Byard: Rookie Looks to be Tannehill's New 'Go-To'

NASHVILLE – The numbers ultimately will tell the story.

For now, though, something Kevin Byard said at the conclusion of training camp spoke volumes about how the Tennessee Titans’ passing game has evolved since the offseason departures of wide receiver A.J. Brown and four others who were among their top seven in receptions last season.

“Obviously, Kyle Philips has been like [quarterback] Ryan [Tannehill’s] go-to receiver in two-minute and a lot of different situations,” Byard said Thursday.

He ought to know. Byard is the leader of the Titans’ defense and one of the NFL’s most productive pass defenders in recent seasons. As such, he has matched up against Tannehill and the Titans’ offense almost daily throughout the offseason and through camp, which opened on July 27.

Philips, a fifth-round pick out of UCLA is this year’s draft, consistently earned more and more time with the first-team offense as things progressed, and – if Byard is correct – is now a guy to whom Tannehill will look early and often this season.

“He gets open, catches the ball, and he knows where to go,” coach Mike Vrabel said recently. “… I think he does a good job of recognizing whether it's man or zone, how he wants to run his route, and be decisive.

“It looks like the quarterback trusts him.”

Make no mistake, Tannehill does play favorites when it comes to his pass-catchers.

For the past two-plus seasons, Brown was his preferred target. In Tannehill’s first start for Tennessee, the two connected six times, which was twice as many as the wide receiver – then a rookie – in any pervious game.

Eighteen times in 43 starts (41.9 percent) Tannehill targeted Brown eight times or more. Over the same span, he targeted eight others eight times or more a combined 14 times. There were eight instances in which he threw to the same player 11 times or more in a single contest, five of them were to Brown.

There have been 14 times with Tannehill as the quarterback that a Titans player caught seven or more passes in a game. Brown, who was traded to Philadelphia in April, accounted for eight of them.

If Philips is indeed his guy, Tannehill won’t be throwing to the same spots this year.

Brown is 6-foot-1, 226 pounds and made a lot of plays on the outside and down the field, where he matched up (often overmatched) with undersized cornerbacks and won physical battles for the ball.

Philips is 5-foot-11, 189 pounds and operates primarily out of the slot. From there, he uses quickness and precision to get open in spaces that are available amidst some combination of linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties.

“(Philips) has come out here, he’s made some plays,” wide receivers coach Rob Moore said. “He’s immersed himself in the playbook. There’s not a bunch of mental errors, and he practices hard. He has a lot of the qualities that we thought he had when we drafted him.”

The thought of not having to wait as long for Philips to get open as he often did for Brown probably holds some appeal for Tannehill as well. After all, he was sacked 47 times in 2021, second among all NFL quarterbacks to Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and the second-highest total of his career.

The preseason has done nothing to support Byard’s assertion. Philips has just one reception for 11 yards in the first two games.

“Just keep getting better every day and then come game time help my team by making some plays, making some blocks,” Philips said. “And – obviously – win the game because that’s what’s most important.”

Of course, Tannehill has not played in either of those contests. So, until he does get under center outside of a practice, everyone simply must take Byard’s word for where Tannehill looks most often.