Titans Promote Wide Receiver From Practice Squad
The Tennessee Titans replenished their wide receiver reserves Wednesday.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, an undrafted rookie out of Indiana, was promoted to the active roster from the practice squad. The move comes a day after Cody Hollister was released, which left Tennessee with just four wide receivers.
“The roster is pretty fluid,” coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday.
The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Westbrook-Ikhine was one of two members of the practice squad added to the active roster for Monday’s season-opener. Under the rule, implemented this year to help teams navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, he was automatically returned to the practice squad the day after the game.
Ultimately, Westbrook-Ikhine was one of the Titans’ eight inactives in their 16-14 victory over the Denver Broncos.
He joins A.J. Brown, Corey Davis, Adam Humphries and Kalif Raymond as options in the passing game for Sunday’s home-opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium.
Westbrook-Ikhine ranks among the Hoosiers’ top 10 for career receptions (sixth with 144), receiving yards (seventh with 2,226), receiving touchdowns (seventh with 16) and 100-yard receiving games (seventh with six). His best season was 2016, when he finished with 54 catches for 992 yards.
A knee injury caused him to miss virtually all of 2017 but he was a key performer for the past two seasons, particularly in 2019, when the Hoosiers won eight games for the first time in 26 years.
Tennessee was one of nine NFL teams that did not draft a wide receiver this year. Westbrook-Ikhine distinguished himself from a group of four undrafted rookies at that position and was the only one signed to the practice squad at the end of the preseason. Now, he has taken it a step farther.
