Tyler Lockett's release is a brutal reminder of troubling Titans pattern
Nobody would accuse the Tennessee Titans of being a well-run organization over the last 15 years or so. Of course, they had a brief blip of promise under Mike Vrabel, but it's been largely misery for Titans fans since Jeff Fisher left the franchise.
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Even with a promising young quarterback like Cam Ward and an offseason full of roster reconstruction, Tennessee is still struggling during the 2025 NFL season. They sit at just 1-7, and all three of their AFC South foes appear to be lightyears ahead of them.
Perhaps part of these struggles can be attributed to the organization not learning from its mistakes. When Tyler Lockett was shockingly released after Week 7's loss to the New England Patriots, it brought up bad memories for Titans fans; ones that the franchise has clearly not learned from.
Tyler Lockett is latest Titans veteran WR to flame out in Tennessee
Lockett had an incredible 10-year run with the Seattle Seahawks before he signed with Tennessee in April. However, Lockett managed just 10 catches on 21 targets for 70 yards and zero touchdowns for the Titans, and his average of 10.0 receiving yards per game was well below his career average of 53.4.
This is eerily reminiscent of other veteran wide receivers who have signed with Tennessee later in their careers and completely laid an egg for the Titans. Most recently, this happened with Tyler Boyd, but it began with Randy Moss back in 2010.
Moss signed with the Titans for the back half of the 2010 NFL season, but he caught just six passes for 80 yards and no touchdowns. He retired after the year and sat out in 2011, but returned in 2012 to catch 28 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns for the San Francisco 49ers.
Not only did this hurt Titans fans to see, but it started a troubling trend of players either abruptly retiring after playing in Tennessee, seeing their production fall off a cliff for the Titans or being able to find their footing again in their careers after leaving the franchise.
This phenomenon has struck other players like Andre Johnson, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Robert Woods, and now, Lockett. This is not even to mention the Titans' blunder of trying to replace A.J. Brown with Treylon Burks.
Luckily, the Titans have a handful of promising young wideouts like Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and, potentially, Xavier Restrepo, to supplement Calvin Ridley as the team attempts to grow up around and support Ward.
But Lockett's sudden release was a brutal reminder for fans in Tennessee of just how bad they've had it in the wide receiver department over the years, and just how crucial it is to find young talent in the draft instead of patching up the roster with free agents. Maybe they'll learn their lesson now.
Cleveland Browns open as underdogs in matchup against hapless New York Jets
The Cleveland Browns are 2-6 heading into their bye week, causing many fans to believe that their season is already over.
But coming out of their bye week, the Browns will travel to face the 1-7 New York Jets on the road in what feels like one of the lone remaining winnable games on the schedule.
Alarmingly, the Browns opened as betting underdogs against the Jets for their November 7th matchup.
Similarly to the Browns, the Jets are also entering their bye week. However, they will go into the bye week with a little bit of momentum after securing their first victory of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The Browns enter their bye week embarrassed, as they suffered a painful blowout loss against Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots.
It’s Aaron Glenn’s first year as head coach with the Jets. Quarterback Justin Fields has struggled in New York, but was able to put together a passable performance offensively to beat the Bengals in a 39-38 shootout.
On the flip side, things look grim for Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski in his sixth season in Cleveland. The Browns are not a threat to score 20 points – let alone almost 40 – and Cleveland’s offense is the worst in the NFL every time they take the field.
The Jets will host the Browns, which is likely why they are currently a slight -1.5 betting favorite in this matchup. If this game was played on a neutral field, the Browns might have a slight edge because of their stellar defense.
However, the Browns have not won a road game since Week 2 last season, making them an extremely difficult team to trust in any road game.
Stefanski declared that the Browns will examine everything offensively. They have a lot of issues offensively. The embattled head coach also plans to start rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel , who has been a comedy of errors since taking over for Joe Flacco, who was benched after just four games.
The Browns don’t do much well offensively. Rookie running back Quinshon Judkins sprained his AC joint and is considered day-to-day going into this matchup with the Jets. Cleveland’s offensive line has not been great, either. But they were able to protect Gabriel a little bit better, as he was only sacked once against the Patriots.
This season, the Browns are 0-4 against the spread in their last four road games.
Stefanski is 3-2 coming out of the bye week during his time with the Browns, but this team being underdogs against the hapless Jets is a brutal reality.
