Titans 53-Man Roster 2025: Gunnar Helm is the future, the truth about Josh Whyle, forgotten TE’s who will shake up the roster originally appeared on A to Z Sports.
I was wrong about how the Tennessee Titans tight end room is going to shake out before OTA’s. I want to talk about why, because the common knowledge on this position remains incorrect almost universally amongst fans and media.
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This is the second and final TE installment of an ongoing article series, breaking down the Titans projected 53-man roster one position at a time. Here’s what we’ve covered so far, in case you’ve missed it:
In this edition, let’s talk about what’s changing in this room and why:
Tight Ends
Cuts: Josh Whyle
Helm’s Rookie Impact
I don’t see any reason why Gunnar Helm can’t be the future of this position for the Titans. And the future may be here pretty soon.
Some have already wondered aloud whether Helm is the best tight end on this roster today, and that’s a bit rich for my blood. He’s still a rookie at a position that makes for a historically slow transition from college to pro. He’s also going to need a season to get his body right for the rigors of an NFL-length season in such a physical role. He may wane down the stretch because of that. Ok, those are all of my concerns and disclaimer cautions for Gunnar. The rest is unbridled upside.
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Helm was the number 1 target on a great Texas team last year, and that’s wasn’t some fluke. The guy put up 60 receptions for 786yds and 7 touchdowns because he knows how to get open and is a sneaky threat after the catch. Will he have numbers like that this year? Probably not. But in his counterpart Chig Okonkwo’s rookie year, he had 32 receptions for 450 yards and 3 touchdowns. And that level of impact is a reasonable bar to expect Helm to clear if you ask me. He’s going to supplant Josh Whyle as the starting “Y” tight end for this team. Speaking of which, let’s talk about that situation:
The Truth About Josh Whyle
When we entered OTA’s, I thought the same thing most folks thought about the Titans TE and RB rooms: these are cut and dry. They’re going to keep three of each, and which three are pretty obvious. I wrote and said as much at the time. This was going to be Okonkwo, Helm, and Whyle, end of story. Well, that wasn’t the end of the story!
In fact, I even got it wrong again. This is the first thing I’ve been loudly wrong about in my capacity as a reporter in some time, which is a bit embarrassing, but it’s true! In the thick of OTA’s, I wrote about and hosted a show explaining how the missing piece we were all discounting in this group was Thomas Odukoya. I thought he was the 4th guy I had foolishly written off. But it turns out, that was only half right. Almost there, Easton!
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So here’s my third and final answer. After much thought, much watching and rewatching, and (most importantly) many conversations, I’m confident this is the reality heading into training camp: Josh Whyle is going to struggle to make this team. Chig Okonkwo is your TE1. Gunnar Helm is your TE2. David Martin-Robinson is your TE3. And Thomas Odukoya is going to be given every opportunity in August to solidify himself as the reason they need to keep four tight ends instead of three.
Barring injury or a miraculous training camp turnaround in performance from somebody, that’s the world we’re headed towards in September.
The Forgotten Tight Ends
My condolences to Thomas Odukoya, and my double condolences to David Martin-Robinson. I wrote you off too soon. Most people wrote them off too soon, it seems. They made the initial roster in 2024, and they’re likely to do it again in 2025. And this time, I don’t expect them to be weekly scratches for the first half of the season.
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There are two big reasons why Josh Whyle’s spot on this team is fading fast. For starters, they’ve needed more production from him than they’ve gotten. Less than 250 yards on less than 30 catches simply isn’t enough. And while he was at one point seen as the next versatile Y TE on this roster who could develop as a decent blocker, I think those hopes have left the building with the coach and GM who originally drafted him.
But the second and more important reason is that even at his best, Whyle has become a bit of a redundancy on this roster. The only thing he really offers that nobody else in the room does is the physical size of a target that he presents in the redzone. That’s nice to have in theory, but he’s only caught two touchdowns in his two seasons. It hasn’t really been the area in which he’s done the most winning.
Everything else can be accounted for or beaten by others in the room. As a ball carrier, Okonkwo certainly has him beat. As a pure receiving option out of the Y alignment, Helm is expected to have him beat there. As a blocker, the bar set by Whyle is low enough that frankly, Helm might have him beat there as well pretty soon. When it comes to more serious blocking assignments, this is where Thomas Odukoya comes into the picture. The Titans coaching staff thinks he has the potential to be a rare “true Y” tight end. Think throwback, big-bodied, grindstone blocking with the linemen while still presenting a small receiving threat. And then on special teams, this is where David Martin-Robinson comes in. He’s a core special teamer on this roster, which is something fans and media perpetually underrate. There are 3-4 of these guys on a football team, and the good ones are worth their weight in gold to a coaching staff. And that’s not even mentioning the athletic upside the coaches see in DMR, who could develop into a serviceable “F” tight end this year too.
So that’s the room, and that’s the reason why I’ve had to do a 180 on what I expect to happen to Josh Whyle.
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This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.