Oct 28, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks (94) and defensive tackle Jurrell Casey (99) leave the field after a game against the Indianapolis Colts at LP Field. The Colts beat the Titans 19-13. Mandatory credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Titans surrendered a franchise record 471 points during the 2012-13 NFL season. One reason for that was the lack of production from their defensive linemen. Too many players didn’t play to their potential. How much of that was from coaching? How much of that was from overrated talent?

Here are some position grades for each of the defensive tackles (DT).

Jurrell Casey
16 games played, 54 tackles, 5 stuffs, 0 pass deflections, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles

Jurrell Casey followed up his 2011 rookie season with another good year in 2012. His run-defense wasn’t as noticeable because his supporting cast didn’t offer much support. His sacks and forced fumbles increased. For a defensive lineman, he had a high amount of tackles.

Overall, Casey played well.

GRADE: B+

Sen’Derrick Marks
14 games played, 41 tackles, 3 stuffs, 3 pass deflections, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble

Marks is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. In 51 career games (26 starts), Marks has 99 tackles, eight pass deflections, three sacks and three forced fumbles. In 2012, Marks recorded a full sack against the Miami Dolphins. That was his first full sack since 2009.

Marks plays far too much to have one full sack in three seasons (he also had two half-sacks). Mike Martin would’ve offered more to a run-defense that ranked 24^th in 2012.

How many great plays has Marks made? His lack of production stems from either unreached potential or the coaches not using him properly. Maybe it’s a combination of both. Regardless, Marks has failed to capitalize on his many opportunities.

It’s a mystery. Marks doesn’t pass the eye test. He doesn’t pass the stats test. Pro Football Focus gave him a -7.7 rating. Including restricted free agents, that makes him the 47^th-best interior defensive lineman available in free agency.

Marks, you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

GRADE: D

Mike Martin
16 games played, 37 tackles, 4 stuffs, 0 pass deflections, 3 sacks, 0 forced fumbles

Consider this: in 51 career games (26 starts), Marks has six stuffs and three sacks. In 16 games (one start), Martin has four stuffs and three sacks. Martin doesn’t even project as a good interior pass-rusher. Yet, he has already shown more in that department than Marks.

Martin will start in 2013. If Colin McCarthy can stay healthy, the run-defense should significantly improve.

GRADE: B

Karl Klug
16 games played, 7 tackles, 0 stuffs, 1 pass deflection, 3.5 sacks, 0 forced fumbles

Karl Klug is a one-trick pony: he rushes the passer. Starting is not in his future. Klug is a player who’s effective on obvious passing situations. Get him in the game on third down. Play him on second-and-long.

There are games when Klug plays fewer than 10 snaps. That didn’t keep him from leading all defensive tackles (on the team) with 3.5 sacks. Those numbers would inflate if he were used on third downs more than Marks.

GRADE: C+

DaJohn Harris, Leger Douzable
Not enough playing time to form an opinion.

GRADE: I

OVERALL GRADE: C
This low grade is weighted from Marks’ ineffectiveness (he’s a starter), players not swatting enough passes and Jerry Gray using poor rotations. Gray must learn how to use Martin and Klug to their strengths, not just blindly play Marks because he’s second on the depth chart.

Fans should look forward to a rotation with Casey, Martin, Klug, Harris and another role player for short-yardage and goal-line situations.

Aug 30, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Mike Martin (67) puts pressure on New Orleans Saints quarterback Sean Canfield (4) during the first half of a preseason game at LP Field. Tennessee won 10 to 6. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

This past year, the Tennessee Titans selected three players in the draft that vastly outperformed early expectations. The first two, Kendall Wright and Zach Brown, have gotten a lot of attention for their play, and rightly so. But in my mind, the most impressive player from this year’s draft was 3rd pick Mike Martin, defensive tackle out of University of Michigan.

Mike Martin came into a crowded field at defensive tackle; Jurrell Casey, our outstanding 3rd round pick in 2011, had locked down the starting nose tackle spot. SenDerrick Marks looked like he had finally turned the corner in the preseason and locked down the undertackle spot. Finally, Karl Klug was supposed to be our pass rushing specialist, a high impact rotational player. Unfortunately for the Titans, neither Marks nor Klug made nearly the impact we had hoped for.

But a silver lining was found – rookie Mike Martin. I, along with most, believed Martin would be a “control the interior” power tackle, fantastic at eating double teams and stopping the run. What I didn’t expect was the skill he showed as a pass rusher, and the multitude of ways he would accomplish that. But should we have been?

Year in Review

Martin spent most of the year operating as the 3rd defensive tackle in our rotation, behind starters SenDerrick Marks and Jurrell Casey. But in his limited role, he was arguably the best among those three- PFF tracked him as our best interior pass rusher, accumulating 15 hurries, 8 hits, and 3 sacks in 249 passrushes. In fact, this ranked second on our team in percentage terms, behind only Derrick Morgan (who was, according to their metrics, one of the best defensive ends in the league).

What was surprising to was his low number of plays- Martin’s playcount, tracked by MusicCityMiracles, continuously yoyo-ed throughout the season, seemingly without rhyme or reason. One week he’d play 60% of our snaps, and next week he’d be down to 30%. I think the coaches held on too long to the idea of SenDerrick Marks as a starting defensive tackle; he showed immense flashes during the preseason, then suffered a few nagging injuries that appear to hold him down the rest of the year. What’s clear is that, when Martin was in, he outplayed Marks. Hopefully the coaches will see that when they study this year’s game tape, and use him accordingly.

Martin’s impact, however, wasn’t just limited to the pass rush. The combo of Casey and Martin were by far the best at run stopping on the team. Both players generally command a double team against the run, and when both are in we see a lot less movement backwards, and our linebackers going unblocked on a regular basis. Unless we see a free agent or high pick at defensive tackle come in, I’m guessing that against any power run team, these two will be on the field together a lot more.

Looking Forward

Mike Martin appears to have a very bright future with the Titans; he’s clearly shown enough ability to get a shot at starting, and at minimum, he’ll be a heavy part of our rotation. He does have two things working against him. First, Jurrell Casey has clearly locked down the nose tackle position in our 4-3; there is very little chance that Martin could take that position, given Casey’s play. Second, Martin’s current skillset make him unsuited to start at the UT position in our 4-3; if he wants to secure that starting spot, he needs to continue to improve his pass rushing ability, and expand his limited arsenal of moves.

Martin currently relies too heavily on his abilities to bull-rush and control the offensive lineman’s movement to create pressure; while he adds value on every play by pushing his blocker backwards and collapsing the pocket (shown by the number of pressures he was credited with), only on a few plays against physically weak guards will he create the sack on his own (imagine the [too common] plays where Amano just gets thrown backwards by the opposing tackle).

In the run game, there’s not much more you could ask for. Martin has an astounding ability to hold his ground in the middle, especially against power runs. He could improve slightly in holding ground when he has to move his feet (against outside zone runs, tosses, etc.), but he still does an excellent job. One thing I’d like to see more is penetration- Casey has shown an excellent ability to slip his blocker on a play or two a game and blow up the running back, and if Martin could do that on a more consistent basis, our run defense would be a lot scarier.

The final question is whether Martin should be a starter for us next year and that’s a difficult question. If we can continue our run of drafting excellent defensive tackles in the middle rounds, my answer is yes- in his time on the field, Martin has shown more than enough to be a starter, and enough flashes to convince me he could one day be a dominant UT. I don’t think he’ll ever become a Melton/Kevin Williams type UT, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he makes enough strides to become a 6 sack a year player, and with his dominance in the run game, that would be one hell of a starter.

Grade:  A-

Tune in Thursday for DT Mike Martin’s review

Sep 16, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Mike Martin (center) is blocked by San Diego Chargers center Nick Hardwick (61) and guard Louis Vasquez (65) during the second quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

The Tennessee Titans have two of the leagues best run stopping defensive tackles according to one of ProFootballFocus’s recent articles. The two in question? They would be 2nd year player Jurrell Casey and rookie Mike Martin.

Now I want to share the preface PFF had before their list because another Titan is in the bottom 20, but has had a good year.

Even though Run Stop Percentage is probably the most indicative statistic of performance against the run, it doesn’t always equal the PFF run grade. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first reason is that a play can be impacted without making a tackle. Gerald McCoy is a player this can be said about. His run grade is sixth among defensive tackles yet he has only made 10 stops and is 80th in Run Stop Percentage. He routinely holds the point of attack, though, and rarely gives up running lanes.

The second reason is that good run defense isn’t always about making plays, sometimes it is about not giving up plays. The best example of this is probably Henry Melton. He has the second-highest Run Stop Percentage yet a negative PFF run grade. Melton loves to get upfield and is fantastic at it. This shows through in his pass rushing and run stop statistics. He loves to get upfield so much that he’ll sometimes get pushed easily out of a hole, which is a no-no.

Now on to the list. Mike Martin comes in 3rd, behind Aubrayo Franklin of the Chargers and Henry Melton of the Bears. Martin was a starting for a few weeks of the season, though Marks seems to have taken that spot back. It doesn’t matter. Martin has shown all the value we saw when the Titans drafted him this past spring and looks like he should continue to be a great part of this Titans defense moving forward.

Coming in a little further down at 16th is Jurrell Casey. Casey hasn’t quite had the year that he had last year, but part of that can be put on arm injuries that have slowed him down. Casey is just another example of the talent the Titans have at the DT position.

Now for the Titan who came in on the back end. In the bottom 20 run stoppers. Sen’Derrick Marks, who’s in the middle of a career year, comes in just five spots behind Tampa Bay’s Gerald McCoy at 63. This is where I get a little confused by how this all works out, as Marks has been having a good year.

Either way, it’s nice to see some Titans getting some recognition. While this defense has been a mixed lot this year, there has been positives to take away. Hopefully they finish up the season strong and give us a few more positives to take away.

You can find me on Twitter @JustinLStewart