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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Shaun Calderon

7 players Titans should target for trade ahead of deadline

The November 1st NFL trade deadline is rapidly approaching as fans of the Tennessee Titans and across the league scour their social media timelines in hopes that their team makes a significant addition to improve its roster.

The Titans may be winners of four straight games, but things have hardly been ideal. The team has struggled with consistency in multiple positions, most notably at wide receiver and offensive line.

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This article is going to include seven players from across the league that the Titans should be interested in. At the very least, Tennessee should be calling about several of these players and gauging their availability, as well as their price tag.

Before we move on, we want to emphasize that these are purely speculative and there is no imminent trade on the horizon with any of these talented players.

With all that said, let’s take a closer look at the seven possible trade targets for the Tennessee Titans.

WR Elijah Moore

Syndication: Beaver County Times

Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore was a draft crush for many within the Titans’ fanbase back in 2021. The Ole Miss product is an explosive wide receiver who possesses legitimate game-changing ability.

However, after not receiving a sufficient target share, Moore reportedly requested a trade, which immediately had the Titans’ fanbase salivating at the mere possibility of them finally landing Moore.

Unfortunately, the Jets have consistently shut down any rumors by insisting that they will not trade him regardless of if he asked for one or not. Moore did not play in Week 7, but he is back at practice this week and seems like he’ll be out there for the Jets this weekend.

Nonetheless, this one bears watching up until the trade deadline passes on the slim chance the Jets have a change of heart.

WR DJ Moore

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

This is probably the most prized player the Titans could land at wide receiver. Unsurprisingly, the Panthers unloaded running back Christian McCaffrey after they fired their former head coach, Matt Rhule, so a fire sale is very possible.

Similarly to the other Moore, the Panthers reportedly aren’t looking to deal DJ Moore. Carolina rightly considers him a building block for the franchise and the team does not want to part ways with a stud receiver before they inevitably draft their next franchise quarterback next spring.

That’s not going to stop practically every NFL fanbase from hoping it can lure the Panthers star wideout away from them. This fanbase that is thirsty for a new wide receiver is obviously no different.

It seems unlikely, but everyone has a price these days. The true question is whether or not anyone gets close enough to it for Carolina to legitimately consider.

The answer to that is probably no, at least when it comes to the Titans, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up for this one, but I sure would love to be wrong.

WR Chase Claypool

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Now that we got the two dream receiver acquisitions out the way, let’s start discussing the ones that are at least a little more realistic.

First, Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool is expected to be made available ahead of the deadline. Pro Football Focus even had the Titans as a possible landing spot for the Steelers receiver in a trade scenario they cooked up.

This is a move that would make sense for the Titans at the right price, which in my personal opinion would be somewhere in that third- to fifth-round range.

Claypool is a 6-foot-4 wide receiver with legitimate 4.4 speed. He’s accounted for over 800 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons, tallying 12 total touchdowns over those two years.

This season, the talented wideout has been limited to just 266 yards and one touchdown. Also, he only has one game this season where he’s eclipsed 50 receiving yards.

With the looming emergence of George Pickens in Pittsburgh, combined with his limited production, this might be the perfect time to possibly buy low on a competent wide receiver in Claypool.

WR KJ Hamler

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Broncos have reportedly been getting calls on both wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler. Many consider Hamler as the one who has the better chance to be moved considering his asking price will be considerably lower.

The Titans should be willing to take either for a fair price, but Hamler seems like a relatively realistic candidate due to his manageable contract and likely trade compensation.

Someone like Hamler is a perfect candidate for this team.

The Titans probably aren’t finding a game-changing, No. 1 wide receiver at this point of the season, but it’s very possible that they can find a talented receiver who is being underutilized on someone else’s current roster.

Hamler seems to fit that description perfectly. He’s a former second-round wideout that has only caught 10 passes over the last two seasons. To be fair, this has mostly been due to injury, but even when healthy, it seems like the Penn State product is having a hard time getting targets consistently.

This is one I would be trying to buy low on with the Broncos and hope they bite. At minimum, he can help the team get by until Kyle Philips is ready to return from his shoulder injury.

WR Kadarius Toney

Syndication: The Record

Giants wide receiver Kadarius Toney is another former high draft pick that seems to be falling out of favor with the team that drafted him.

The unfortunate part about Toney has been the fact that he has spent the majority of his career being injured. Even when on the field this season, Toney didn’t see much work, and with a new head coach and general manager in New York, they aren’t married to Toney.

The former Florida Gator has had some eye-popping highlights at times, but more often than not he’s largely been inactive on game days for a variety of reasons.

Toney has only totaled 420 yards on 41 receptions over his brief NFL career, with his best game coming in Week 5 of the 2021 season when he exploded for 10 catches for 189 yards.

If the Giants are in fact willing to accept their loss and take a significantly lower return on their former first-round investment, then the Titans should definitely be interested as long as the trade compensation is fair for someone whose most consistent ability has been his unavailability.

WR Greg Dortch

Syndication: Arizona Republic

Earlier in the article I said the team needs to identify a severely underutilized wide receiver talent that is buried on somebody’s roster. That describes Cardinals wide receiver Greg Dortch to a “T.”

Despite his limited role, Dortch has been a sneaky playmaker down in Arizona.

The unfortunate part for the Wake Forest product is that he’s in a receiver room that already includes DeAndre Hopkins, Rondale Moore, Robbie Anderson and A.J. Green.

Plus, Arizona has Hollywood Brown, who is currently on injured reserve, is slated to return from his injury in four to six weeks.

Dortch played extended action throughout the first three games of the season. In those three outings, the Cardinals wideout saw a total of 23 targets thrown his way, catching 20 of them for 198 yards and two touchdowns.

Since then, he’s only caught two passes for 11 yards and one touchdown.

This is the definition of a budding talent who just needs more opportunities. Dortch may not be the versatile blocking asset the Titans often aim for, but the team could easily find those opportunities he’s looking for in the receiving game, especially with Kyle Philips recently landing on IR.

Titans general manager Jon Robinson should at least kick the tires to see what it would cost to get someone like Dortch in Tennessee.

OT Andre Dillard

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

This one is intriguing for a variety of reasons.

For starters, the Titans desperately need offensive line help. The Eagles, on the other hand, have one of the deepest offensive line rooms in the entire league.

Included in that room is 2019 first-round pick and offensive tackle Andre Dillard, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

The former first-round pick is currently the odd man out when it comes to Philadelphia’s offensive tackles. Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are the starters on each end of the line, while Dillard is listed as the backup at left tackle.

Although offensive line depth is a valuable asset, you’d have to imagine the Eagles would be willing to part ways with Dillard for the right price in what is the final year of his rookie deal.

While certainly talented, Dillard has had some injury issues in his young career, which is the last thing Titans fans want to hear.

However, acquiring a potential impact player who can slide in at left tackle at this stage of the season is almost impossible to do, so the risk is worth the reward — and it isn’t a long-term risk, either.

The Eagles owe the Titans one after they helped them out in the form of the A.J. Brown trade. Philadelphia can at least help to heal the wound a little bit by sending Dillard over to Tennessee in a fair deal that is equivalent to a mid-round pick.

Honorable mentions

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Honorable mentions

Patriots OT Isaiah Wynn

Panthers OT Taylor Moton

Broncos OG Chris Reed

Broncos EDGE Bradley Chubb

Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne

Note: The NFL Wire Network recently tasked each of its managing editors to come up with one player from their team who could be available ahead of the trade deadline. You can check that out right here.

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