After missing his first game of the season in Week 8, Tennessee Titans' rookie playmaker Carnell Tate was expected to return to action this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Unfortunately, Friday brought bad news for Titans fans looking forward to seeing this offence at full strength.

Tate will miss his second straight game in Week 10 with a lingering shoulder injury. Tennessee was already entering Sunday's matchup as the obvious underdog on paper, but losing out on Tate means losing out on QB Cam Ward's favorite weapon.

Ward, to his credit, had his best game of the season without Tate before the team's recent bye week. However, Tate has comfortably been Tennessee's most consistent and impactful pass-catcher. Going into a pivotal second-half stretch for Ward's development in Nashville, being without Tate in any capacity is a tough break.

But all is not lost for this rebuilding Titans roster. After their activity at the trade deadline, Tennessee has set up next year's draft to be an especially important one. Tate's absence is sure to make Ward's job under center more difficult, but it will give the Titans another week to see just how deep their WR room really is.

Seeing the bright side in Tate's absence for Titans

WIth growing assets like Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike taking root as supplementary options for Ward, WR depth is not necessarily a pressing question for Tennessee. At the same time, the 2027 NFL Draft just so happens to feature the best receiver prospect in recent memory.

Their isn't another player in next year's class like Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith. Drafting Smith, if the Titans went for a WR that high, would also mean he's reunited with Tate. All of a sudden, Tennessee has the most promising young WR duo in the league.

The Titans have pleanty of competitive depth at the position, but Tate seems to stand alone as their only potential superstar. Smith would change that outlook immediately.

So through that lense, the TItans could use extra time to see how this unit functions without its only obvious long-term piece. Ward has a lot of pressure to perform well, and his offence needs all the help it can get... but isn't that why the Titans decided not to trade Tony Pollard and Calvin Ridley?

If Tennessee's veterans can help spell the production that Tate is temporarily leaving behind, the Titans may be able to have their cake and eat it too with a game like this.

Trading for those draft picks meant something at the end of the day. Ward is secure until the end of this season, but no player is completely safe in a rebuld as volatile as the Titans'. Tennessee is looking to improve everywhere, and contests like the one vs. Jacksonville must be taken as testing grounds for that purpose first and foremost.