cushion, and I don’t know why. He is a gifted route runner that has a knack for identifying the exact moment you’ve put yourself out of position and adjusting to it. He’ll wait for a defensive back to turn his hips before changing direction. That sort of thing. But, after watching some of his tape and seeing the disappointing RAS from the Combine, I don’t think he’s athletically gifted enough to beat tight man coverage in the NFL. Hell, he didn’t beat tight man coverage consistently in college. These DBs just box him up and push him around, and it renders him ineffective. Unless you’re confident that you can scheme him open from the slot and have him contribute as a high end WR2, I’m scared to death of investing early-round draft capital in Addison.
Josh Downs – Downs is little – there ain’t two ways about it. But, I think he can still be a physical presence in the NFL…not because of his size or his effectiveness as a blocker, but because of what an instinctual hard runner he is, and because of his explosive tendencies as a guy that just flat out works defensive backs. He has smooth natural hands, and he showed that he’s smooth mover running the drills at the Combine. I thought we’d see a faster 40, but that 1.49 10-yard split was electric. He’s shown that he can be a bit springy and hoppy and I think that gives him a bigger catch radius than he’s being given credit for. Downs runs a stupid good whip route, and he is a juke master in tight spaces. He has underrated deep speed but its not that flat out “beat your man in a foot race” speed. It’s almost like he’s consistently fast all the way through the play where defenders tire out and slow down. He seems to just pull away from defenders exponentially once he gets behind ’em down the field. I do think his size makes him a “no” for the Titans because it limits how many things he can do within this offense, and we know ‘versatility’ is a big thing for them right now. It’s all the rage. In two tight end sets, I don’t see Downs being one of the two receivers they’d want on the field. So, I don’t think they’ll invest the draft capital it’d take to get him because I’m not sure his skill set is that valuable to them.
Zay Flowers – The living embodiment of the Chris Berman “WHOOP” sound, Flowers flat out does it all from a pure play-making standpoint. I love his timing on his breaks, and his fluid body control makes him a natural separator as he doesn’t have to slow down to change direction. He’s an elite ball tracker, and overall just a fantastic route runner that shows a sense of savvy to what’s going on around him and how he can navigate the space in front of him. He’s incredible aware. There’s an element of physicality that is missing from his game, and that’s not only what makes doubt creep in about how he’ll handle getting jammed up by tough guy corners in the league, but it also makes the Steve Smith comparison unfair. Steve Smith was a scrapper, and I’m not sure I see that in Flowers’ game.
Jalin Hyatt – My man here just puts his fucking head down and RUNS. I swear that Vols playbook just read “run straight or break it inside.” I make my jokes, but Jalin Hyatt absolutely put the fear of God in defensive backs the way they played him in 2022. I swear someone gave him a 20-yard cushion at one point. I said he was the MVP of the SEC last season because of how he stepped up and what he brought to the Vols offense. It confused the shit out of defensive backs the way they spread out the formation and it bought him just a split second’s worth of hesitation, which is all he needs. The tempo seemed to wear guys down, or having them start the play out of position because they weren’t ready for it. I hate to say it because you don’t want to punish a guy for winning, but hell…we don’t have a real sample size of reps where Hyatt isn’t wide freaking open! How’s he going to respond to press coverage? I don’t think he’s got the frame (176 pounds) or route variance to be a more complete receiver in the NFL, but that track speed makes him a spicy prospect. It’s going to be way too enticing for a team to pass up in the first round, in my opinion. As for a fit with the Titans, hey – his presence could be a benefit to the Titans if teams are as afraid of his speed as his college opponents were, causing them to pull an extra defender out of the box, and therefore, opening up the run game again. *shrugs*
Quentin Johnston – I like Johnston’s potential an awful lot, and I think most of his issues are correctable if he lands with a staff that is willing to be patient with him and an offense that doesn’t need wide receiver impact right away. He was a meteoric riser because of TCU’s special season, but as it turns out, he’s not quite the 6’4″ big framed receiver we thought he was! Johnston is another guy near the top of this class that had a disappointing showing at the Combine. He’s not a technician of the position, and that shows up in some of his drops and his raw route running that he doesn’t really sell well to manipulate defensive backs. He’s not very physical at the point of the catch, but he’s great at navigating traffic and he’s the type of dude you just want to get the ball to in the open field. I love his acceleration variance but sometimes it leads to drifting, which ties back to that “raw” aspect of his game. He has some streaks of really good releases and raw straight line speed down the field that make him a potential lethal deep threat. But, unless he can work out the nuance of the position, I think savvy corners will be able to handle him pretty well at the next level.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba – I have no problem if you want to call JSN the top dog in this receiving class. Man, he’s fun to watch. He’s a shifty slot receiver with an elite change-of-direction skill set, and part of that is because of his ability to sell one direction and move in another, leaving poor defensive backs that try to mirror him in the dust. He is an absolute masterful route runner, particularly in that change-of-direction department, but also because he’s good at identifying soft spots in zone. He is cerebral in picking apart defensive back match-ups and it gives him a nuanced route tree under his belt because of it. He can beat you anywhere from anywhere. All of that to say that I absolutely do not think he’s a “Titans guy.” He’s a willing blocker, but that doesn’t mean that he’s good at it. JSN doesn’t play a very physical game, and I believe that’s still something that Vrabel wants out of all of his players. JSN also had a season-long hamstring injury….do you guys remember the phrase “8-4 guy?” Hmmm…can’t help but wonder. Could he also have a little bit of that “one season wonder” mojo going for him?
2023 TITANS FIRST ROUND OPTIONS
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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