September 16, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive end Derrick Morgan (91) and linebacker Kamerion Wimbley (95) celebrate after a sack during the second quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Currently the only gripe Tennessee Titans fans have after an eventful free agency and draft, is the lack of obvious upgrade at the pass rusher position.  The Titans decided to address other positions early in the draft, and have yet to sign a marquee veteran defensive end in free agency.

One may say that the Titans don’t really need pass rush help, although Derrick Morgan and Kamerion Wimbley did play 80% of the snaps last year which is way too much.  The addition of Gregg Williams, combined with the likes of Bernard Pollard, lends credence to the idea that the Titans will be more inventive in finding ways to get to the quarterback.  The evolution of Akeem Ayers as a pass rusher could play into that same vein as well.  Ayers and Pollard could rush out of 3-4 sets and Ruby packages respectively.  The addition of 330 lb. Sammie Lee Hill in the middle of the line is expected to have a large effect as well.  Morgan and Wimbley both were able to get close to the quarterback on a number of occasions last year, only to have the opposing signal caller step forward into a clean pocket to evade the outside rush.  Putting Hill next to Jurrell Casey and Mike Martin on the interior of the line, should make that a lot harder on the opposing teams.

Image courtesy of ESPN.com

All this is well and good, but what fans need to realize is that the sack total of a team doesn’t translate very well to wins.  As much as fans bemoan the Titans edge defenders, the team ranked 9th in the league last year, with a total of 39 sacks.

To put that in perspective, the Superbowl Champion Baltimore Ravens had 37 along with the always enviable New England Patriots.  The other team in the Superbowl?  The 49ers had 38.

The Seattle Seahawks, another playoff team, finished 18th in the regular season for sacks.  The Washington Redskins and Indianapolis Colts both tied for 23rd ending up with a mere 32 sacks, while the mighty Atlanta Falcons with coveted John Abraham only ended the season with 29.

Yes, the Broncos, Texans, Bengals, Packers and Vikings finished in the top 10, but so did the Titans, Rams, Dolphins, Bears and Panthers.

I’m not saying sacks aren’t great and admit they do turn momentum in a game.  Only they seem to be a bit overrated when it comes to a measure of a teams success.

The Titans defense had much larger problems than it’s quarterback pressure last year.  Such as covering tight ends, blown assignments, and an inordinate amount of missed tackles.  If those issues are addressed first and foremost, I won’t worry about the sack total so much.

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Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Titans are heading into the off-season with plenty of cap room to make a splurge in free agency if they so choose.

The Titans will have about 19.4 million in cap room to spend on their own players and possibly some free agent additions. This is according to John Clayton from ESPN and The Tennessean. The Titans went into last year with about 12 million in cap room that was unused. Last year the Titans went into the season with close to double the amount of cap room than other teams in the league.

Titans GM Ruston Webster mentioned the salary cap earlier, “We’re a fairly young team, and we’re still growing,” Webster said. “We were just smart about how we allocated (cap money), so that it didn’t all go into the first year.” Yes they were very smart about how they allocated cap money. Kamerion Wimbley looks like a great signing, so much so that the Titans are going to head into the draft with DE being a pretty big area of need.

Unfortunately, that’s one of the problems with free agency, you let one of your guys leave a year before (Jason Babin) because he is too expensive to sign, then you sign someone (Wimbley) to a more lucrative contract than Babin got.

One thing is for sure, the Titans are bound to make a splash in the free agency pool this year. Mike Munchak is under the gun this season and it would seem that the Titans will do what they can to make sure that they put the best product out on the field next year.

One other aspect to think about is the fan base is getting pretty restless and I think the brain trust knows that they must find a way to sell this team to the fans. Free agency will help that.

What say you?

Shawn Eagle

You can follow me on twitter @RS1Eagle

Dec 19, 2010; Nashville,TN, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive end Jason Babin (93) in action against the Houston Texans during the second half at LP Field. Tennessee defeated Houston 31-17. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-US PRESSWIRE

    Jason Babin has recently been released by the Philadelphia Eagles.  I feel both a little pang of regret, and of happiness, whenever a good ex-Tennessee Titan has misfortune.  Regret because I like them, and happiness because they shouldn’t have left, darnit!  But Babin poses an interesting question for us… should we bring him back to Tennessee?  I think there are two big reasons for doing such a thing; #1, our needs, and #2, his ability.

     So let’s start with us.  The Titans currently have only two even remotely decent pass rushers at Defensive End.  Wimbley and Morgan have been gaining steam consistently throughout season; Morgan appears to finally be living up to his status as a 1^st rounder, and Wimbley has been making a bigger impact in the pass rush game.  But behind them is not a single valuable pass rusher.  Kenyetta Dawson is average at best, and brings little value against the run.  Solomon is interesting, but he’s not a designated third down rusher (more of an every down D. End like Morgan, but far rawer and less athletic).  Pannel Egboh is a little more intriguing, but clearly far stronger against the run.  A dedicated pass rushing end, to sub into third down & when Wimbley/Morgan get tired, would really improve our Defensive End group.

     As Mark Twain once said, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.  Babin has had a dramatic drop in production this year, with only 5.5 sacks.  But the question is… why?  Has Babin really dropped off in ability?  I think there’s a very good case to be made that any drop in ability has been small, at most.  The entire Eagles defensive line has had a dramatic drop this year; Trent Cole has only 1.5 sacks, Daryl Tapp has half a sack, and Brandon Graham, despite increased playing time, has only 1.5 sacks.  Sounds to me like the problem is defense-wide.

     A much better source of Babin’s decline (just to point out, he’s still the Eagles leading sack artist) is the terrible play of the Eagles defense, specifically the defensive backfield.  Asomugha, DRC, Nate Allen- all big names, all playing terrible this year.  The Eagles just haven’t been able to pin their ears back and rush like they used to.  Washburn is their defensive line coach, and he’s running the wide 9 system.  But without a defensive backfield able to hold its own, the system fails.

     Babin has a good bit left in the tank.  But I doubt the Titans sign him.  First, it’s likely a team making a run will claim him off waivers and pay his full salary; it is incredibly unlikely the Titans will do that.  Even if he isn’t claimed off waivers, the contract we might offer is unlikely to exceed other teams interested.  Finally, we’d need a big run to get back into playoff contention.  And that’s highly unlikely.  I don’t think the Front Office will pony up for an aging, but productive, veteran when we’re building off of youth & aiming to compete next year.

     Still, too bad.  If he had been around at the beginning of the year, our defense would have been a lot better.  But it’s probably preferable to build for the future, pick up a player or two in the draft (hopefully in the first round, given the strength of this year’s class) and sift through the FA class.

Myles MacDonald Out.