Four questions Tennessee Titans need to answer by the end of the draft

Question 4: Who is going to start at right guard for the Tennessee Titans?

Current answer: Either Ben Jones or Kevin Pamphile.

After a flurry of moves in free agency Titans GM Jon Robinson suddenly cut starting right guard Josh Kline.

It wasn’t that this news was disappointing (even though I am sure Kline is a great guy) it was just surprising given that the Titans were going to end up with a $3.5 million cap hit just by cutting him.

Luckily for the Tennessee Titans, this was another masterstroke by Jon Robinson as the Minnesota Vikings actually gave him such a large contract that the Titans were off the hook for $2 million of that deal.

So with just $1.5 million in dead money the mistake of re-signing Kline to a deal last year is wiped away and the Titans can look ahead.

Honestly, the Titans offensive line is quietly looking pretty good again. Taylor Lewan is a ascending star with Pro Bowls under his belt. After combing through hundreds and hundreds of snaps of Rodger Saffold I think he is going to be an outstanding fit at left guard.

Right tackle should also be really good. People seem to forget but Jack Conklin was really solid in 2017 before tearing his ACL in the playoffs. They also seem to forget that as much as we try to convince ourselves otherwise, a player usually isn’t the same until a full 12-months has passed.

Even if Conklin isn’t up to snuff, backup right tackle Dennis Kelly was very good and could come in and start if asked to.

With two spots left (center and right guard) things get a little bit interesting. If incumbent starting center Ben Jones is the worst player on your offensive line, then you are probably fielding a top-5 unit.

The great news for the Titans is that Ben Jones can play either center or guard and has done so at the NFL level. That means that no matter which interior offensive line position you replace, Jones will fill the other and do an average/above average job.

There really is only one player on the roster with the chance to start at right guard without a position switch. Despite complaints, the Titans aren’t going to move Conklin or Kelly in to guard. That just leaves Kevin Pamphile to compete for the position.

I had hopes for Corey Levin taking over the center spot and Ben Jones moving to guard, but it looks like the Titans want Levin as a key backup instead of a starter.

We know that Jon Robinson has said that he doesn’t like to draft “projects” which is why we see him draft so many players with 20+ starts in their career.

If I was going to guess what Robinson plans to do at guard, my first instinct would be that his “option A” is to find a way to draft Boston College RG, Chris Lindstrom. He checks off several boxes:

-50 career starts with nearly all of them coming at right guard

-Freak athlete so he would fit the scheme

-Mean player who has a Taylor Lewan-like blend of physicality and athleticism.

-Competed against top competition annually vs Clemson’s DL

-Plays football with Mike Vrabel’s son (who is also an OL) so he should know a lot about him

-Also played under former Boston College strength and conditioning coach Frank Piraino for Lindstrom’s entire career.

While Lindstrom is the dream, Robinson is a man with plenty of contingency plans. “Option B” would probably involve bringing in a rookie center and moving Ben Jones over to right guard.

This may be surprising, but I would think that he takes a really hard look at Texas A&M center Erik McCoy, potentially even over Garrett Bradbury. While Bradbury is good, McCoy just played top competition more frequently and found ways to neutralize some of the best interior defenders in college.

I’ll talk more on this battle in another post, but the point is this. While there are plenty of options available at right guard, the only ones everyone should feel really comfortable about probably include moving up in the second round.