The Tennessee Titans had two moves that stood out as a clear improvement by PFF’s grading system.
No one can predict how well a free agent will do with a new team, so when the Tennessee Titans made some big moves this offseason they were taking a little bit of a gamble.
Using quantifiable numbers is important, and you can’t talk quantified data in football anymore without referencing PFF. That is where this ranking comes from and it is pretty interesting.
PFF thought that two of the Tennessee Titans moves stood out as some of the best in the NFL. According to this ESPN article (subscription required), two of the Titans biggest need positions (IOL, WR) were upgraded in a big way.
The biggest change was Rodger Saffold taking over the left guard position from Quinton Spain.
Spain is someone that I always liked because of his mauling style and his chemistry with Taylor Lewan, but going strictly by the PFF grading system this was a huge upgrade. In fact, it graded out as the 2nd best upgrade made on the offensive line narrowly behind Matt Paradis taking over for Ryan Kalil as the center with the Carolina Panthers.
"“Saffold, who spent his first nine seasons with the Rams, graded out as PFF’s eighth-best guard overall and fourth-best run-blocker last season. The oversized 31-year-old will help clear running lanes for bulldozer Derrick Henry this season.”"
I don’t read any of that as a criticism of Spain, its more about how good Saffold is. I believe I have watched every L.A. Rams game from last season and he was absolutely dominant. I think there were maybe two games where he wasn’t the best player on offense and even those games I questioned it.
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The other move that stood out was an “honorable mention” in Adam Humphries vs Tajae Sharpe as the Titans 3rd receiver.
I think that is a pretty solid projection. While Sharpe was very reliable and often showed up when he needed to most, there was never any sort of stretch where he looked dominant.
Humphries has the route running skill to be the security blanket that Marcus Mariota and this offense will need if they plan on moving away from Delanie Walker any time in the next four years.
I would expect Humphries to make a big impact early. While Corey Davis and A.J. Brown both hopefully have big years, this definitely feels like a player that Titans fans could see make plays on a weekly basis moving the chains and doing the dirty work.
While dynamic play is needed to dominate opponents, sometimes to win close games those little things are the difference and everything from OTAs suggest that Marcus Mariota is developing a good relationship with Humphries and that he looks great.