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Tennessee Titans should use their tackles differently

By Will Lomas

Sep 1, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Tennessee Titans tackle Taylor Lewan (77) talks with field judge Buddy Horton (82) during a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Tennessee won 21-10. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 1, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Tennessee Titans tackle Taylor Lewan (77) talks with field judge Buddy Horton (82) during a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Tennessee won 21-10. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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A small film note for the Tennessee Titans.

2016 was a great season for the Tennessee Titans. Maybe no position saw greater progress than offensive tackle.

Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin are clearly one of the top tandems in the NFL as book end tackles. However, there is another player that doesn’t get his due credit: Dennis Kelly.

Kelly was great as a replacement for Taylor Lewan in the Green Bay game where Lewan was forced to leave. When he wasn’t subbing in, he was playing swing tackle.

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That is what I wanted to talk about: the swing tackle.

I have no issue with the Tennessee Titans using a swing tackle going forward. It is a great way to get the OL depth involved and it allows you to make a statement by pounding the football.

What I have an issue with, is how they use the offensive tackles. Sometimes they would move Lewan and Conklin next to each other and put Kelly on the short side of the line.

Other times, the Titans would move Kelly to essentially tight end and leave the other two where they were.

I think all that moving is nice and can cause some confusion, but there is a way to get the most out of this package.

When they go to this 3OT package, the Tennessee Titans should put Kelly at left tackle, Conklin at right tackle and Lewan at tight end.

Lewan is clearly the most athletic of the three and can do some great things on the edge and at the second level with his speed and size. Not only that, but he can catch the ball and do some fun stuff as a tight end.

Kelly held up well as a true left tackle in the Green Bay game and it appears to be his natural position. Putting him there with Lewan outside allows him to be in his natural position without risking him getting beaten by top-end pass rushers.

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    • Conklin is an All-Pro right tackle, so if you don’t have to move him, why would you?

    The Titans don’t have to run gadget plays out of this, or limit their playbook either. With Conklin and Kelly at their natural position their assignments will remain the same.

    The only person who really has a change to deal with is Lewan who is the Tennessee Titans most veteran offensive lineman, so you hope he can deal with them easily.

    I think this allows you to limit the snaps of an aging Delanie Walker if that is something you are worried about, while also getting some quality snaps from Dennis Kelly.

    The NFL is trying to get smaller and quicker on defense, so teams really don’t have the size they used to if they want to fight off 6 OL sets like this.

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    Jon Robinson and Mike Mularkey are zigging while the other teams are zagging, and this is a great way to allow this formation to turn into a real part of this offense.

    They can do a lot of things with this formation now that they have real talent at WR, so they should take advantage of their rare commodity.

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