The Tennessee Titans whittled their roster down to 53 players last week and are now focused on their Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Sept. 10.
The Titans have made some changes to their roster since cutdown day, but the biggest one on offense came when the team placed wide receiver Kyle Philips on injured reserve.
Buy Titans TicketsPhilips hurt his knee during preseason Week 2 and the unspecified MCL injury will force him to miss at least the first four games of the season.
As a result, that has caused a change in the team’s projected starting offense, as Philips was expected to be the team’s third receiver, working out of the slot.
So, who will serve as Tennessee’s third receiver now? We’ll take a look at that and the rest of Tennessee’s starting offense going into Week 1.
Just a note: the projection includes a WR3 and TE2 to account for three-receivers sets and 12 personnel.
QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB: Derrick Henry
WR1: DeAndre Hopkins
WR2: Treylon Burks
TE1: Chigoziem Okonkwo
WR3/TE2: Chris Moore/Trevon Wesco
Moore is no doubt Tennessee’s third-best wide receiver with Philips on the shelf, which puts him in position to step up in Philips’ place instead of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
The good thing about Moore is he allows versatility in the offense, as he can line up outside, also. That will allow the Titans to deploy DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks out of the slot, as well, when they utilize three receivers.
Wesco gets the nod over rookie Josh Whyle thanks to his superior blocking ability. Not to mention, Whyle had a rough offseason and is hardly ready to step into any semblance of an important role for Tennessee.
LT: Andre Dillard
LG: Peter Skoronski
C: Aaron Brewer
RG: Daniel Brunskill
RT: Chris Hubbard
This is really the only starting position that is at least somewhat in question at the moment after head coach Mike Vrabel said Hubbard wasn’t set in stone as the starter.
However, I highly doubt the Titans will make a switch this late in the game, so I expect Hubbard to be out there in Week 1. How long he stays in this starting spot remains to be seen, though.