Mike Mularkey puts Titans wide receivers on notice

Titans coach Mike Mularkey made it clear Friday he’s expecting plenty of improvement from a wide receivers group that underachieved last season.

As a whole, Titans wide receivers produced the fewest catches and second-fewest receiving yards of any other team in 2015. No individual Titans wide receiver had as many as 40 catches last season.

Mularkey pointed out that he’s coached wide receivers in the past as an offensive coordinator and that three current Titans assistants — offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie, wide receivers coach Bob Bratkowski and assistant wide receivers coach Jason Tucker — all have extensive experience coaching wide receivers as well.

“They all know they’re going to be coached harder than any position there is,” Mularkey said. “First of all, because it needs to improve. There’s no question about that. If there’s a position on this team that could be better, it’s that one.

“We’re going to be in their ear. We’re not going to accept anything that’s not the best from them. If they don’t show that, we’re going to find someone that understands that.”

Former first-round pick Kendall Wright, limited to 10 games last year because of injury, produced career lows of 36 catches and 408 yards. Mularkey wants more production from Wright, who is heading into the final year of his contract.

“Kendall knows we’re expecting a lot out of Kendall,” Mularkey said. “I hope he expects the same as we do.”

Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham showed promise last season as a rookie, catching 32 passes for 549 yards and four touchdowns. But Mularkey said Friday that Green-Beckham is dealing again with an injury, the same one that took away much of his offseason in 2015.

“He’s not done a lot of work because he tweaked his hamstring like a year ago,” Mularkey said. “So he’s got some work to do.”

Henry impresses: Mularkey said he was impressed with what he saw from second-round pick Derrick Henry, the Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama.

“I liked a lot of things he did,” Mularkey said. “Just some of the holes and the plays we’re running, the reads on the run were good for the very first day with a whole new offensive line and a fullback in front of him.

“But also some of the things he did protection-wise … Some of the guys got beat up front, he had no problem stepping right up and picking up leakage. So that’s good to see the very first day from him.”

One criticism of the 6-foot-3, 247-pound Henry is that he lacks lateral quickness, but Mularkey doesn’t see that as an issue — especially since the Titans are likely to use him in more of a north-south role.

“I think he’ll get comfortable with the system. It’s not far off from what he’s been familiar with,” Mularkey said. “There’s a couple different runs that are more our bread-and-butter things that will play to his ability.”

McCluster safe? When the Titans traded for DeMarco Murray and drafted Henry, it became clear some of last year’s running backs would be bumped from the roster.

It sounds like veteran Dexter McCluster is safe, meaning backs such as Antonio Andrews and David Cobb might face more of a challenge.

“This is a balanced offense,” Mularkey said. “We’re going to find as much balance as we can, and we’re going to try to keep people off-balance with personnel groupings.

“Dexter is another threat. As many guys (as) you have that can do something special and make a big play ... Dexter will have a role. It won’t be hard. It will actually be enjoyable to game plan with some of the guys we’re adding on.”

Injury update: In addition to Green-Beckham, a handful of other veterans probably will be limited when the Titans start OTAs later this month.

Center Brian Schwenke (ankle), wide receiver Justin Hunter (ankle), outside linebacker Derrick Morgan (shoulder) and tight end Anthony Fasano (shoulder) are included in that group, Mularkey said. In addition, tight end Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil (knee) probably will be held out altogether at the start of OTAs.

Bubble trouble: Mularkey said the Titans’ new practice bubble is expected to be constructed by Aug. 10 or 11. He said that, starting this month, if the Titans have trouble with bad weather during their OTAs, they have plans in place to use the indoor facilities at Vanderbilt or Tennessee State.

Reach John Glennon at 615-259-8262 and on Twitter @glennonsports.