Tennessee Titans 2022 NFL Training Camp Preview
Despite earning the No. 1 seed and snagging the AFC South crown for the second consecutive season, the Tennessee Titans had an interesting offseason — led by trading away one of the NFL’s top receivers in AJ Brown. Can they earn the crown ahead of the Indianapolis Colts for the third straight season? Only time will tell.
Three Positions Battles to Watch:
No. 2 cornerback: Roger McCreary vs. Caleb Farley
Kristian Fulton more than established himself as the team’s top corner entering 2022, tallying 14 pass deflections (two interceptions) and 40 combined tackles across 13 games last season. After getting selected No. 22 overall in 2021, Caleb Farley played just three games after suffering a torn ACL. He also sat out the 2020 college season at Virginia Tech due to COVID-19 — so he’s hardly played any in-game action since the 2019 season. That’s troublesome, at least on paper. McCreary, meanwhile, was a second-round selection in this year’s draft and was an aggressive press-corner at Auburn, ranking second among SEC corners in career PFF grade. That might not amount to everything — but it amounts to something.
No. 2 receiver: Treylon Brooks v. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
With AJ Brown elsewhere, Robert Woods is expected to garner most of the targets. But Burks, a rookie, and Westbrook-Ikhine are expected to compete for the second starting receiver spot. Burks has size, was a good athlete with good hands at Arkansas; he was also the byproduct of the Brown trade, while Westbrook-Ikhine has the most familiarity with the Titans offense among its top wideouts. He was second in targets (57), receptions (38), yards (476) and touchdowns (4) in 2021 and might be the presumptive favorite to garner more usage than Burks, but I wouldn’t put it past either to earn the starting nod.
Nose Tackle: Teair Tart v. DaQuan Jones
The nose tackle is not of significant importance given the other cogs — Denico Autry, Jeffery Simmons, Bud Dupree (more on him below) and Harold Landry III, among others — surrounding it, but it’s a battle I’d keep an eye on. Jones, an undrafted rookie in 2021, logged 29 combined tackles with 2.5 sacks last season (13 games) while Tart totaled 16 tackles without a sack and two tackles-for-loss in 11 games. Both shared pretty even snap shares (Tart – 31.2%; Jones – 29.9%), which isn’t too uncommon for nose tackles, but an emergence from either could bolster an already good front-seven in 2022.
Ready to Breakout: Bud Dupree
Dupree is entering his second season removed from tearing his ACL with the hopes to have a better season with Tennessee. He signed with Tennessee last offseason to a five-year, $82.5 million deal, but was limited to just 11 games in 2021, recording 17 combined tackles, three sacks and five total tackles-for-loss. Over his last two seasons in Pittsburgh, the 29-year-old combined for 19.5 sacks and adds another good pass rusher for a team that ranked inside the top-10 in sacks a year ago. He combined for three sacks over the team’s final five games (including postseason) with a knee that bothered him up until January. So, if he’s healthy for the entirety of 2022, there’s potential he could have a career year on the opposite side of Harold Landry.
Rookie to Watch: Treylon Burks
I did more on him above, but this was obvious to me. I could’ve picked McCreary or even Hassan Haskins/Malik Willis, but I elected to choose Burks. Again, he’ll be fighting for the No. 2 receiver spot with Westbrook-Ikhine. But since he got drafted in-response to the organization trading one of the league’s best receivers — I expect him to receive plenty of opportunity as a rookie.
Fantasy Sleeper: Austin Hooper
The stock has not gone up on Hooper, who was one of the best fantasy tight ends in the league just a few years ago with Atlanta. His two seasons with Cleveland were suboptimal, tallying 38 receptions for 345 yards and three touchdowns in 2021 after recording 46 catches for 435 yards and four scores in 2020. He was not a top-20 fantasy tight end in either of those two seasons after placing in the top-7 in both formats in 2018-19. Now, he’s a consensus No. 24 tight end in standard formats and No. 23 in PPR formats — which I think is too low for a team that completely overhauled its receiving core this offseason.
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