The 2019 NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror, and it’s time for the next part of the NFL calendar. That’s right… massive, rampant speculation! They will go through drills in shorts, and we will endlessly project and prognosticate on their fantasy football futures. There are 78 guys who might have fantasy football relevance after their names were called in Nashville. Our goal with our Fantasy Football Rookie Roundup series is to give you a quick hit on every one of these guys. By the end, you’ll know these guys better than their mothers know them. Because it’s not like their mothers are necessarily good at fantasy football.
The Tennessee Titans are an offense without a direction and a team with too many mouths to feed and no definite plan on how to feed them to rely on anyone in Tennessee for quality fantasy football production. In a move that made me meltdown on air (around 42:30), the Titans jammed another passing weapon into a limited passing offense. I promise not to melt down twice about this.
Round 2, Pick 51 overall – A.J. Brown, Wide Receiver, Ole Miss
First, the feelgoods about A.J. Brown. He was my second-favorite wide receiver in this draft class, and he had some real, solid quality destinations that would have made his fantasy football draft stock fly through the roof. He popped off the tape, with effortless speed and tight moves on his routes. He blasted off against press, and he was just a joy to watch. He was like a greased pick to would-be tacklers and was just a frenetic force. More than being the second-best wide receiver in the class behind N’Keal Harry, he was the most fun to watch out of all the guys taken. That’s what makes his destination, in Tennessee, so unacceptable.
The Titans threw the ball 437 times last year (31st), 496 times in 2017 (28th), and 504 times in 2016 (28th). They are consistently one of the lowest pass-volume teams in the league, and they currently look ready to chop off nearly 30% of those targets for Corey Davis. That leaves about 330-350 targets to divide up between a returning Delanie Walker, a newcomer in Adam Humphries, and last season’s pass-catching running back addition in Dion Lewis. Then, on top of that, they need to make room for A.J. Brown, as well. They purport that they will be able to do all this while trying to build the offense around Derrick Henry. The math just doesn’t work, and it’s going to hurt everyone around for fantasy football. It’s an awful situation, and I’m sick of it, and it is going to tank A.J. Brown’s value, likely, until 2021.
Top line, back of napkin stuff for you here, if all that didn’t convince you: the Titans have not supported two top-36 wide receivers in the same season since 2013 (Nate Washington and Kendall Wright). Why will this be the first year to do that in over half a decade? What gives you that confidence?
TALENT
OPPORTUNITY
2019 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Like what you see? Looking for more hot content like this? Check out the rest of our 2019 Fantasy Football Rookie Roundup pieces, here!
