FanHouse Justin Mccareins

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Well here we have it. After years of neglect, the Titans have finally decided to fix their receiver problem by drafting a big and fast receiver in the first round. By picking up Kenny Britt, Tennessee has finally realized that they can't ignore the team's biggest weakness. Right?

That may sound like a fair way to sum up the decision to draft the Rutgers wide receiver in the first round, but it leaves out a pretty significant point--Tennessee has been drafting plenty of receivers, they just can't seem to draft the right ones. It's unfair to say that the Titans have completely neglected the receiving corps. They've just been unable to properly scout/develop them. The Titans hit the jackpot by drafting Derrick Mason in the fourth-round in 1997, but they've consistently busted on picking receivers ever since.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The Titans' 2008 season ranks as one of the greatest in team history. After a couple of years of either just making or just missing the playoffs, the Titans took a big step forward, finishing the season with the NFL's best record (13-3). Rookie running back Chris Johnson emerged as a big-play threat and Kerry Collins not only took over the starting quarterback job from Vince Young but proved that he has some life left in his arm.

Tennessee Titans: possible No. 1 team by default, sitting on their laurels.

After the Cowboys, Redskins and Giants all stunningly fell to muddle up the NFC East, attention now turns to the only undefeated team left, over in Tennessee. You know, the same team that could really use a clear-cut top wideout to give their offense a Hulk Hogan-style big boot.

While trying to figure out who really is the top team in this parity-filled NFL season, one of the few knocks people will have on Tennessee is the lack of a passing threat that matches up to their crushing defense (11.2 points per game allowed) and the dynamic rushing combo of rookie Chris Johnson and LenDale White. Oh yeah, and that 35-year-old journeyman that's currently their quarterback might not work wonders all year.

The star quarterback has had the cops called to look for him, has quit on his team and has now potentially dropped to third string. That doesn't sound like the headlines of a team that's playing to go 3-0 this week, but if Tennessee can top the Texans this week, they'll be the first Titans' team to go 3-0 since 1999.

As we all know, that season turned out to be a pretty good one.

Now, it's an uphill battle this week with Justin Gage potentially out with a hamstring injury. That may not seem like a big deal, but Gage has seven catches this year, while the rest of the Titans receiving corps has five. If Gage can't go, the Titans will likely start Brandon Jones (Tennessee's No. 3 receiver who actually is second among wideouts with three catches). But if Gage is out, the combo of Jones and Justin McCareins will allow the Texans to bring a safety up into the box to try to slow down Chris Johnson and Lendale White because Jones and McCareins will scare nobody.

That would just put a little more pressure on the Titans defense, but that's something their used to. And if they can keep up their pace from the first two games (8.5 points per game), the Titans can stick with just about anbody, even if the receivers are awful.

But there are other players whose value just changed with these injuries as well. They're not replacing the player in question, but the loss of that guy changes their own value – some in good ways, others in bad. Let's take a look.

Tom Brady's knee: And sure, Cassel gets himself a gig. But another first round fantasy pick also loses a decent amount of value in Randy Moss, who will now be trying to catch passes from a guy who has never had a starting job since high school. Wes Welker, ranked at or near the top-10 in WR himself, also loses value – though presumably less because he tends to run shorter routes that should be easier on what amounts to a rookie QB.

Vince Young's knee: Unless you play in the deepest of leagues, you don't own, nor did you really even consider, starting WRs Justin Gage and Justin McCareins. In fact, you may have been unaware that starters share the same first name. In truth, Collins is a better quarterback than the injured Young, so the two Justins both get a bump, albeit a small one in value. At RB, Chris Johnson's value spiked up with his performance in Week One, and there's no reason for that to come down without Young behind center. LenDale White also probably deserves to get a bit more love, since there should continue to be plenty of carries to go around.

Vince Young's first half numbers against the Jaguars weren't very awful--7-for-12, 81 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, but maybe they'd be a lot better if he actually had a wide receiver that frightened defenses.

In the first half, Young threw five passes to Titans tight ends and running backs. On those five passes, he was 5-for-5 for 63 yards with a touchdown.

Unfortunately, you also have to throw to wide receiver if you expect to work the ball downfield--that didn't go nearly as well, as Young was only 2-of-7 for 9 yards with one interception when throwing to starting receivers Justin Gage and Justin McCareins. Gage has been the worst offender, as he caught one of the five passes thrown his way.

It's not that Young isn't somewhat at fault as well--his touchdown pass to Chris Johnson was only a touchdown because Johnson made an outstanding catch, but everything gets a little tougher when your receivers can't get open. Young needs to show improvement this year, but the Titans need some better receivers too.

Two games into the preseason, it's pretty clear that the Titans running game is in good shape, and there's little reason to worry about the defense. But it's fair to ask when the Titans passing game is going to make its first appearance.

If you were looking for Vince Young to build off of his uneven 2008 opener, you're still waiting. Young looked worse this week, bouncing passes to some receivers and overthrowing others. When it was over, he was a pretty brutal 4-for-13 for 37 yards. Actually that's the good news, as those stats don't fully tell the story--as the game went on, Young got worse and worse. He started out going 3-for-3 with a sack on his first four pass plays, then went 1-for-10 over the remainder of his short stay on the field. On third downs he was 1-for-5 with no first downs.

Now this isn't all Young's fault. As Kerry Collins' 4-for-15 follow-up showed, part of the problem is that the Titans have won of the worst receiving corps in the league. Presumed starters Justin McCareins and Justin Gage combined for one catch for 18 yards, and Brandon Jones was shutout. Tight end Alge Crumpler is supposed to be Vince Young's new security blanket--he has two catches for 12 yards in two games.

In a sorta shocking development, the Titans released wideout Mike Williams last week after the Lions 2005 former first-round pick washed out in Detroit and Oakland. That he was cut isn't necessarily newsworthy, but that it happened just a week into training camp had to be unexpected. Or not, who knows.

Either way, the Titans were kind enough to explain why Williams is currently seeking employment.

"It was a combination of things we weren't getting from him. There were too many drops. We just didn't see improvement,'' Coach Jeff Fisher said. "He's had potential. He still has potential. Maybe he'll realize it someplace else.''

So, apparently, there's more to being an NFL wide receiver than not being fat. Interesting. What's most troubling, perhaps, is that the Titans current crop of wideouts aren't exactly Randy Moss and Wes Welker. That Williams couldn't make it more than a few days competing against the likes of Justin McCareins and Justin Gage pretty much tells you all you need to know.

Plus, when chronic underachiever LenDale White is giving you career advice, it might be time to look into a new line of work.

"No disrespect to Mike Williams, I love Mike Williams, but he is going to have show people that he is really serious about playing football,'' said running back LenDale White, who was a teammate of Williams at USC. "Unfortunately, they might be talking about him like Ryan Leaf as one of the worst draft decisions.''

Ryan Leaf has every right to be offended by that remark, by the way.

Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.

For a team that is now built around its franchise quarterback, the Tennessee Titans sure don't do a lot to help him out.

The day the Colts drafted Peyton Manning, they already had Marvin Harrison. But they also made sure that they gave him other targets. Between Brandon Stokley, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, Manning has always had a plethora of quality pass-catching options.

Tom Brady may not have had Pro Bowlers at wide receiver until Randy Moss and Wes Welker showed up, but between David Givens, Deion Branch and Troy Brown, he always had a set of very reliable targets.

The news coming out of today's Tennessean's see you in late-July preview is that Justin McCareins is likely going to have a starting job when the Titans open the season.

It's hard to say if that's good news or bad news. The good news version is that Tennessee has brought back a receiver who was a outstanding deep threat the last time he was in Tennessee. He's reunited with his former offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger. For a team that didn't go deep very often in 2007, McCareins could help solve the problem.

The bad news version is that McCareins will turn 30 this season, he has caught one touchdown and less than 700 yards in his past two seasons combined, and he was phased out of the Jets offense because he had serious problems with drops. As Jim Wyatt points out, the fact that McCareins was able to step in and immediately retake a starting job says as much about the team's problems at wide receiver as it does bout McCareins' talent.