Titans Have Dubious History With Elite, but Aging Wide Receivers

Sunday’s trade for Julio Jones has given Tennessee Titans players, coaches and fans more reasons than ever to look forward to the 2021 NFL season.

The addition of a seven-time Pro Bowler to an offense that already features running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver A.J. Brown has created optimism that the Titans will have one of the most exciting and productive attacks among the league’s 32 teams.

A look back, however, provides a different perspective.

Jones is not the first elite wide receiver Tennessee has acquired in the latter stages of his career. In fact, of the NFL’s top 40 in career receptions, he is the fourth.

If things work out with Jones, who ranks 29th all-time with 848 catches, it will be the first time.

A look at notable wide receivers who had brief, mostly forgettable stints with the Titans.

Carl Pickens (2000)

Career stats: 129 games, 540 receptions, 7,129 yards, 63 TDs

Titans stats: 9 games, 10 receptions, 242 yards, 0 TDs

Pickens (pictured) was a two-time Pro Bowler in eight years with the Cincinnati Bengals. He led the NFL with 17 touchdown catches in 1995, which was part of a run of three straight seasons with 10 or more. He topped 1,000 receiving yards four times in five years from 1994-98 and set a career-high with 100 receptions in 1996.

The Titans signed him to a five-year deal early in training camp, but the mercurial Pickens never got comfortable. He was inactive for three games in October and when he returned to the lineup, Oct. 30 at Washington, his streak of 96 consecutive games with at least one reception ended. He was inactive twice more in November and dressed but did not play in a December contest. He never caught more than three passes in a game and had just two receptions over the final 12 contests in what turned out to be his final season.

Eric Moulds (2007)

Career stats: 186 games, 764 receptions, 9,995 yards, 84 TDs

Titans stats: 16 games, 32 receptions, 342 yards, 0 TDs

Moulds was a three-time Pro Bowler in 10 seasons with Buffalo and is tied for 38th among the NFL’s all-time receptions leaders with 764. He had four 1,000-yard seasons and finished among the league’s top 10 in receptions and receiving yards three times each. He set a career-high with 100 receptions in 2002 with the Bills.

He signed with Tennessee just in time for the start of training camp after one season with the Houston Texans. He led the team in receptions in back-to-back games, Weeks 4-5, but had more than 50 yards in a game once and had just two receptions of more than 20 yards. At 34 years old, he was a starter for the first eight games but a backup for the second half of the season, his last in the NFL.

Randy Moss (2010)

Career stats: 218 games, 982 receptions, 15,292 yards, 156 yards

Titans stats: 8 games, 6 receptions, 80 yards, 0 TDs

Moss is a Hall of Famer who topped 1,000 receiving yards in his first six – and 10 of his first 12 – NFL seasons and led the league in touchdown catches five times. He ranks second in career touchdown receptions and fourth in career receiving yards. He was the 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year, when the Titans chose wide receiver Kevin Dyson instead of him, and a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro.

The Titans claimed Moss off waivers after his release by the Minnesota Vikings, who had acquired him earlier in the season in a trade with New England. His first reception for the Titans went for 26 yards, but he failed to make a catch on three targets the next week. There was a three-game stretch in December in which he had no passes thrown to him, and his best game consisted of three receptions for 23 yards. Of the five teams with which he played Tennessee was the only one for which he did not score a touchdown.

Andre Johnson (2016)

Career stats: 193 games, 1,062 receptions, 14,185 yards, 70 TDs

Titans stats: 8 games, 9 receptions, 85 yards, 2 TDs

The third overall pick in 2003 was a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro in 12 seasons with the Texans. He led the league in receptions twice (2006, 2008) and in receiving yards twice (2008, 2009), had five seasons with more than 100 receptions and seven with more than 1,000 receiving yards. He is currently 11th in NFL career receptions and receiving yards.

He was 35 and fresh off one season with Indianapolis when the Titans signed him two a two-year deal at the start of training camp. He made a notable impact in Week 2 when his 9-yard touchdown reception with 1:13 to play provided difference in a 16-15 victory over Detroit. That was his only catch and target of that contest, though. He went three straight games from Weeks 6-8 without a reception then left the team and decided to call it a career. The Titans officially cut him the following April, and two days later he signed a one-day contract with Houston so he could retire with that franchise.