Tennessee Titans rookie wide receiver Kyle Philips has impressed his teammates and the coaching staff through the first week-plus of training camp.
During the week, the UCLA product was given looks with the first team, getting meaningful reps with quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The transition wasn’t perfect, though, as Philips missed an assignment, leading to some frustration from the veteran quarterback on Thursday.
However, the young receiver showed maturity by holding himself accountable for the miscue and corrected it later in the session.
It’s safe to say that the 23-year-old wideout is progressing much faster than the coaching staff thought when they selected him in the fifth round of this year’s draft.
Aside from current staff and players, Philips has caught the attention of former Titans tight end Delanie Walker, who tweeted, “[Kyle Philips] will be our breakout player hands down” in response to this clip of a great back-shoulder connection between Philips and Tannehill in practice.
@kylephilips17 will be our breakout player hands down
— Delanie Walker (@delaniewalker82) August 5, 2022
Needless to say, Philips came into camp with an enormous opportunity to carve out a role for himself with the uncertain situation at wide receiver.
He’s getting reps with the ones now, but that wasn’t always the plan, according to head coach Mike Vrabel.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say [that was the plan],” Vrabel said of Philips getting first-team reps at this point, via John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “The plan is to come out here and define a role for yourself to help develop a team. There were some things that he did well today and some mistakes that he made.”
As for what he’s done well, Vrabel was quick to respond.
“He’s a player that gets open. I think he’s an instinctive player that can play inside. All those guys (slot receivers) have to have some level of instinctiveness,” he added.
With a strong training camp and showing in the preseason, Philips could be the starting slot receiver come Week 1 against the New York Giants. At the very least, he’s doing enough to be involved in the offense in 2022.
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