Titans vs. Saints NFL Week 1: Treylon Burks may join Alvin Kamara among key players out of opener
Week 1 NFL games always are challenging to handicap because no one is really quite sure what teams are yet, but the Sept. 10 matchup between the Titans and Saints (-3) from New Orleans is arguably more “mysterious” than most already. For sure, Saints Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara is out suspended, and now Tennessee No. 2 wideout Treylon Burks could be in jeopardy of missing that game if not the season due to injury.
We don’t want to speculate here, but oftentimes it can be determined how injured a player is by how he reacts immediately after. Also today, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost starting wideout Russell Gage to a season-ending knee injury. It was fairly obvious that Gage was seriously hurt because he was in tears while being carted off.
Burks and the #Titans are in Minnesota having joint practices with the Vikings. The 2022 first-round pick (No. 18 overall) caught a deep pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill, but Burks' forward momentum caused him to stumble before losing his balance and somersaulting into the end zone. He got up and spiked the ball in frustration but couldn’t put much weight on his left leg, was eventually laid back down and carted off.
Titans GM Ran Carthon was speaking to Burks while the trainers evaluated him.
No receiver is going to put up video game numbers in the Titans offense right now because it’s a run-heavy attack behind Derrick Henry. And the quarterback situation was terrible in 2022. That’s why 2023 may well be the last in Tennessee for Tannehill with second-round rookie Will Levis now on the roster. Burks finished with 33 catches for 444 yards and a touchdown in 11 games as a rookie, battling some injuries. He had one of the team’s two 100-yard games from a receiver.
All reports out of Titans camp have been positive regarding Burks, who has said he is in much better shape than this time last year when asthma was affecting his conditioning. Burks arguably has less pressure, too, because free-agent addition DeAndre Hopkins is clearly the No. 1 guy. Still, if Burks is out any length of time, it’s a big hit to a very thin receiving group.
The Kamara situation has been known for a few weeks as he was suspended the first three games for an off-field issue. New Orleans is 3-7 in the 10 games Kamara has missed since entering the league in 2017. The #Saints are also breaking in new QB Derek Carr.
One major book released updated early Week 1 trends today and the Titans were taking a whopping 80% of bets and 83% of money on this 3-point spread (was 3.5) probably in part due to Kamara, but that was before Burks went down. SBIA's Week 1 model sims will be out soon.
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