Titans Relying Heavily on Rookie WRs

Coming into the Tennessee Titans 2025-26 season, whilst the team pushed for rookie quarterback Cam Ward to be the express future of the franchise, his go-to weapon was intended to be veteran wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Despite the WR’s rough history with the team up to this point, much was forgiven for the sake of what was an overall messy 2024-25 campaign for all involved.

Not Meeting the Mark

Ridley, still on an extravagant 4-year, $92 million dollar deal, was slotted as a sage playmaking presence as the first-year signal caller found his way. What has resulted instead is a QB without any help beyond his years, as Ridley has struggled mightily, in more ways than one, to produce on the field in the desired capacity.

Not only did the seasoned pass-catcher fail to hit anything that could be remotely construed as “WR1” metrics during the time that he did play - he’s still without a touchdown on the season - but his second injury of the year now has him relegated to the sideline the rest of the way. While they had been doing so already to a lesser extent, the Titans now turn to their duo of rookie wideouts in Ridley’s wake.

Enter: Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Elic Ayomanor | Wesley Hitt/GettyImages

First-Year Fusion

Even during the early-season period in which Ridley still found himself on the field and sharing targets, both Dike and Ayomanor were finding ways to get involved, making their current full-on initiation that much easier.

Ayomanor came on first, catching Ward’s first career NFL touchdown pass; he’s since caught one more, and accounts in total for a third of the QB’s six passing scores up to this point.

Dike, on the other hand, spent the first portion of his opening stretch operating on special teams, where he would secure AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors on his way to a more permanent role in the Titans’ offense.

In lieu of Ridley - and Tyler Lockett’s own requested release, an entirely different issue in itself - Dike has since nabbed a touchdown of his own. Despite dealing with (what appears to be) a short-term chest injury for the time being, the rookie has joined Ayomanor in necessitating his own role in the offense.

Tennessee will be forced to rely on both these rookie weapons going forward and, if and when all else fails, the team can at least put stock in their developing playmakers making continuous strides.

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