The first week of NFL free agency is always the busiest, as teams rush to sign the best talent. However, it is not always possible for a team to fill all the gaps on their roster in just the first week of free agency. In fact, most teams don't attempt to, as they know they have the draft coming up, and can see where they stand after that.
There's loads of ways to improve your roster, it just happens that free agency is probably the least efficient way to do it. For most, if not all teams, free agency is a roster building tool that must be combined with others to produce a winner.
The Tennessee Titans are one such team. With nearly the entire roster needing some help, the Titans went out with a mindset of signing lots of players on cheap contracts to help fix those issues as opposed to signing big names. As mentioned however, the whole roster needs work. The Titans didn't fill every gap they had. In fact, several position groups remain uncertain heading into the draft.
Without further ado, let's look at the biggest need the Titans still have to fill after the first week of free agency.
Wide Receiver
In 2022, the Titans had one of, if not the worst receiver room in the league. In all reality, AJ Brown is really the only truly elite receiver the Titans have had in well over a decade. Of course, he's not around anymore. Treylon Burks was drafted to fill that gap last year, and he showed flashes of brilliance. However, beyond him, it gets grim very fast. It seems clear based on the free agency strategy deployed thus far the Titans are going to draft receivers plural.
That seems like a good option, because the Titans need multiple receivers. The cheapest way to acquire them in bulk, of course, is through the draft. Ran Carthon is willing to play the long game with the Titans roster now that he's in charge of it. That might be a tough pill to swallow for Titans fans, who have seen their team make the playoffs in three of the last four seasons. However, if it produces a consistent contender once again, it's worth it in the end.
Of course there are other needs that will require addressing in the draft and latter stages of free agency. The team could use more offensive line help, edge rushers, and a tight end. However, none of those needs are nearly as pressing as wide receiver. We're talking about, in all likelihood, the least talented wide receiver group in the league. To add onto that, I'm not sure it's particularly close.
The Titans' receiving group is just unacceptable in it's current form. Expect that to be addressed in the draft. Don't be shocked if the Titans sign a cheap receiver leading up to the draft as well, but the bulk of the work will likely be done on draft night. If Ran Carthon can hit on a couple pass catchers, we may not be having this discussion. We could be going into 2024 talking about receiver as a position group that absolutely does not need help.
All that depends on the work that the Titans are going to do between now and the start of the season.
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