Tennessee Titans most important OTA story line: offensive line

CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 27: Akiem Hicks
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 27: Akiem Hicks /
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What can the Tennessee Titans fix on the offensive line.

There is a long time between now and when real camp starts for the Tennessee Titans, but it is a good time to see some things across the offensive line.

Without real hitting, the most the offensive line can do to impress coaches is show off their conditioning and to show off the mental part of the game.

The biggest question facing this OL during this time is:

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Who should get the most practice time and who should be penciled in as the starting OL?

Since the re-signing of Josh Kline and the injury to Jack Conklin, 4 starters for week 1 are almost guaranteed:

LT: Taylor Lewan

LG:

C: Ben Jones

RG: Josh Kline

RT: Dennis Kelly

That obviously leaves left guard open with these players left to compete for the position:

-Quinton Spain

-Xavier Su’a-Filo

-Kevin Pamphile

-Tyler Marz

-Corey Levin

-John Theus

The real candidates I think are (in order): Spain, Levin, XSF, Pamphile.

We may be talking a lot about nothing here when it is all said and done, because people forget that Spain was one of the better guards in the NFL over the last two years when he was healthy.

While he won’t be doing standing back flips, he is one of the more athletic offensive linemen in the NFL when you adjust for size and he is an asset in the passing game and as a run blocker. If he is the starter going into camp, I don’t see a great chance that we get a different offensive line than we have had for the past two years.

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The biggest contender could be Levin, who was drafted last year. It was always going to be a redshirt year for him coming from UTC, but now that he has a years worth of NFL experience and training it could be his time to really solidify himself as the backup at all three IOL position or even push for a starting job.

XSF gets the slight edge on Pamphile because his time with Mike Vrabel is probably more important than Pamphile’s time with Robinson. Both are here because of their familiarity with someone in the organization.

I don’t know how good Pamphile is, but I know that Houston had one of the worst OLs in the NFL while XSF was starting, and they didn’t try to bring him back. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it can’t be good.