The Tennessee Titans fell to 0-2 on the season after crumbling in the second half against the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday, but rookie fourth-rounder Elic Ayomanor was one of the few bright spots in the team’s offense that day.
The Stanford product caught four passes for 56 yards, one of which was not only the team’s first touchdown of the year, but also former No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward’s first career touchdown pass.
Many fans did not expect Ayomanor to make an immediate impact after learning of the pick, but in just two weeks, he has already caught the attention of people across the entire league.
Elic Ayomanor’s Path to Nashville
Ayomanor is one of a little over 30 active NFL players with Canadian heritage as of the start of the 2025 season. He was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, a medium-sized town about 180 miles southeast of Calgary and around 90 miles north of the U.S. border, and he also has family roots in a tiny town called Kincaid, Saskatchewan.
Ayomanor moved to the States following his freshman year of high school to play football, spending one year at Peddie School in New Jersey and two at the renowned Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. At Deerfield, he lettered in both football and track, ranking as a top-10 recruit in the state in football and setting multiple league records in track.
Before committing to Stanford prior to the 2022 season, he received other offers from football powerhouses such as Notre Dame, Tennessee and Ole Miss.
Towards the end of Stanford’s preseason camp in his freshman year, he suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for the entire season. Going into 2023, he had not played a full season since his lone year at Peddie in 2019 due to COVID and injuries.
Once he got the opportunity, Ayomanor made an impact for the Cardinal quickly, hauling in 1,013 yards and six touchdowns in his sophomore year.
Three of those touchdowns and 294 of those yards came during the team’s 46-43 upset win at Colorado, the latter of which set a program record. Ayomanor was matched up against eventual No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter in that game and made a catch over his helmet in overtime that went viral.
After another strong season with 831 yards and six touchdowns in 2024, Elic Ayomanor declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Lightning Fast Impact
Ayomanor was graded as high as a second-round pick by many outlets, including Bleacher Report, but he did not get the call from the Titans until the third-to-last pick in the fourth round — a pick that was traded to Tennessee from the Baltimore Ravens.
The Titans came into training camp with a clear WR1 and WR2 in veterans Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett, but Ayomanor earned the WR3 role and has started in both of the team’s games thus far.
In Week 1’s offensive struggle on the road against the Denver Broncos, Ayomanor caught two of his seven targets for 13 yards, making him the second-most targeted Titan receiver in that game only to Ridley.
His Week 2 performance began to make waves not only within the Titans’ fanbase, but for analysts and fantasy participants as well.
At the end of the first half, he caught two impressive passes from Ward, a one-hander that gained 23 yards and the nine-yard touchdown that followed a lengthy scramble.
He finished the game with four catches for 56 yards (15.6 PPR fantasy points), and his ability to catch passes and chemistry with Ward were major bright spots for the team.
Ayomanor Has Chemistry with Cam Ward
Ward has repeatedly praised Ayomanor’s physicality and ability to win 50/50 balls, and he especially loves taking deep shots to the outside with 1-on-1 coverage.
“Me and him are gonna continue to connect on plays like that,” Ward said in a presser on Wednesday. “He reps those plays every day in practice, he knows what releases he loves doing, so, you know, he makes my job easier.”
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One fan pointed out that it took Ayomanor only six quarters to match the career touchdown total of Treylon Burks, drafted 18th overall in 2022 with a pick acquired in the A.J. Brown trade.
If the connections between Ward and Ayomanor keep up, they could become a truly dangerous duo. Another great outing from the two during Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts, who rank top-five in fewest yards allowed per game so far this season, would greatly help the Titans in getting into the win column for the first time since Week 12 in 2024.
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