Skip to main content

Kenny Britt feeling heat from Titans' Justin Hunter

Kenny Brittpredicted last week that the 2013 season would be his last with the Tennessee Titans. The doghouse-dwelling wide receiver might even find a way out of Nashville before the NFL's Oct. 29 trade deadline, suspects Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean.

As we pointed out in Sunday's game recap as well as the "Around The League Podcast," there's an argument to be made that Britt has been the worst starting wide receiver in the NFL through three games. He's been plagued by penalties and drops. He's also failed to consistently separate from man coverage ever since the first of his three knee surgeries starting in 2011.

It's no coincidence that Justin Hunter -- the player drafted to eventually succeed Britt -- accelerated the process by replacing the contract-year receiver on the Titans' game-winning drive in Week 3.

"We have a lot of faith in Justin. Justin is going to be an extremely special player," offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said Monday, via TitanInsider.com's Terry McCormick. "When we had to have it, , that's a guy that we wanted in as a coaching staff. We knew we were gonna give him a jump ball, and there was an extreme mismatch no matter who was covering him. He was gonna go up above them and catch the ball."

Coach Mike Munchak characterized the battle between Britt and Hunter as a "wait and see" situation, but Munchak made it clear that the rookie will earn more opportunities if he continues to make plays.

Teammates and coaches are smitten with Hunter's ceiling as an explosive playmaker. Locker joined Loggains in hailing the former University of Tennessee star as "special" while Delanie Walker and Kendall Wright described the second-rounder as a potentially "great player" with whom defenders can't hang on high-point balls.

The Titans already have discovered they are a better team with the enigmatic Britt on the sidelines. If general manager Ruston Webster can get another team to bite in the form of a conditional late-round draft pick, he might as well jettison a trouble-prone player who has been long on promise and short on production.

The "Around The League Podcast" broke down every Week 3 game. Click here to listen and subscribe.