By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — The Titans made news two ways last week, one in terms of their 2020 opponents (assuming there is an NFL season this year), and the other regarding a significant personnel move. Their official 2020 schedule won’t be released until this week, but the breakdown of home and road games was made available on multiple websites. Then the team announced they were not picking up the option on wide receiver Corey Davis. The former first round draft choice and fifth overall player taken in the 2017 draft will become an unrestricted free agent in 2021.
Besides their six home and away games against AFC South teams, the Titans will face NFC Central opponents and teams from the AFC Central and AFC West.
The Titans play the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers at Nissan Stadium. There will be a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens, whom they defeated in last year’s playoffs to reach the AFC title game, as one of the marquee road matchups. They also have road games against the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals as well as NFC teams the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. They play defending AFC South champions the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars both home and away. The exact dates had not been announced at press time.
For a variety of reasons, including some injury problems, Davis simply hasn’t consistently played like a first round draft choice. It seemed he was starting to blossom late in 2018, but things went bad last season. He had 43 receptions for 601 yards and two touchdowns. His place as the team’s top receiver and number one option in the passing game became rookie A. J. Brown. Brown had 52 receptions for 1,051 yards, scored eight touchdowns, and came into his own when Ryan Tannehill took over as starting QB. He’s clearly the Titans’ number one receiver now.