I saw a feel-good story about fifth-rounder Kyle Philips go by, and it’s got me wondering if the Titans might have another Hunter Renfrow or Amon-Ra St. Brown on their hands. Every once in a blue moon, these later round receivers carve out decent roles.
Tennessee definitely has a need at the position. They selected Treylon Burks in the first round, but he struggled during the offseason, in part because of an asthma condition. Robert Woods should be their leading receiver if he can get back to where he was at a few years ago; he caught 90 passes in both 2019 and 2020. But he’s working his way back from a torn ACL.
The receiver situation is dire enough that Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (who made the team as undrafted free agent two years ago) possibly will be a starter.
Enter Philips, a fifth-round pick out of UCLA. There was a feature story on him at the team’s website, with both Ryan Tannehill and Rob Moore (the team’s position coach) saying good things about him.
"Kyle's definitely a great route runner," Tannehill said. "He's got some quickness, some agility, (and I'm) getting to learn his craft as he learns our offense and sees where he fits in.
"But definitely he's flashed for me a few times and (I've) seen some good things. So, I'll definitely keep the pressure on him as he learns what we're doing, and I think if he does that, he'll continue to make plays."
Philips is a smaller receiver (5-11, 177) but led UCLA last year with 59 catches for 739 yards and 10 TDs. Those aren’t big numbers, but the Bruins had a modest passing offense, averaging only 226 yards per game (and with only 23 TDs all year). And Philips also scored on a punt return.
I don’t think Philips is at the point where anybody should be drafting him (not in any format I can think of). But add him to the list of rookies who’ll be worth a look in August. Looks like a decent contender to maybe become one of Tennessee’s three main wide receivers.
If Philips outperforms Burks, it would be unexpected but not unprecedented. Playing around with the stats, I see 10 cases in the 16-game era where a team has selected a wide receiver in the first round, with that player then being outperformed in his first year by another rookie receiver on his own team. Most famously, Anquan Boldin for the Cardinals in 2003 was simply a lot better than Bryant Johnson. The Bengals in 1981 selected a wide receiver before Cris Collinsworth. And undrafted Jakobi Meyers outplayed N’Keal Harry in New England in 2019.
| SECOND STAB AT IT | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rec | Yds | TD | First-round WR |
| 2019 | Jakobi Meyers, N.E. | 26 | 359 | 0 | N'Keal Harry (12-105-2) |
| 2017 | Josh Malone, Cin. | 6 | 63 | 1 | John Ross (0-0-0) |
| 2009 | Louis Murphy, Oak. | 34 | 521 | 4 | Darrius Heyward-Bey (9-124-1) |
| 2003 | Anquan Boldin, Ariz. | 101 | 1377 | 8 | Bryant Johnson (35-438-1) |
| 2002 | Robert Ferguson, G.B. | 22 | 293 | 3 | Javon Walker (23-319-1) |
| 1997 | Brian Manning, Mia. | 7 | 85 | 0 | Yatil Green (0-0-0) |
| 1987 | Curtis Duncan, Hou. | 13 | 237 | 5 | Haywood Jeffires (7-89-0) |
| 1987 | Odessa Turner, NYG | 10 | 195 | 1 | Mark Ingram (2-32-0) |
| 1982 | Kenny Duckett, N.O. | 12 | 196 | 2 | Lindsay Scott (17-251-0) |
| 1981 | Cris Collinsworth, Cin. | 67 | 1009 | 8 | David Verser (6-161-2) |
—Ian Allan