Nick Westbrook-Ikhine hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
Westbrook-Ikhine came to the Titans as an undrafted rookie in 2020, and after a brief time on the practice squad was added to the active roster and made his mark primarily as a special teams gunner.
Three years later, with a Titans receiver room that features lots of new faces, Westbrook-Ikhine is the most experienced holdover in the Tennessee receiver room.
NWI, as he is often called, made a nice jump from year one (3 catches, 33 yards) to year two in 2021, when he had 38 receptions for 476 yards and four touchdowns.
Westbrook-Ikhine saw plenty of playing time last year both in his usual special teams role and on the offense, with Julio Jones missing seven games and A.J. Brown missing four. But with both of them elsewhere, it appears that Westbrook-Ikhine could be in line for more receiver reps this year.
“It’s definitely where I wanted to make my mark (on special teams), but going forward I’d love to catch the rock,” Westbrook-Ikhine said. “I’d be like everybody growing up as a receiver, you wanted to catch touchdowns and make plays. I”m going to try my best to be a good receiver here, but if they need me on special teams, I’m gonna love that role too.”
Coach Mike Vrabel indicated that NWI might play less on some special teams units this year as he works his way up the receiver depth chart.
“The more that he plays, maybe some of the downfield stuff (will be take away) and the more we begin to get some guys at gunner that can make that their primary role, NIck may or may not be out there as much. Maybe he’s out there on some plus-50 punts. We ask everybody to play a role on special teams in some capacity,” Vrabel said.
By being one of the few holdovers in the receiver room, Westbrook-Ikhine already has banked a lot of chemistry with Ryan Tannehill that the rest of the Titans receivers are trying to develop with the quarterback this camp and preseason.
“It’s definitely just trust built over time. This off-season and over the last couple of years, just knowing by Ryan communicating with us, like ‘Hey on this route, the most important thing is you’re here or you’re at this landmark.’ It’s been awesome to see that this spring,” Westbrook-Ikhine said. “I’d say it’s definitely grown since the first year. It probably wasn’t much the first year, and that’s mostly on my part. I’m happy with where it’s at, but I’m also looking forward to it growing in the future.”
Friday highlights
Rains on Friday morning forced the Titans inside their practice bubble for the first time during camp.
Practice started 15 minutes earlier than usual and ran about 10 to 15 minutes later, as the team got in several team periods with the full offense against the full defense.
In a later team period, Tannehill had solid completions to tight ends Chig Okonkwo and Austin Hooper.
There are a couple of nice grabs on Logan Woodside passes — one was a nice reaction by Treylon Burks to move his Woodside as he scrambled, finding an open spot to catch the ball in the middle of the field for a catch-and-run.
Also, Josh Malone made a nice grab on the sideline of a Woodside throw.
Perhaps the best catch of the day, though, came in one-on-one period where Racey McMath made an over the shoulder catch as he was falling down in the front corner of the right side of the end zone.
Defensively, in one team period, Caleb Farley did a nice job closing on a Tannehill pass for Josh Malone that was batted away on the sideline.
Roster move
The Titans finally replaced the retired Buster Skrine on the 90-man roster, signing their first player from the rebooted USFL. Tennessee added cornerback Shakur Brown, who has been in camps and practice squads with the Steelers, Lions and Chiefs.
He spent the spring with the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers where he totaled 36 tackles in nine games.
In 2020 he was an All-Big Ten defensive back at Michigan State.
Not seen
Nickelback Elijah Molden was not seen taking part toward the end of practice. Molden, who missed some time in OTAs, was out for the initial stretch, but was a no-show in team periods. No update on his status was given.
