The 2020 Tennessee Titans were the first bigas non grata with COVID-19 protocols, blowing up the Steelers’ schedule and letting the league have a whipping boy to let out their COVID-related frustrations and anxieties. In the end, the Tennessee Titans made the playoffs and had the silliest standoff with the Baltimore Ravens in football history, twice! The Tennessee Titans let Corey Davis and Jonnu Smith leave, and replaced them with a mix of Josh Reynolds, and rookies Dez Fitzpatrick and Racey McMath. What can we expect from the rookie Tennessee Titans wide receivers for 2021 fantasy football?
FULL TENNESSEE TITANS DRAFT RESULTS
| Rd | Pick | Player | Pos. | College |
| 1 | 22 | Caleb Farley | CB | Virginia Tech |
| 2 | 53 | Dillon Radunz | OT | North Dakota State |
| 3 | 92 | Monty Rice | LB | Georgia |
| 3 | 100 | Elijah Molden | CB | Washington |
| 4 | 109 | Dez Fitzpatrick | WR | Louisville |
| 4 | 135 | Rashad Weaver | DE | Pittsburgh |
| 6 | 205 | Racey McMath | WR | LSU |
| 6 | 215 | Brady Breeze | S | Oregon |
Round 4, Pick 109 Overall: Dez Fitzpatrick, Wide Receiver, Louisville (6’2” 210 pounds)
Depth Chart:
WR1: A.J. Brown
WR2: Josh Reynolds
WR3: Dez Fitzpatrick
WR4: Chester Rogers
WR5: Cameron Batson
WR6: Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
WR7: Racey McMath
TALENT
Dez Fitzpatrick has the size and the look of an NFL receiver, but he really doesn’t play up to his size. He is an adept hands-fighter, but if a DB gets a good hit on him, he flies off his routes. Fitzpatrick also has trouble getting open against man, relying instead on his size to overpower opposing defensive backs. Fitzpatrick does great as a 50/50 guy and a deeper threat guy, but his routes are raw and undeveloped, and he’s sloppy in and out of his brakes.
That having been said, he’s adept at finding the hole in a zone and he has good hands (though he suffers from focus drops). All told, Fitzpatrick probably helps Ryan Tannehill more than fantasy football managers in his rookie campaign. It really feels like he’s a developmental/depth guy that the Titans reached several rounds for out of desperation to fill their wide receiver room.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
A.J. Brown, Anthony Firkser, and Derrick Henry are the top-three most-targeted players from the 2020 iteration of the Titans returning to Tennessee for the 2021 NFL season. They added Fitzpatrick and Josh Reynolds (and Racey McMath, but you don’t have to worry about him). I can’t think of a bigger talent to opportunity mismatch than Fitzpatrick. He won’t deserve the targets he gets in a better WR room, but he isn’t in a better WR room, he’s in the Tennessee Titans’ WR room, so he will get more opportunity than he deserves.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Things don’t look great for Dez Fitzpatrick on a talent-level basis, but on an opportunity basis, he could have a ton of targets. And, after all, fantasy football is a game of targets. I am not bullish on him as a player, but I am somewhat bullish on his opportunity. Ultimately, I think this becomes a three-man passing game, with A.J. Brown, Anthony Firkser, and Josh Reynolds soaking up all the targets, but if one of them succumbs to injury, then Fitzpatrick will be the main beneficiary, volume-wise.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 6, Pick 205 Overall: Racey McMath, Wide Receiver, LSU (6’3” 224 pounds)
Depth Chart:
WR1: A.J. Brown
WR2: Josh Reynolds
WR3: Dez Fitzpatrick
WR4: Chester Rogers
WR5: Cameron Batson
WR6: Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
WR7: Racey McMath
TALENT
Racey McMath just sort of runs in a straight line, and he doesn’t run fast enough to get open against opposing defensive backs. McMath also can’t sell any sort of breaking route to keep opposing DBs honest, so they just give him a ton of cushion and let him run into it. In the instances that he does break his route off, he isn’t an exceptional athlete or route runner, so he’s frequently breaking with enough time to let the defensive back recover.
That having been said, McMath has very strong hands and a strong body; opposing defensive backs just bounce off of him when he goes to catch the ball. Despite that, he is very timid at the point of attack on passes. Luckily, he is very athletic when he has the ball in his hands, and can do work once he has it. But given that he can’t run a route very well and has trouble tracking downfield balls, he has a path forward in the NFL mostly on special teams and as a depth piece.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
Well, Racey McMath was a reserve wide receiver when the LSU Tigers had actual wide receivers around him but… the 2019 LSU wide receiver room was better than the 2021 Tennessee Titans’ WR room? So there’s actually a shot at opportunity, here. That is if Racey McMath was a better wide receiver. He will still fall far down the pecking order, as the #4 target at best for Ryan Tannehill in 2021.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
I am not interested in getting McMath in any fantasy football format.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Earn a Five Goodell grade by checking out these links!
