Tennessee Titans wide receiver Corey Davis was expected to break out during the 2018 season. The fifth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft showed promise as a rookie and was set to be the Titans top receiver in 2018. However, Davis has yet to put up starting fantasy numbers through three weeks. On the season, Davis has recorded just 13 receptions for 151 yards. Thanks to this low production, some fantasy owners are questioning whether to trade Davis or cut him altogether. While his season has been a disappointment thus far, fantasy owners would be smart to hold on to Corey Davis.
Fantasy Football: Keep Corey Davis on Your Team
While Davis hasn’t met expectations yet, most of that is due to forces outside of his control. The Tennessee Titans clearly believe in Davis, as the second-year pro has played in 85% of the offensive snaps. His snap count hasn’t notably dropped from game-to-game, either. He saw 91% of snaps in Week One, 81% in Week Two, and 84% in Week Three. Naturally, a high snap count leads to more opportunities, which inevitably leads to better production.
Additionally, it’s not like Davis is just a decoy on the field. Tennessee has targeted Davis early and often throughout the season, as the young wideout has seen 24 targets throughout the young season. Of those 24 targets, four have come in the opponent’s red zone. While he’s yet to convert any of those targets into a touchdown, the law of averages states that he will eventually find his way past the pylon.
Explaining His Subpar Production
As much as anything else in football, game script determines how productive a player is on a weekly basis. For example, if a team falls behind early in a game, said team will completely ditch the running game. This will cause said teams’ running back to lose production through no fault of their own. Corey Davis has been a victim of unfortunate game scripts in each of the Titans first three games, which has caused his production to drop.
Tennessee partook in one of the strangest games in recent memory to open the season. Facing the Miami Dolphins, inclement weather delayed the game on two separate occasions. In total, this game took seven hours to play. Playing this long through such lengthy delays naturally caused the offenses and defenses on both sides to lose focus. While Davis finished with a pedestrian six receptions for 62 yards, his production could have easily improved were it not for the breaks in play.
Additionally, Davis has had to deal with Blaine Gabbert under center for the majority of the season. After Marcus Mariota suffered a hand injury during the aforementioned Miami game, Gabbert came in and took over the offense.
Gabbert is not a good quarterback, and the Titans know it. Tennessee’s game plans with Gabbert under center have been maddeningly simple because they don’t want to put the game in Gabberts’ hands. The Titans even ran a few wildcat plays with Derrick Henry as a way to limit Gabbert’s impact on the game.
Gabbert suffered a concussion in Week Three, and Mariota returned to the field. However, Mariota didn’t have feeling in his hand, which obviously limited what he could and could not do with the ball. Going up against a fantastic Jaguars defense, Tennessee once again played it safe with their injured passer and called a very conservative game.
These issues should resolve themselves as the season goes on. Mariota is getting healthier with every passing minute and should be healthy enough to start in Week Four. While Mariota isn’t the best quarterback in the league, he’s a clear upgrade on Blaine Gabbert. Davis saw a season-high 13 targets with a healthy Mariota in Week One, so his production should jump with the franchise quarterback back in the huddle.
Last Word on Corey Davis
While the production for Corey Davis hasn’t been there so far, it soon will be. Davis has played in 85% of the Titans offensive snaps and has seen 24 targets on the season. These numbers highly suggest that the coaching staff believes in Davis and that he will start putting up fantasy numbers sooner rather than later.
Davis has seen his numbers drop through no fault of his own. Week One’s odd weather limited Davis to an average game, while an ineffective Blaine Gabbert and an injured Marcus Mariota made it impossible for Davis to be a productive receiver.
Should you start Davis in Week Four? Probably not. However, make sure to keep Davis on your bench. His time will come sooner rather than later, and the former fifth-overall pick has WR2 upside. Don’t let him go for pennies on the dollar.
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