Titans must admit WR room reality by increasing Chimere Dike, decreasing Wan’Dale Robinson, and making a trade by any means necessary as case for youth movement grows
Wan’Dale Robinson’s stat line only tells part of the story. Chimere Dike finally got a real role in the Tennessee passing game, and that makes a case the Titans can’t keep ignoring.
Tennessee Titans WR Wan’Dale Robinson caught six passes for 57 yards and a touchdown in Cincinnati.
On paper, that’s a perfectly fine afternoon. But Robinson’s day was about more than the stat sheet, and his free agency contract looks more dubious by the week. I’m at the point where I think it’s time for the Titans to adjust his snap count, and also trade the elder statesman in the WR room by any means necessary. The receiver who should pick up these snaps ? Chimere Dike, who finally got a chance to have a day in Week 8. Let’s shuffle:
Why Wan’Dale Robinson’s touchdown doesn’t tell the whole story
I don’t want to take the touchdown catch away from Robinson. He showed nice body control on that catch, and it was a redemptive moment. To me, though, it doesn’t erase the two brutal drops and the fumble we saw from him beforehand. Those drops felt like a continuation of the conversation from last week, when Cam Ward threw his most beautiful pass of the game and it fell short. What should have been an explosive gain fell incomplete because Robinson wasn’t long enough to haul it in.
That’s the core problem. Robinson is a limiting factor on this offense right now. What he does well feels too narrow and too inconsistent to justify his contract so far. That’s a shame, because the Titans made him one of the centerpieces of their spending spree.
Between Robinson and CB Alontae Taylor, Tennessee handed out $128 million worth of contracts at full sticker price in the 2026 free agency class. Taylor’s deal sits on the other side of the ball and is it’s own ongoing soap opera, but Robinson’s struggles are making that entire class look like it could be disastrous.
Chimere Dike earned a bigger role
Now for the other side of that coin. If Robinson’s snap count goes down, Dike’s should go up in turn.
For the first time all season, Dike was involved in the passing game beyond the opening snap. We joked last week that Dike was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in these games. He’d be the first target of the day, and then he’d disappear. That finally changed in this game! He finished with five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, good for 14.2 yards per reception.
It wasn’t some revolutionary new role, either. It looked a lot like what Dike did as a rookie last season. That’s what makes his lack of usage so frustrating: Tennessee already knows what he can do.
He’s something of an enigma. Both of his training camps have been quiet. You’d watch practice and barely notice him. He’s not a high draft pick, he’s not a superlatives guy. He’s not even a big personality.
Then Sunday arrives, and he just shows up. When the ball is in his hands, he does something good for your team. Can I quantify that exactly? Maybe not. Is it valuable? Undeniably so!
The Dike solution begins with moving off Calvin Ridley
Upon further reflection Monday morning, I’ve decided my first step to finding the right balance with WR snaps would be shopping Calvin Ridley aggressively. The Titans restructured his contract to cut his pay and keep him as the useful veteran in an otherwise very young room, and that intangible impact shouldn’t go ignored. But it is time for them to part ways. Ridley played 35 snaps in Cincinnati, and those are 35 snaps that should be distributed elsewhere at this point.
This game was his (and their) chance to showcase him as a trade piece. his one catch and one painful drop did nothing to help on that front. But GM Mike Borgonzi should be looking for a team willing to trade him something, anything for his veteran receiver that is no longer needed on Sundays and will be gone for nothing in return after this season. I’m not even saying he can’t play any longer, I’m just saying that he isn’t needed here.
Is it time for the Titans’ WR youth movement?
During our film review last week, we were half joking, half not, about how every young receiver on this roster should be the one playing. Make it the Carnell Tate-Chimere Dike-Elic Ayomanor show!
That leaves the veterans in an awkward spot. What do you do with Calvin Ridley if you can’t move him? What do you do with Robinson and his big contract? It might be time for the youth movement in Tennessee’s receiver room.
To be clear, I’m not calling for Robinson to be fully benched. Look at how this game shook out: Dike had five catches and Robinson had six. Dike had more yards, Robinson had more receptions, and both found the end zone. That’s a pretty even split.
If that’s the happy medium the Titans settle on, then God bless. Robinson would still be underperforming his contract, but if that split makes this offense the most effective version of itself, great. The most realistic solution I see, to dumb it way down, is a general approach that gives a heathy Carnell Tate as close to 100% snap share as reasonable, and then a three-way split between Ayomanor, Dike, and Robinson after him.
That would be a real departure from how Tennessee has used Dike so far; he had 49 total snaps on offense this year before tallying 60 in Week 8 alone! They’ve largely ignored him on offense and turned him into a special teamer. He’s just too good for that. At the very least, the coaching staff owes it to Cam Ward to find out what Dike can do with a steady workload. I want to see more from him, and after this performance, Titans fans should too.
