Titans: Colton Dowell injury could have offseason domino effect

- The Tennessee Titans were struck with more bad injury luck over the past week with rookie wide receiver Colton Dowell suffering a knee injury in a Week 17 loss to the Houston Texans.

With just one game remaining in the 2023 regular season, injuries this late in the year are usually insignificant, but Dowell's will have longterm ramifications for him and the Titans. 

According to a report from Paul Kuharsky, Dowell has a torn ACL. That means he will be moved to IR this weekend and would likely miss time in 2024.

When it comes to injuries like Dowell's, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel believes bad luck plays a huge factor. 

"I don't know how it wouldn't with some of the ones that we've had. Whether that's a guy falling on somebody's MCL, or a guy getting dragged down as a gunner and hurting his knee in Colton's (Dowell) instance," Vrabel said earlier this week.

A local product and seventh-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of UT Martin, Dowell made tremendous progress throughout his rookie season and established himself as a starting gunner on special teams. While Dowell only played on 51 offensive snaps, he was regularly active on game days and was likely making a strong case for himself to be on the 2024 team.

"Well, he improved on the special teams and when you have a young receiver like that with some size and some speed, you hope that can translate into the kicking game. I don't think that it did right away, and I think that he worked extremely hard, personally," said Vrabel of Dowell's rookie season. "I know that (Anthony) Levine spent a lot of time teaching Colton (Dowell) how to play special teams and how to be a gunner in this league. So those were some real positive things. The message is to get healthy and find a role on this football team next year."

But now, the Titans' offseason outlook may be changed with Dowell expected to miss some of 2024.

Offseason Impact

Wide receivers Chris Moore and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine are both unrestricted free agents this offseason. The Titans wide receivers other than Dowell under contract for the 2024 season are DeAndre Hopkins, Treylon Burks, Kyle Philips, Mason Kinsey, and Kearis Jackson.

Remove Hopkins from that group, and those other receivers have combined for just 30 catches, 393 yards, and zero touchdowns in 2023.  Safe to say Tennessee's depth is lacking.

While I fully expect the Titans to target a receiver in either free agency or the draft (or perhaps both), I do think there was a world where Dowell could have been stepping into the NWI role next season. Back in 2020 when Westbrook-Ikhine was a rookie, he too had a limited roll on offense but carved out a spot on the 53-man roster by being solid on special teams.

NWI is listed at 6-foot-2 and 211 pounds. Dowell is listed at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. I can't help but see a lot of similarities between the two players and how they were used as rookies. One key difference? NWI played on special teams in college. It was not a completely foreign concept to him when he got in an NFL training camp. Dowell needed a little bit of time to develop into a productive special teamer, but he's done just that over the last four months,

The Titans could have very easily signed a free agent and drafted a wide receiver this offseason to join DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks while relying on Dowell to be a younger, cheaper, and faster version of what they get from Westbrook-Ikhine.

Tennessee could have let NWI and Chris Moore both walk this offseason and been just fine, but with Dowell no longer in the picture for the 2024 season, that may be tougher to do. I now think at least one of them is back next season and the Dowell injury has a domino effect on their approach to the WR room this offseason.