Paul Kuharsky, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

With Dexter McCluster out, Titans should throw to Bishop Sankey

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With Kendall Wright (hand) out the last couple weeks, Dexter McCluster lined up more as a wide receiver.

Wright is questionable for Thursday night's game in Jacksonville, and McCluster is out with a knee injury suffered in the loss to the Jets.

The Titans haven't thrown to any of their running backs with any regular success this season. Collectively they've caught 64 passes, or 24 percent of the Titans completed passes, for 459 yards.

The Titans are 20th in the NFL in passes caught by running backs and 20th with 84 targets to running backs.

Bishop Sankey was sold as a do-everything back when the Titans took him in the second round, as the first running back in the draft. He's caught only 17 passes this season.

With the team's top pass-catching back out, the Titans should look more to Sankey. As I've said in the past, he should get more third-down work too. Ken Whisenhunt loves Leon Washington in the third-down role, and he's a reliable veteran pass protector.

But if the first running back off the board can't be trusted in the 15th game of his first regular season to pick up a blitzer, and if he can't provide a more dangerous outlet than Washington, then the Titans are telling us they chose the wrong back.

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