The Competition: Early Drama in the AFC South
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The Titans’ offseason has made me long for the days when football talk in May was boring. When we’re not wondering where Chris Johnson is, we’re holding out hope Kenny Britt will stop being a fat slob and start practicing. HOWEVA, as crazy as this sounds, the team is having a solid offseason compared to what some other divisional foes are enduring.
1. The Houston Texans usually wait until about week ten to completely crush the souls of their fans, but this year they got that out of the way before training camp. Defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Cushing failed a drug test in the FIRST MONTH of last season and somehow still played out the entire season. So not only do the Texans have to start the season without last season’s best tackler, their fans have the fun task of convincing themselves he’s still a good guy. He’s not. We’ll have to wait and see if he has the balls to surrender his DROY title to a more deserving player.
2. The Jacksonville Jaguars foolishly believed they could lure Darren Sharper away to try and put out some of Reggie Nelson’s stink. That didn’t work out. On top of that, the Tyson Alualu pick absolutely wreaks of John McCargo. Question: If Michael Crabtree reportedly wanted more money last year because he said mock drafts had him ranked higher, can the Jags throw less money at Alualu because he probably wouldn’t have been picked until late first round? If I’m Gene Smith, I’m totally taking that route. While I think the some of the excitement about the 2010 Jags is adorable, there’s still the whole Jags being 7-16 in December since 2005 and they’re not getting any younger at QB. Random pointless fact: The Jaguars drafted D’Anthony Smith in the third round. Since 2000, NFL players drafted after the second round with an apostrophe in their name have had a 0% success rate.
It’s true the Titans’ offseason will be somewhat of a mess so long as CJ2K is M.I.A. However, the team is still looking to capitalize on tremendous late season momentum last year and a critically-acclaimed draft. Once Johnson is back on board and has less time to tweet, the Titans can focus on being the most promising team in the AFC South.