The Tennessee Titans have their second preseason game ahead of them, as they are set to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. While there were many good and bad moments from the win against the San Francisco 49ers, there remain tasks that need to be completed before or during the Seahawks game.
This includes a major task for Carnell Tate, a player everyone should be monitoring closely.
Carnell Tate must escape Jeremiah Smith’s shadow
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Tate has to leave the shadow of Jeremiah Smith, who isn’t even on his team anymore. While Tate was in high school at IMG Academy, he was always the star of the show, which is something he was used to in any year before that. Once he got to college, everything completely changed.
Tate served as a rotational wide receiver and was a role player during his freshman season for the Ohio State Buckeyes, the college he committed to out of high school. While being the No. 1 wide receiver wasn’t the expectation for the freshman receiver, he still came in and made an immediate impact, positioning himself to be the “it guy” down the line for the program.
That would never end up being the case, as by the time he was expected to become the No. 1 wide receiver on the roster, Jeremiah Smith came in and took over. Smith came in and was immediately the No. 1 receiver on the roster and was the player who showed up in the biggest moments for the Buckeyes. This ultimately pushed Tate to the side for two seasons, as he finished his college career never being the leader of the group and would always be the No. 2 at best.
This led many Titans fans to question the decision to select Tate within the top five when he has never been the No. 1 wide receiver at a level higher than high school. It is also worth mentioning that he is expected to be the No. 1 receiver on the Titans this season and is a major question mark due to the lack of experience taking on that role.
This has caught up to him following his underwhelming performance vs. the 49ers, as he finished the game with no catches. This will have to change moving forward if the Titans want to get the most out of their selection inside the top five.
