Revamped Titans passing game offers fantasy hope

Coming off another sub-.500 season, the Tennessee Titans fired head coach Mike Vrabel and didn’t re-sign longtime stalwarts like running back Derrick Henry and quarterback Ryan Tannehill . It felt like the end of an era as the club hired Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to replace Vrabel and signed veteran wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd to jumpstart a passing attack that ranked 29th in the NFL last year (180.4 yards/game) and hasn’t finished in the top 20 since 2011.

That duo joins three-time All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins and 2022 first-rounder Treylon Burks in a receiver room that now boasts talent and experience. Questions remain, however, as QB Will Levis enters 2024 as the starter following an uneven showing as a rookie — he threw four TDs in his debut and then managed just four scoring strikes over his remaining eight games. Behind him are QBs Mason Rudolph and Malik Willis , neither of whom have lit up scoreboards in limited opportunities.

So, with the caveat that improved play from Levis is crucial to Tennessee’s receivers delivering the goods for fantasy football owners, let’s look at what Tennessee has to work with this season.

DeAndre Hopkins

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A free-agent signing before the 2023 campaign, Hopkins managed to steer clear of the stigma that Nashville was a place former stars went to die (ala Randy Moss and Julio Jones ). While the veteran didn't post huge numbers (75-1,057-7), he stayed healthy for the first time since 2020. That allowed him to log his seventh career 1,000-yard effort. Now 32, Hopkins relies more on his size and savvy, but he's still capable of making big plays -- his 14.1 yards per catch were his highest since 2017. While he'll be learning a new offense, Hopkins does have one advantage in that he's the only one to have logged significant snaps with Levis. That trust factor could play into the second-year QB's decision making, allowing Hopkins to be a high-volume target. He suffered a knee injury in an early August practice and could miss the remainder of the offseason but should be on track for Week 1.

Calvin Ridley

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Reinstated following a year-long gambling suspension, Ridley was dealt from the Atlanta Falcons to the Jacksonville Jaguars in hopes of reigniting his career. It happened ... to a degree. Ridley authored some big-time performances for the Jags, bookending 2023 with 100-plus yards and a score in Weeks 1 and 18. During those 15 games in between, however, his performance was inconsistent. Ridley had two more 100-yard games and two multi-score efforts, but he also finished nine games with 40 yards or less. [lawrence-related id=491109] Despite an up-and-down season, the Titans ponied up $92 million over four years, signaling they expect him to be, at worst, 1a/1b with Hopkins. He has the speed and physicality to be an impact player, and even though he's entering his age-30 season Ridley hasn't racked up the miles on his body to where we should be seeing noticeable erosion.

Tyler Boyd

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After spending his first eight seasons in Cincy, the last five of which coming with Callahan as his OC, Boyd signed in Nashville. A nominal WR1 early in his career, Boyd was overtaken by WRs Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in recent years. He's once again expected to fill that same kind of underneath, chain-moving, tertiary role he did with QB Joe Burrow for Levis while offering a little insurance in case of either of the top wideouts misses time. Like Hopkins and Ridley, Boyd will finish this season in his 30s as part of a receiving corps that's a bit long in the tooth.

Treylon Burks

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When the Titans traded WR A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles and drafted Burks with the 18th overall pick in 2022, they envisioned him as Brown 2.0 thanks to his bruising size (6-foot-2, 225 pounds) and physical style. To date, he's shown little, and it's unclear how much of an opportunity he'll have this year. There have been positive words out of camp about his maturity, but it seems like Burks’ best-case scenario is to push Boyd for snaps.

Fantasy football outlook

There isn’t much separation between Hopkins and Ridley with the Titans, and that carries forward to their fantasy value as well. Ridley has a bit more juice due to his age and current health status, checking in as a high-end WR3 who could push into WR2 territory if things break right. Hopkins is the steadier choice as a midrange No. 3 fantasy wideout. Granted, that is predicated on Nuk's healthy return for the opener. Expect his draft stock to slide in the coming weeks. Boyd could be a streaming option in deeper leagues but probably isn’t worth rostering. Burks holds zero appeal for now.

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