Summer Sleeper: Tennessee Titans

Ryan Finley Posted On August 6, 2015

summersleeper

Editor’s Note: This article is written by a new writer for DLF – Ryan Finley. We’re excited to have Ryan and look forward to seeing his work here in the future!

We continue our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series where DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers like Allen Robinson or C.J. Anderson, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Alfred Morris is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

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Let’s be honest about the Tennessee Titans. They have a roster that doesn’t exactly strike fear in the competition. In fact, their roster is without a single blue chip player. There’s no Calvin Johnson, no Andrew Luck, not even a much-maligned Alfred Morris. So, in a way, everyone on the Titans is a sleeper. But you could also say the Titans are due for someone to break out. The question is who?

First, let’s take a look at recent combine results for two players:

mcbridestats

It’s a fairly comparable list of statistics. There are some minor differences here and there, but for the most part they look fairly equal on paper. The biggest difference comes in each player’s draft position. “Player A” is Sammy Watkins and was drafted fourth overall in 2014. “Player B” is my pick for the Titans sleeper to watch this season.

Tre McBride, WR TEN (Deep Sleeper)

“Player B” wasn’t drafted anywhere near #4 overall. McBride was the last wide receiver taken in the 2015 NFL draft with pick number 245. He also represents what may be the largest draft fall in the entire class. Most draft grades put him somewhere in the third to fourth round range, but he fell all the way to the seventh round. He didn’t quite make it to Mr. Irrelevant, but he was close.

titans So, why did he fall so precipitously?

There aren’t any documented off-field issues, nor are there any significant injuries. There are some rumblings McBride may be a bit of a diva and that may have led to his drop. But the NFL is rife with any number of very successful divas, both past and present. Perhaps McBride was downgraded a bit due to playing for a smaller school in William & Mary. Whatever it is, McBride fell like a rock.

As if dropping to the seventh round wasn’t enough, he didn’t land in the best situation in Tennessee. Looking at that depth chart, however, you’ll see McBride doesn’t have a whole lot to overcome to steal some playing time. He has to beat out a collection of also-rans in Harry Douglas, Hakeem Nicks and Jacoby Ford, along with fellow rookie Dorial Green-Beckham and the recently arrested Justin Hunter. Even the very top of the Titans depth chart with Kendall Wright doesn’t inspire a whole lot of fear – so the opportunity is there for McBride if he can seize it in training camp.

McBride’s tape shows a receiver with great leaping ability and body control who can win 50/50 balls. He doesn’t seem to play at the speed his combine 40-time indicates, but that also might be relative to the competition he faced in the CAA. Like most receiver prospects, he does need to improve his route running. In addition to his receiving skills, he also returned kicks in college, so this could help him secure a roster spot over his competition.

McBride is currently going around pick #180 in startups and in the early fourth in rookie drafts. He has the tools and talent to outplay that cost of ownership handily.

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