New Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota is drawing a lot of attention through training camp for his ball security.
By not throwing interceptions, Mariota has actually divided opinion(Is there anything he can do that doesn't?). What Mariota does at this point of the season is largely irrelevant. Evaluating him in preseason games is more important than training camp practices and preseason games offer diminishing returns once the regular season begins. In Tennessee, the Titans are obviously excited about Mariota. Ken Whisenhunt immediately named him the team's starter despite having Zach Mettenberger on the roster. Mettenberger has his admirers, but those who have asked about a potential quarterback competition since the draft have been shot down.
Whisenhunt is likely so bullish on Mariota as his starter because of how poorly his quarterbacks played last season. Even though Mettenberger had his admirers, his play was hugely inconsistent and at times borderline incompetent. Even if Mettenberger was a viable option, he barely played last season and has major durability question marks. He conceded snaps to Jake Locker, who is now retired, and Charlie Whitehurst, who has proven to be no more than a capable backup over his long career.
Playing with these quarterbacks severely limited the production of the Titans skill position players. None more so than wide receiver Kendall Wright.
Wright is a former first round pick. He was the 20th player to come off the board in the 2012 draft and has accumulated 2,420 yards and 12 touchdowns on 215 receptions over his first three seasons in the league. For where he was selected in the draft, Wright's production has been underwhelming. He has achieved just one 1,000 yard season and boasts a career-high of six touchdowns in a single season. By any statistical measure, Wright has been just an average player in the NFL. However, he has done so while playing on teams that have been devoid of consistent, competent quarterback play.
His service was so poor last season that he essentially acted as an extension of the running game rather than a real receiver. 12 of his 57 receptions last season came on screen passes, while 29 of his receptions resulted in a gain of fewer than 10 yards. Wright was regularly being stacked next to receivers to release into shallow out routes or crossing routes that were simple for his quarterback to find him on. Even while relying on these plays, his quarterbacks were still regularly forcing Wright into making difficult adjustments on the ball, costing him potential yards after the catch and even receptions at times.
Wright was targeted 95 times last season and caught just 57 passes. However, on closer examination, 31 of those 95 targets were uncatchable. The receiver was not only dealing with inconsistent ball placement, he was losing opportunities to make plays in space/down the field regularly because passes were landing yards away from him.
This was the kind of miss that Wright was regularly dealing with. It's a simple out route where he would have had a chance to catch the ball in space and turn upfield for a potential first down. He ran his route with quickness and precision to get to the outside ahead of the bigger defender in coverage. An accurate pass here would land outside of wright close to chest height. An inaccurate but catchable pass would go to his outside not at chest height or just inside of him. An uncatchable pass would go too far behind the defender or be thrown into the ground. Mettenberger's pass was both thrown too far behind and into the ground on this play.
Wright couldn't even adjust to the pass to save the reception, losing the reception and any possible yards instead of just the yards after the catch he could have created. This was one of the 31 uncatchable targets Wright saw go his way, but too many of the catchable targets were still inaccurate.
Mettenberger's accuracy was the worst of the three quarterbacks. Whitehurst was arguably the most accurate, but he wasn't capable of leading Wright to space on the simpler routes the receiver ran. The above play is a good example of the kind of service that Wright was receiving. The ball was late to come to him and thrown behind him. He still should have caught the ball, but this wasn't a wide open drop because of the ball placement. Wright had two or three drops that were completely on him, but for most of his seven failed receptions, the receiver could share the blame with his quarterback.
It will be relatively simple for Mariota to provide Wright with good enough service for him to excel as an underneath receiver. Mariota's accuracy is one of his greatest concerns, but his short and intermediate accuracy is better than adequate. His deep accuracy is where there are more questions that need to be answered.
Wright will benefit massively if Mariota proves to be as advertised in the short and intermediate game, but he also has the ability to be a factor further downfield as a more traditional wide receiver. The regularity at which his good work went unrewarded last season on deeper routes was phenomenal. Even though Mettenberger and Locker are strong-armed quarterbacks, neither player possesses the accuracy or intelligence to get the most out of Wright's precise route running and explosiveness to create and take advantage of space.
From the slot, Wright understands how to adjust his routes to find space against zone coverage over the middle of the field. His comfort running between the safeties and linebackers coupled with his courage to aggressively attack the ball makes him a valuable possession receiver. On this play against the Dallas Cowboys, he should have made a big reception late in the second quarter to set the Titans offense up close to their own 40-yard line. Instead, he was overthrown by his quarterback, making a leaping effort to try and reel the ball in with one outstretched hand. This play cost Wright at least 18 yards and a precise throw could have put him in position to make a defender miss before continuing downfield.
In the NFL, there are slot receivers who are limited to possession roles by their skill set. There are also receivers who fall into this category because of their situation. Wright is definitely the latter rather than the former.
On this play against the Cincinnati Bengals, Wright's route isolates him with one of the safeties. The Bengals defense was playing zone coverage with both safeties back, so when Wright advanced down the left seam he was left alone with the safety in space. His route brought him directly towards the safety before breaking across his face to angle towards the far pylon. He did this with such precision and speed that the safety was left in his wake. The other safety wasn't in position to cover the receiver, so Wright was in position for a 52-yard touchdown reception with an accurate pass.
Instead of catching the ball in his stride, it sailed past him and landed yards away from him. This kind of play can have a huge bearing on the perception of a receiver. It helps to dispel the notion that he is just a short-yardage player and adds another touchdown to an already impressive tally over a 14 game stretch. The big plays that Wright lost because of poor quarterback play were plentiful and also against various types of coverages.
On this play, Wright is working against press-man coverage. The cornerback can afford to be aggressive against the receiver because he has safety help over the top. Wright threatens the outside enough to break through the inside seam and position himself between the quarterback and the cornerback. This is a tight window throw that the quarterback has to make to fit the ball into Wright. Whitehurst almost does, but his pass is too far downfield and away from the receiver's hands. With poor quarterback play, these kinds of receptions aren't an option for the receivers running downfield. It's a handcuff that other receivers in the league don't have to play with.
Tight-window throws are a major question mark for Mariota. He made some tight-window throws in college and possesses more-than-adequate arm strength, but the offense he played in has created caution around his transition to the NFL in that specific area. Mariota will be better than Whitehurst, Mettenberger and Locker because he can work through progressions and throw with anticipation. This should allow him to find Wright more consistently in space.
Wright can create separation and isn't reliant on winning at the catch point for his production.
Wright caught 12 screens for 86 yards last season. 379 of his total yards came after the catch, meaning he averaged 6.6 per reception. He doesn't need to have touches create for him, but he can be effective in those situations. His most valuable trait for creating yards is his ability to adjust to the defense after he has caught the ball downfield. He regularly took underneath passes and extended them further than the situation suggested he should have been able to. When given accurate, on time service, he was able to get downfield in a hurry, evading defenders in space without slowing down.
This is something that is particularly useful in the end zone.
Five of Wright's six touchdowns last season came in the red zone. Four of those five were caught outside of the end zone and on three of those plays he had to beat a defender from a disadvantageous position. Wright also has the catch radius to make plays in the end zone, as his touchdown against the Browns showed, but without quality quarterback play it was difficult for the Titans to make those throws at the goal line. Furthermore, with Dorial Green-Beckham and Jusitn Hunter on the roster now, Wright likely won't receive many goal line targets as the Titans look towards their bigger bodied options on fade routes.
With previous quarterbacks, Wright was basically catching passes that were extensions of the running game. Mariota's play will determine if that changes in 2015.
The receiver is just 25 years of age. His skill set is as well rounded as most across the league and his dynamism is tough to match. In a vaccuum, he is one of the better receivers in the NFL. Mariota doesn't need to be great for Wright to outperform his draft slot, he just needs to be competent and consistent enough. The Titans have re-stocked their receiver depth chart, but Wright has appeared to be the only certain starter at the position early in training camp. That speaks to his talent level and where he is in his career.