Titans 53-Man Roster 2025: Exciting WR youth movement, how much should you expect from rookies Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike originally appeared on A to Z Sports.
Rookies Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike are the future for the Tennessee Titans at receiver. But how quickly can the get up to speed?
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This is the fourth and final WR 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:
To wrap up this deep dive on Cam Ward’s receivers, lets look at the two rookies that will make or break the strength of the WR room:
Wide Receivers
Cut: James Proche, Colton Dowell, Treylon Burks, Jha’Quan Jackson, Mason Kinsey, TJ Sheffield
Rookie Roles
When the Titans entered Day 3 of the draft in April, they hadn’t taken a pass catcher yet. That was, reasonably, very concerning for fans! I remember tweeting that night about how the Titans WR depth chart had Calvin Ridley, Hopes, and Prayers as the projected starters.
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Then early on Day 3, the Titans drafted the players they hope push Hopes and Prayers down the depth chart. Their names were Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor. This pair of 4th Round picks presented some tepid excitement for fans, but now just a couple months and a handful of public practices later, the excitement is much louder. Everything about these two guys has been green flags so far. They seem to be fantastic young men off the field, and their coaches and teammates can’t say enough nice things about them. Based on the conversations I’ve had, they’re both really far ahead in their study and understanding of the offense so far. One of the biggest unseen hurdles for rookie receivers is getting comfortable with the speed of an NFL offense mentally.
It’s like learning a new language: once you start thinking in that language, you’re truly up to speed. And it’s not uncommon at all for young guys to take some time to grasp their role in that way. Although it’s early, it sounds like both Dike and Ayomanor are ahead of schedule on that front. And that’s very important if both of them are going to be an early impact in this offense.
But how will they be used? With Ayomanor, I don’t see how they don’t play him at X. For my money, he’s the only true X receiver on this team in terms of body type and skillset. That’s a big part of why I liked him so much in the draft and was elated that the Titans took him. Finding guys who can consistently win on the boundary in the NFL is hard, and that’s why that skillset is so coveted. I actually think he’s likely to be a Week 1 starter at the position, and if it’s not quite Week 1, it’ll be month 1. I’d be disappointed if that’s not the case at this point.
And with Dike, I don’t think his involvement in the offense will be very far behind Ayomanor. If you told me he’s actually more involved a bit earlier than Ayomanor, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. They really feel neck-and-neck, and it will likely just come down to positional deployment. The thing about Dike is how much I expect his role in the NFL to change from how he was used in college. At Florida, his usage was pretty disgusting. I’m not sure anybody was forced to run a further distance in 2024 than Dike was, who apparently was required to run no less than 40 yards every time he was in the route. He was on that Cardio King diet, running deep crossers until the cows come home.
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That’s not how the Titans are going to use him at the next level. I actually think they’d like him to develop into a starting role as a big slot option, utilizing his speed and acceleration up the middle of the field. He’ll play on the outside as well and has three-position versatility in that way, but I think we’ll see a lot more of him aligned inside and running a more diverse route tree than he did at Florida.
Realistic Rookie Rises
Here’s the cognitive dissonance of this situation: Yes, these players are exciting so far and have every opportunity to become starters in 2025. But they are still Day 3 picks, and those guys just don’t hit at a very high rate statistically!
In fact, Since 2015, only 11% of Day 3 WRs have reached 500+ yards their rookie year. So are we getting entirely too far over our ski’s with the expectations for these two young players? The answer is… maybe.
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Because they’re 4th round picks, it shouldn’t be surprising to anybody if either (or God forbid, both) of them just don’t pan out in the NFL. It also shouldn’t come as a surprise if either or both of them hit a ceiling as a role player. Finding NFL starters is hard! But as long as we keep the statistical reality in mind, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be really excited about these specific players given the circumstances.
Most “Day 3 picks” aren’t 4th Round picks. Obviously, that increases their odds of panning out. They both also have a good reason to think they were undervalued by their draft slots. With Dike, it’s what the Titans believe was his gross misuse in college. And with Ayomanor, most draft analysts projected him as a Day 2 pick for a reason: that’s what his tape showed! The understanding I have is that a small medical hiccup is what pushed him down team’s boards.
And finally, perhaps most importantly, they’re in a WR room with much more opportunity than the vast majority of Day 3 receivers. Besides Calvin Ridley, this puppy is wide open. They’re going to get many more chances to go out there and get baptized by fire than most rookies. So let’s see what they do with it.
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This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.