Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
Veteran WR Added in Trade with Super Bowl Champs
NASHVILLE – For the second straight year, the Tennessee Titans have traded for an aging wide receiver.
This time, they did not have to pay as hefty a price.
Tennessee agreed acquire Robert Woods from the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, a team source confirmed to All Titans.
Woods, 29, is a nine-year veteran who has two 1,000-yard seasons to his credit and missed just 12 games in his first eight seasons. In 2021, however, he tore a knee ligament in practice nine games into the season and was out the rest of the way, including four postseason contests capped by the Rams’ victory in Super Bowl LVI.
It is similar to last year’s acquisition of Julio Jones, who was limited by a hamstring injury to nine games played in his final season with the Atlanta Falcons. That cost the Titans a second-round pick in this year’s draft and a fourth-round choice in 2023. Jones has been released with a post-June 1 designation following a disappointing and injury-plagued 2021 season.
Tennessee also got a sixth-round selection in 2023 as part of the Jones deal. It is not immediately clear whether that is the pick that went to the Rams in this transaction.
Woods (6-foot, 195 pounds) is not considered an all-time great along the lines of Jones (he never has been the Pro Bowl or named an All-Pro), but he has been a consistently productive player throughout his career. He has averaged 63.3 receptions, 786.3 yards and 3.9 touchdowns per season.
He also is versatile. Last season, he played 323 snaps on the outside and 193 in the slot prior to the injury.
A second-round pick (41st overall) by Buffalo in 2013, he played four seasons with the Bills before he signed a free-agent deal with the Rams in 2017. In 2020, he signed a four-year, $65 million extension with Los Angeles that runs through 2025 and includes a salary-cap hit of $15.7 million for this season. That number increases with each subsequent year, but the Titans can save more than $9 million against the cap if they cut him after this season.
Woods set a career-high with 90 receptions in 2019 and matched that number the next season. His career-best in receiving yards was 1,219 in 2018, the same season he set a career-high with six touchdown receptions. He had six touchdown catches again in 2020.
Before his injury last season, he was on pace for 85 receptions and just over 1,000 yards.
