What is the Tennessee Titans strength?
By Will Lomas
Which phase of the Tennessee Titans roster is the best?
In recent years, I have struggled to see the good in the Tennessee Titans roster.
Clinging to hope of the development of players like Jeremiah Poutasi, Chance Warmack and Brian Schwenke I have desperately tried to piece together units that looked good on paper.
Well, in year two of the Jon Robinson regime I am having to find where the holes are in the roster.
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Looking at my 53-man projection today, I couldn’t help but struggle to find a place I really wasn’t confident at. Sure there are some depth issues here and there, but no one looks like they are anything worse than an average NFL player.
I even took to breaking it down into the three phases of the game (offense, defense and special teams) to see if a definitive winner or loser took shape.
This is what I found when I dug in to the Tennessee Titans roster.
Offense
Biggest strengths: Marcus Mariota, Taylor Lewan, Delanie Walker
Biggest question marks: Josh Kline, youth at wide receiver, uh…pass.
This one is easy to fall in love with. Marcus Mariota is a franchise quarterback who is cheap, young, a hard worker, and a dual threat. He really has it all.
Taylor Lewan is one of the best left tackles in the NFL and if you don’t have him in your top four or five, you are overrating older players AND you haven’t watched his tape.
Delanie Walker is one of the two or three most consistently dominant tight ends in the NFL and despite his age, there are no signs of that slowing down.
Honestly, you have trouble finding holes anywhere on the starting roster now. However, it is a surprise that the biggest question mark may come at right guard.
The Tennessee Titans offensive line is impressive and as a unit they are in the upper echelon. Maybe with an offseason together Kline will look better in a vacuum than he did in 2016 where he had a few struggles.
Other than that, the only question you can really have is how the wide receiver group will come together. The Titans have a ton of potential, but there may be some kinks to work out early.
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Defense
Biggest strengths: Jurrell Casey, Brian Orakpo, Derrick Morgan
Biggest question marks: EDGE depth, Sylvester Williams, Cornerback
The front seven of the Titans is nothing to scoff at. In fact, you could argue that their three best defensive players are in the front seven.
Jurrell Casey is one of the greatest Titans that never gets the respect he deserves. He can play anywhere on the DL and he can do it in any scheme. Look for him to start making annual appearances in the Pro Bowl now that people know his name.
Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan are among the top EDGE tandems in the NFL. Both are solid against the run while also having the versatility to get to the quarterback consistently.
The issue is that no one is behind them. I like Kevin Dodd as a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end like how the Titans play Derrick Morgan. However, their best stand up EDGE is probably going to come down to Josh Carraway, Victor Ochi and Aaron Wallace.
Sly Williams never showed me anything special, but the Tennessee Titans front office and coaching staff made it a point to go out and pick him up. While I don’t love it, it is hard to argue with Jon Robinson when everything he has touched has turned to gold.
Cornerback is an issue, but only because we haven’t seen this group play. As soon as they have chemistry I have very little doubt that they will be an immediate improvement over last year’s team.
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Special Teams
This is one of the few years I have ever been excited to watch the Titans special teams. You could see Adoree Jackson or Khalfani Muhammad return kicks and both have explosive potential to return one for a huge gain or even a touchdown.
In the kick coverage game, the Tennessee Titans went out and got some of the best special teams tacklers in the NFL. They should be head hunting out there and doing a great job flipping the field.
According to Football Outsiders, only 4 kickers in the NFL graded out better than Ryan Succop. That is outstanding and it continues a stretch of great kicking for this franchise.
Brett Kern may be the weak link on the team given his punts only average to go 44.2 yards before returns. However, he did put an impressive 32 punts inside the 20 while only getting 4 touchbacks. That is a pretty solid ratio.
So, with some improved play from the coverage units we may see Kern boom the ball a little more knowing that he won’t out kick his coverage.
Rankings
So after really breaking it down I don’t know how to lean. I think this will be a successful Tennessee Titans team lead by the offense, which is very rare to say. They look like the clear best unit on the field.
After that, who is better? A young defense with proven veteran playmakers on the front seven?
Or do you lean towards an explosive special teams unit with potential star returners and a great kicker?
I don’t know and it is really splitting hairs so I will let you decide where to put your confidence. One thing is clear though, this is not the team we saw a few years ago that struggled to have one above average unit.
This is a team with young stars, solid depth and a clear plan. It is hard to beat that.