John Glennon

jglennon@tennessean.com

It’s been a quiet preseason start for the Titans wide receiver with the Hall of Fame credentials.

After two games, Andre Johnson has two catches for 15 yards, a reception total that trails seven of his new teammates.

In Saturday’s loss to the Panthers, Johnson was on the field for 15 snaps, but didn’t have a pass thrown in his direction.

But when you’ve produced more than 1,000 catches and 14,000 yards in your 13-year career — as the 35 year-old Johnson has — do you really need to do much to attract the attention of a head coach?

“He has been very competitive,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. “He doesn’t have to do anything more for me to know he can play.”

A 14-year veteran, Johnson said he feels pretty good about his overall play through two preseason games.

“The first game, there were a couple mental errors,” Johnson said. “So the second game, my biggest thing was to try to go out and not have any mental errors at all — but at the same time, making sure you’re out there doing the right things and trying to do what you can to help the team win, even though it’s a preseason game.

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“I think you still have to go out and compete and make plays. I don’t live off what I’ve done in this league. Every time I’m out there, I’m trying to make plays. I’ll live off (the past) when I’m doing playing.”

Johnson said that he feels better than he has in years. In seasons past, Johnson would take practices off from time to time during training camp, just to rest some weary muscles. But he’s participated in nearly every practice since camp began over three weeks ago.

“This is definitely the most consecutive days of practice I’ve gone through through the years,” Johnson said. “But my body feels good. There have been days where (Mularkey) has come to me and told me to take a day off and I didn’t because I felt fine. I don’t know why that is … I started working out pretty early this year, so maybe that’s it.”

Mularkey has been impressed with the soft-spoken veteran's work ethic.

“I can promise you in the last five years, he hasn’t practiced every practice in training camp like he has here,” Mularkey said. “But he hasn’t blinked. He has come out here and he hasn’t asked to be pulled. I’ve told him it’s up to you — it’s your body and you know it better than I do.”

Here’s a quick update on the Titans’ top seven wide receivers as they compete for a handful of roster spots:

Andre Johnson (26 snaps, 2 targets, 2 catches, 15 yard, 7.5-yard average). Johnson caught at least 85 passes in three consecutive years before 2015, but he’s comfortable knowing he has a different role to play for the Titans now.

“You have to just get used to it, the nature of the beast,” he said. “There was a point in time that I was the number one guy. But as your career goes on, things change. I don’t feel weird about it. I just embrace it. It’s a challenge.”

Tajae Sharpe (31 snaps, 8 targets, 8 catches, 103 yards, 12.9 average). The Titans could not have asked for more from the rookie, a fifth-round pick who’s taken training camp by storm. Maybe the best indication of how he’s fared so far is that Sharpe has caught 57 percent of Marcus Mariota’’s 14 completions through two games.

Rishard Matthews (26 snaps, 3 targets, 3 catches, 38 yards, 12.7 average). Matthews hasn’t made any wow plays, but Mularkey likes the free-agent signee's progress. He will almost certainly be an opening-day starter.

“I've been really happy with Rishard, really this last week in practice,” Mularkey said Sunday. “His route running — he ran some really good routes (against the Panthers). ... His blocking has been very good. I mean everybody always talks about the receiving end of things and the route running, but his blocking has been very good, as well.”

Justin Hunter (52 snaps, 8 targets, 4 catches, 54 yards, 13.5-yard average). As has often been the case in his first three years, Hunter has been up and down through two games. He made a nice catch going over the middle against the Panthers and added a nice sideline grab, but also failed to keep his feet inbound during another sideline attempt.

“That route is not designed to be flattened off like that, so (Hunter) put himself in that position to where basically the ball had to go out of bounds and the route dictated that,” Mularkey said of the failed attempt. “If he had stayed on a higher angle, that's a route you can catch and run with it. So, that route was not good.”

Harry Douglas (26 snaps, 6 targets, 4 catches, 41 yards, 10.3-yard average). A seven-year veteran, Douglas has made at least one big-impact play in each of the first two preseason games. Against the Chargers, he made a critical block to help free running back DeMarco Murray's 71-yard touchdown run. Against the Panthers, Douglas got good separation and caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Mariota.

Tre McBride (58 snaps, 8 targets, 5 catches, 28 yards, 5.5-yard average). McBride has received more snaps than any other wide receiver through the first two preseason games. It’s clear that Mularkey and the staff want to get a long look at the second-year pro. The advantage McBride has is that he can make big special-teams contributions as a return man or gunner.

“Yeah, Tre has made some plays out there,” Mularkey said. “He’s done some good things on special teams.”

Kendall Wright (0 snaps). He has yet to play because of a hamstring injury and will likely miss this Saturday's game against the Raiders. The fifth-year pro has experience, but he's only played 10 games with Mariota, so the two are missing valuable opportunities to learn one another in game conditions.

Reach John Glennon at jglennon@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @glennonsports.