I heard an interesting comment last week from Terry McCormick, the Titans beat writer for The [Nashville] City Paper. It wouldn’t surprise him if the Titans keep only five receivers when they cut down to a 53-man roster on Saturday.
The reasoning is that Mike Heimerdinger will only be using four WRs. The fifth one would be inactive on gamedays and only be activated for those games in which another receiver can’t go. No reason to waste an extra roster spot or two on guys who won’t see the field.
Jim Wyatt blogged Monday on a related note. He says we should just focus on what the top three WRs can do and not to worry about who the last three are (assuming the Titans keep six or seven.)
Wyatt believes that Justin Gage, Justin McCareins and Brandon Jones are the top three. I wrote the same in this piece last week.
There’s no way Roydell Williams will be the fourth guy. He’s not ready to play and will very possibly be cut, as Drexel Perry wrote yesterday.
Fred Graves, Heimerdinger and Jeff Fisher have had all spring and summer to evaluate the receivers. They certainly should already have their list of who’s who in the pecking order and who will make the final cut. I doubt if Thursday night’s game at Green Bay will make much of a difference, if any, in their decision. Unless of course, one guy on the bubble really shows something or another really screws up.
I believe Lavelle Hawkins and Biren Ealy have the best chances at being numbers four and five. Roydell may luck out and get the sixth or seventh spot, if available, based on past performance.
It seems like every year, the “final” 53-man roster changes a day later, as the Titans pick up a player or two released by another team. It won’t surprise me a bit if a WR who was released by another team is better than our fifth or sixth guy and is picked up.
If you’re one of the people wondering about the bottom of the depth chart instead of the top, the next several days will be interesting.
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