Two preseason games does not a draft make, but my theories as to why the Titans didn’t draft a wide receiver in the early rounds are beginning to prove correct. 

I still remember Steve Young on ESPN saying how he was so positive that the Titans were going to draft Malcom McDowell that he had McDowell’s name written in pen beside the Titans draft pick. But we didn’t. We picked Chris Johnson, an East Carolina running back that I’d heard little about in the days leading up to the draft. At that moment, Fisher and Reinfeld’s logic became clear. Like a sunrise removing the night’s shadow, I gradually began to understand how the Titans offensive would operate with Vince Young.

At this point in Young’s career, good running backs behind him are much more helpful than good wide receivers flanking him. Here’s why: Young’s decision-making isn’t yet quick enough and his accuracy isn’t consistent enough to have merely good receivers around him because he wouldn’t be able to get them the ball consistent enough for them to help him. He’s simply not there yet in his development. Good first and second down running backs who can put him in 3rd and 4 situations will give him a better chance to succeed because the number of decisions he has to make in a game will be lowered and the complexity of the decisions are diminished. Fewer situations where he has to attempt long passes will better set him up to succeed. 

For the Titans to have drafted a first round wide receiver, he couldn’t be someone who could get open for a moment so that the quarterback could deliver a well-timed pass. He would need to be someone who either could get so open that you couldn’t help but throw him the ball (like Steve Smith) or someone who doesn’t have to be open for you to throw to him (like Randy Moss). A player of that caliber would not have been available at the 23rd pick. Now, it’s possible a receiver in the draft could develop into that player (Smith himself was a 3rd rounder), but you can’t draft someone at an early pick in the hopes that he’ll develop into a certain type of player if you don’t see that potential in him. That’d be like drafting an okay linebacker just because you know you need a linebacker but then hoping he’ll become a Ray Lewis. That’s not how it works. You must see the “Ray Lewis” in him. Similarly, the Titans must see the “Steve Smith” in the receiver before drafting.

What I’ve seen thus far in Chris Johnson, the Titans’ first round pick, is a fast, decisive runner who, because of those two attributes, will open up defenses as a homerun threat.

 Fisher, a conservative play caller, (which is much more successful in the NFL than in college) plans to win games with defense, chemistry, and physicality, not necessarily by “outsmarting” the other coach with elaborate play calling. That’s why stockpiling running backs will be more helpful than receivers. Do the Titans need an upgrade at receiver? Yes. Most NFL teams do. But there’s only a small number of number one receivers who’d be good enough to give Vince Young the type of help worth paying big money for.