wide receiver Tyler Lockett<\/a> just before the draft, and the options for Ward look a lot more promising than they did just a week ago, when receivers Calvin Ridley and Van Jefferson, along with tight end Chig Okonkwo, were the only true proven, healthy pass catchers on the roster.<\/p>\n\u201cAnytime you get some young receivers in here and working with the quarterback \u2026 they have to develop, and they have to develop a rapport in here,\u201d Titans General Manager Mike Borgonzi said. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to get young guys in here that can develop and grow [with Ward] as we build this roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that the Titans chose to bolster defense with their first two picks, trading back in the second round as well, meant that Dike was the 14th wide receiver off the board, Ayomanor the 19th, and Helm the seventh tight end.<\/p>\n
Still, the three have attractive components to their respective games.<\/p>\n
Dike\u2019s most obvious asset is his speed, as the 6-1, 196-pound receiver ran a 4.34 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February. That was a big reason he averaged 18.6 yards on his 42 receptions for the Gators last season. His wheels should back defenses up just a bit, hopefully enough to give his Titans teammates more room to get open.<\/p>\n
Dike also averaged 6.2 yards after the catch, per Pro Football Focus, evidence he\u2019s hard to get down once the reception is made.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe certainly has speed to stretch the field,\u201d Borgonzi said of Dike, who lined up in the slot for 191 snaps and on the outside for 128 snaps last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s competitive downfield. He\u2019s smart, versatile and he can line up a bunch of spots on offense. The one thing we liked about him is his competitiveness after the catch as well. So you got a guy that\u2019s smart, tough, dependable \u2026 and he has a big catch radius, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expect the 24-year-old Dike to get a chance to be the Titans\u2019 returner as well, after averaging 13.4 yards as a punt returner in 2024 and 22.6 yards as a kick returner in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was productive at Florida doing that,\u201d Borgonzi said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys that just catches it and gets upfield. That\u2019s what you like about him. He\u2019s got speed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-5, 241-pound Helm came out of relative obscurity, totaling 60 catches for 786 yards (13.1-yard average) and seven touchdowns in 2024 after posting a combined 19 receptions in his first three seasons at Texas.<\/p>\n
One reason he didn\u2019t produce a lot in his first three seasons was that he transitioned from wide receiver to tight end late in high school, so there was some newness to the position for Helm. In addition, Helm was playing behind Ja\u2019Tavion Sanders, who totaled a combined 99 catches in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re looking for these guys that continue to get better,\u201d Borgonzi said. \u201cDike and Helm, they got better every year, and [Helm] had a big season last year. Those are the traits that you look for, and that’s what you hope to continue here when they get to the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helm is no speedster, illustrated by his 4.84 time in the 40-yard dash. But he\u2019s shown both an ability to get open deep and to produce yardage after his receptions.<\/p>\n
He totaled 420 yards after the catch last season, which was third most among FBS tight ends, per The Athletic. In addition, he recorded 136 yards of his reception total on deep yards, which ranked fourth among tight ends.<\/p>\n
\u201c[He\u2019s a] big, savvy route runner,\u201d Borgonzi said. \u201cGood in the red zone, also provides the quarterback with a big catch radius. He\u2019s got good run after the catch as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-2, 206-pound Ayomanor was rated by many analysts as a better prospect than Dike, thanks in part to his frame, speed and reliability. He has long arms (32-3\/8 inches and a 78-3\/8 wingspan), ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, and caught a combined 125 passes over the past two seasons \u2014 62 for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns in 2023, and 63 for 831 and six touchdowns as a senior.<\/p>\n
Though Ayomanor has had some drop issues \u2014 six mishandled passes in each of the past two seasons \u2014 he has a great resume stuffer in his 13-catch, 294-yard, three-touchdown performance against Colorado and Travis Hunter in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElic is a bigger receiver, productive in the red zone, big catch radius as well,\u201d Borgonzi said.<\/p>\n
The Titans are also looking forward to the arrival of the 32-year-old Lockett, a 10-year veteran who\u2019s totaled 661 receptions for 8,594 yards (13.0-yard average) and 61 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
The 5-10, 182-pound Lockett dipped to 49 catches for 600 yards last season, so it\u2019s obvious he\u2019s not the same receiver who topped 1,000 yards in four straight seasons from 2019-22.<\/p>\n
But for a team desperate for experienced help at the position, Lockett should be a good fit. He\u2019s also versatile, as Lockett lined up outside for 545 snaps last season and in the slot for 215 snaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big addition for us,\u201d Borgonzi said. \u201cHe\u2019s a veteran wide receiver that [is] dependable, can get open.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of extended plays that Cam has \u2014 or any of these quarterbacks, when they work outside the pocket \u2014 Tyler\u2019s one of those guys that can just find those open areas in those scramble drills.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took the Titans a while to add offensive weapons for rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[127,3247,756,7,2142,3403,6,526,394,2411,527,2864],"class_list":{"0":"post-9137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-cam-ward","9":"tag-chimere-dike","10":"tag-elic-ayomanor","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-gunnar-helm","13":"tag-mike-borgonzi","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-tennessee","16":"tag-tennessee-titans","17":"tag-tennesseetitans","18":"tag-titans","19":"tag-tyler-lockett"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114420056789058701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}