John Glennon

jglennon@tennessean.com

Hired to help boost a wide receiver corps that produced the fewest catches in the NFL last season, Bob Bratkowski sees plenty of work still ahead.

In his assessment, much of that work needs to be done in the six weeks between when the Titans complete their minicamp Thursday and when they return for training camp in late July.

“I would say right now as a whole, our group has a long way to go to be what we need them to be to win games,” the wide receivers coach said Wednesday. “We’ve got time to get there. But a lot of it, I think, will be determined by their work during the time the off — improving conditioning-wise, to where they can really go and learn.”

There are at least a couple links, Bratkowski said, between the receivers’ fitness levels and their ability to process the offense.

“The problem is if you come in in poor condition, you get tired, you get fatigued, and then a couple things happen,” he said. “You get injured, miss time, and missing time sets you back. The second thing is when you’re fatigued, your mind doesn’t think clearly.

“So this group is going to be determined by the work ethic they have in the offseason and their ability to progress during training camp.”

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Bratkowski doesn’t dispute the potential among the current crop of receivers.

Kendall Wright, for instance, has twice caught more than 60 passes in a season and has topped the 1,000-yard mark once. Justin Hunter averaged more than 17 yards per catch in each of his first two seasons. Dorial Green-Beckham produced 10 catches over 20 yards among his 32 rookie receptions in 2015.

But the coaches believe that each of those receivers has more to give.

“There’s been a lot of potential in the NFL that has not panned out,” Bratkowski said. “Sometimes potential comes down to the individual not blowing the individual physical skills he was God-given. Hopefully we can avoid any of that with any of these guys. We want to magnify the physical skills they have.”

Other comments from Bratkowski as Titans receivers wrap up their first workouts under his watch:

On rookie Tajae Sharpe

Like coach Mike Mularkey and offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie, Bratkowski has been impressed by the fifth-round draft pick — especially his eagerness and ability to learn.

“I think a lot of (learning) just depends on the makeup of the kid, his desire to be good,” Bratkowski said. “Tajae has that. He works very, very hard at every aspect of it. He spends extra time on the mental side of things and is in (Bratkowski’s office) more than any of them.”

What questions does Sharpe have for Bratkowski and assistant wide receivers coach Jason Tucker?

“He’s asking everything,” Bratkowski said. “Coach Tucker will take him through the script for the next day, talk to him about formations, motions, sight adjustments, all the variations and techniques.

“Tajae will look ahead to the next day to see what’s going on. He’ll have plenty of questions — `What’s this? How do I do this?’ All kinds of things.”

On Wright

“Right now, Kendall is doing things really well,” Bratkowski said. “I’ve really been impressed with him. He’s one that’s performing at a pretty good level right now. Hopefully we can get him to continue that. I think his offseason, how he approaches it in terms of conditioning, will be critical to him getting off to a fast start.”

On Hunter

“He missed time with the (ankle dislocation) injury ... and I think he’s trying to gain confidence back in that leg,” Bratkowski said. “He has his good days and then some days that are not real good. We just have to strive to make him more consistent. He certainly has the ability, but the ability is one thing and then doing it is the other.”

On Green-Beckham

“There’s a few guys I would like to see in better condition …. (DGB) is one,” Bratkowski said. “He has to work a little extra harder to run as much as the smaller guys do. It’s just the physical makeup of those body types. Smaller guys have the ability to run a lot longer. Bigger guys have to work much harder at it.”

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

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