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My second article of the day is dedicated to Ohio State WR Parris Campbell. Born on July 16th, 1997, Campbell will be 22 later this year, and is 6’1 and 208 lb. In 2018 he caught 90 passes (15th most in the nation) for 1,063 yards and 12 touchdowns, so he clearly played a big role in the Buckeyes offense. He was also selected to the First Team All-Big Ten team in his senior season.
For what the Titans need at wide receiver I’m not a Campbell fan at all. But before I get to that let’s first take a look at what he does well as a prospect.
Campbell offers no shortage of quality as an underneath receiver, and he reminds me a little of guys like Golden Tate and D.J. Moore with that aspect in mind. As shown in these two clips, he’s got impressive speed and works really well on the shallow crossing routes. I especially love his speed to reach the edge.
Here’s more of Campbell delivering the goods as an underneath option. Ohio State did a nice job of putting their receiver into a scheme where he could dominate and rack up on yards. He was frequently used on jet motion and end arounds as well.
This route doesn’t look like much, but Campbell does an excellent job of staying patient and finding a soft spot in the end zone. Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins notices him (it’s not that difficult, really), and fires to the end zone for the easy score.
So you’re probably wondering what issues from Campbell I’m going to show, and I’m not for one simple reason; With a few exceptions, this is literally all Campbell did in 2018. He was almost exclusively used underneath in his senior season, and I can’t recall seeing more than a few plays where Ohio State actually allowed him to stretch the field vertically.
The problem with that is I don’t think his skill set is a good fit for the Titans. With guys like Dion Lewis, Adam Humphries, Jonnu Smith and even Taywan Taylor, Tennessee has more than enough guys that can create plays underneath. The issue is Corey Davis is the only consistent vertical threat on that roster, and as we saw from last season, only having one vertical threat suffocates the offense as a whole.
If the Titans had enough vertical weapons, then maybe Parris Campbell would be a better fit for that offense, but from what I saw he offers nothing as a deep threat, only offering quality as an underneath threat and a gadget player. Tennessee should focus on targeting a receiver that can stretch the field, someone like Marquise Brown, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, D.K. Metcalf or Miles Boykin.
The last thing I want to see from the Titans is add another slot receiver or another underneath guy. I get that the plan to plan the offense around Derrick Henry in the last four games of the 2018 season worked, but in what could be Marcus Mariota’s last season with the team (not by my say, anyway), they need to add another deep threat to pair with Davis, and Campbell to me is not that guy.
For a team that needs an underneath guy, Campbell would work better if drafted by a team like the Colts or Texans, but for a team like the Titans that has enough underneath receivers as is, I’ll pass.