The Tennessee Titans have a slew of players who may or may not turn out to be viable fantasy football assets in 2022, and tight end Austin Hooper and wide receivers Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Treylon Burks all fall into that category.
The Titans are hoping Burks is the heir-apparent to wideout A.J. Brown, who Tennessee traded away during the 2022 NFL draft. Burks got off to a rough start thanks to conditioning issues, but he has since turned things around.
Another receiver worth keeping an eye on is Westbrook-Ikhine. The 2020 UDFA was Tennessee’s No. 2 receiver in 2021 but mostly because the team was ravaged by injuries at the position.
Finally, we have Hooper, who is yet another new addition to this offense. Adding Hooper was a must, as Tennessee saw lackluster production and overall play from its tight ends in 2022.
Now that we have a little background on each player, here’s some start or sit advice for their matchup against the New York Giants in Week 1.
Treylon Burks: Sit
With so many new faces in the Titans’ passing game, and with Ryan Tannehill seeing no snaps with the first-team offense in the preseason, there’s simply no telling how things will play out in the early going.
Burks, who looked good in training camp and the preseason, is competing for targets with guys like Robert Woods, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Kyle Philips, all of whom are expected to see snaps.
The rookie looks primed to play a big role and to be productive in his first season, but we fully expect to see a wide-receiver-by-committee to begin 2022. Keep Burks on the bench until we get more clarity.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine: Sit
Much of the reason you should sit NWI is explained in our write-up for Burks above. There is simply no telling how things are going to shake out with Tennessee’s new-look receiving corps. this year, especially early on.
If there’s one receiver who does have a good chance to see a lot of targets early as Tannehill gets more acclimated with his new weapons, it’s NWI, who is the only receiver returning from the 2021 group.
Even with that being the case, Westbrook-Ikhine is a chain-mover more than anything else and the chances of him posting big production are slim.
Perhaps that changes over the course of the year, but keep him out of lineups until it does.
Austin Hooper: Sit
Hooper will be playing his first game with the Titans in Week 1, and while he and Tannehill haven’t gotten any live-game reps together, the two seemed to be building a solid chemistry in training camp.
However, as we laid out with NWI and Burks, depending on any Titans pass-catcher when we don’t know much about how this offense will run with so many new pieces is a risky proposition.
For now we don’t consider Hooper a viable option in 12-team leagues, especially after being irrelevant fantasy-wise the past two seasons.
