Tennessee Titans most important OTA story line: defensive line
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans have some pieces on the DL, but do we know who should start?
When the Tennessee Titans were scrapping the bottom of the NFL rankings, there was one group that kept fans interested: defensive line.
The Titans won 5 games in 2 years combined, and the only real star that fans had to hold on to was Jurrell Casey. Year in and year out fans always could point to Casey when people asked who their favorite Titans player was.
He has been everything anyone hoped he could be when he was drafted, and he and fellow classmate Karl Klug entertained fans for years.
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And if you are expecting a “but” to be coming up you will be disappointed. Casey was and is a star in the NFL today.
The Titans have their blue-chipper on the DL, but that leads to the biggest question of the OTAs:
Who will start with Jurrell Casey in the 3-4 base front?
Tennessee is lacking another true star to pair him with, despite their best efforts to bring in Ndamukong Suh this offseason. The problem is, this left them with three players who are all deserving of time on the field.
With Casey anchoring a 5-tech position in the base front, the open spots are most likely at nose tackle and 5-tech.
DaQuan Jones may be the easiest player to pencil in. He has played opposite Casey for a few years now and he has been pretty good. In fact, he was actually coming along really well and finally turning the corner to be consistently winning matchups until he suffered an injury late in the season.
That didn’t keep Jon Robinson from going out and bringing him back as he hit free agency this offseason, which is always a good sign.
Now it ultimately comes down to two players: Bennie Logan and Austin Johnson.
I think these two will rotate a lot because they do different things, but I think whoever wins the starting NT position will tell you a lot about this defense.
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On one hand, Bennie Logan is the guy you think of when you talk about NTs in a 3-4 scheme. He is strong and an anchor vs the run game. If the Titans play him most, it means that they are likely using him to 2-gap and sending pressure behind him with the linebackers.
On the other hand you have Austin Johnson. You could make the argument that Johnson can push for starting time at both DE and NT with his skill set.
While he isn’t the bulldozer in the middle that Logan can be, he is strong in his hands and doesn’t get washed down easily. On top of that, he is a good penetrating DL if that is what you want to do.
If Johnson gets the job, that likely means that the Titans are going to be aggressive with the DL, stunting and slanting and will probably let the linebacker cover a little more.
Like I said, I expect there to be a lot of rotation and it may be a case by case basis, but heading into the season I am really interested in seeing what the Titans really want to come out in in a perfect world.