Tennessee Titans most important OTA story line: RBs

Which RB could emerge as the starter for the Tennessee Titans, if either?

It is a far cry from the days of Antonio Andrews and Bishop Sankey in the Tennessee Titans backfield. Now the Titans have one of the best 1-2 punch combinations in the NFL, but there are still some questions.

While snap count and workload is important, my big concern is:

Will the Tennessee Titans figure out how to use both RBs correctly?

When I say that, what I mean is that despite their sizes and perceived strengths, Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis are unique backs.

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Henry is a huge running back, but the best way to use him is on plays where he can bounce to the outside. His lack of acceleration is startling between the tackles, but when he builds up a head of steam on the outside he suddenly becomes impossible to tackle without a fight.

So while you look at him and make the assumption that Isos, traps, dives, and other inside runs may be best, that isn’t right.

A smart OC will take this time during OTAs and figure out that stretch plays, pitches and maybe some TE/FB-pull based counters are really what would work best for him. In fact, a really smart OC would figure out a way to get Henry the ball on a play with motion where he can build up steam before the play even starts.

On the other hand, Lewis is shifty and explosive in between the tackles. While you may look at the depth chart and see him listed at 5’8, it would be a mistake to make him a pure satellite back.

I would love to see some window dressing on some classic dive/read option plays where motion or a potential QB keep freezes the linebackers and allows Lewis to get up to the second level quickly.

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So the question is, does Matt LaFleur come out and talk about how different the backs are or does he just say that they can both run all the plays effectively. Because, while that sounds great it just isn’t true.

In an ideal world, Derrick Henry ends up against DBs and Dion Lewis ends up against linebackers. Their size and burst respectively make them the hardest to stop against those position groups, so do the Titans recognize that now and make changes before training camp?

If not, then this transition could face some unnecessary setbacks. But if they can identify this and figure out a way to utilize both of their strengths then the offense will be a lot smoother from day 1.