Tennessee Titans DVOA, Stats, & NFL Rankings

Tennessee Titans running back Julius Chestnut rushed five times for nine yards during Saturday's preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. However, the bulk of his production came in the passing game where he hauled in two of three targets for a total of 37 yards through the air. His best play was a 36-yard pick-up on a short pass from Mason Rudolph in the second quarter. Chestnut has just 12 touches in nine games over the last two years, potentially putting him on the roster bubble ahead of what would be his age-23 season. Regardless of whether he makes the team, Chestnut should be avoided in all fantasy leagues.

Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan said at Wednesday's practice that the deep-ball relationship with quarterback Will Levis and wide receiver Calvin Ridley has not been great so far. "We've missed a few. Hope deep-ball relationship improves as training camp goes on," Callahan noted. Ridley is still getting acquainted with his new quarterback during his first year in Tennessee, and Levis is going to want to form a rapport with his new wideout sooner rather than later in the absence of veteran DeAndre Hopkins (knee). The big-armed Levis is still something of a question mark entering Year 2, but he did lead the league with 10.4 air yards per attempt over 255 pass attempts in his rookie season in 2023. There's plenty of upside here as well for Ridley, who drew a substantial 28 deep targets with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year, but this connection is clearly a work in progress at the moment.

The Tennessee Titans listed an offense with a two-tight end set on their depth chart last year. This year, they listed one tight end in the starting lineup on the first unofficial depth chart of the preseason, and it's split between Chigoziem Okonkwo and Josh Whyle. Fantasy managers should never read too much into unofficial depth charts, especially this early in the preseason, but it's not a great sign for Okonkwo. Tennessee's offense is expected to be more pass-happy under new head coach Brian Callahan, but the 24-year-old Okonkwo will have plenty of competition for targets after the team added wideouts Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd in the offseason. The former fourth-round selection in 2022 out of Maryland caught 54 passes for 528 yards and only one touchdown in 17 games in 2023 in his second year in the league. For now, he's merely a low-end TE2 target in deeper fantasy leagues.

The Tennessee Titans have running backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears listed as co-starters at the position on their first unofficial depth chart of training camp that was released on Monday. We always caution fantasy managers not to read too much into unofficial depth charts in the preseason, but this doesn't come as a surprise after head coach Brian Callahan said that Pollard and Spears are basically interchangeable in the team's 2024 backfield. Tennessee doesn't have a clear-cut starter at RB heading into their first preseason game, and it could be a pretty near-even timeshare. The 27-year-old Pollard does have a three-down skill set, but he averaged a career-low 4.0 yards per carry as Dallas' RB1 last year in his first opportunity as a true lead back. Pollard should be viewed as the team's lead back for fantasy purposes and is worth drafting as a low-end RB2/high-end RB3, while Spears has RB3 utility in point-per-reception leagues.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph has looked very comfortable and has been remarkably accurate as he battles Malik Willis for the No. 2 QB role behind Will Levis in training camp this summer. Willis has improved and looks more comfortable than he's ever been, but Rudolph hasn't left a crack in the door for Willis to pass him. As of right now, Rudolph looks poised to win the backup role in Tennessee. Unofficially, Rudolph has an 84.2% completion rate during camp practices with just one interception. In his NFL career in 21 games (13 starts) with the Steelers from 2018-2023, Rudolph has completed 291 of 458 passes for 3,085 yards, 19 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The 29-year-old signal-caller was mostly just a game manager when forced into a starting role in Pittsburgh, although he could have more upside in what is expected to become a pass-happy offense in Tennessee if Levis misses time with injury in 2024.