Who is the Tennessee Titans biggest “X-factor” for 2019
By Will Lomas
One of the Tennessee Titans most talented young players can take another big step forward in 2019.
We all know that the Tennessee Titans offense is going to feature a lot of running in 2019, but that doesn’t mean that the receivers are any less important.
The New England Patriots are known for this style of roster construction. When the league “zigs” you “zag”, but the Patriots have earned the benefit of the doubt after years of championship-caliber football.
The Titans don’t get that benefit, so when your new OC doesn’t shy away from the idea that you will be a run-heavy team you expect to get some criticism.
Maybe Derrick Henry has a “Chris Johnson in 2009″ type of season where everything comes together for him in a big year. If that happens then you should absolutely be a run heavy offense.
However, those seasons are few and far between for any RB in the NFL and more often than not, leaning on the running game too hard makes a team inefficient, predictable and boring. The idea is simple: the more you run, the less room for error you and your opponent have.
If that is true, why did Pro Football Focus (correctly) call third year WR Corey Davis the Titans X-factor?
"“We saw Corey Davis step up to the plate last season, and the team hopes that he can build on that momentum going into Year 3. The former first-round pick saw his yards-per-route-run figure jump from 1.10 in 2017 to 1.73 in 2018, and his contested-catch percentage jumped from 18.2% to 40.0%. This offense needs a dynamic playmaker and will have one if Davis can continue his upward trajectory.”"
This is just a general statement on the upside the Davis has and the need the Titans had last year at all skill positions. Let me put some context on that to really underline why that is such a big deal.
In 2019, teams shouldn’t be able to “take away” Corey Davis because the Titans focused resources on rebuilding the passing game by adding Adam Humphries and A.J. Brown this offseason, as well as bolstering the pass protection with Rodger Saffold and Nate Davis/Kevin Pamphile.
So, the Titans shouldn’t see Davis bracketed or garner too much special attention because Marcus Mariota should just take what is given to him in that case and march down the field.
That means that the best strategy for teams trying to take away Corey Davis is to match up their best cornerback against him and let them go at it all day. Except, that doesn’t work just ask Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore.
If Davis can beat Gilmore, he can beat nearly any CB in the NFL one on one. The question is, just how good is Davis? Is he the guy that fans saw in his rookie year take a long time to really find his groove?
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Or is he the receiver that we saw last year dominate when given the opportunity? A guy that can dominate that intermediate area with brief flashes of something more deep.
There is another option too…could he be even better than that? Could he develop into what he was in college? If you don’t know, Davis was a star in college who set records for touchdowns and yards, but he did that because he could beat you anywhere on the field.
Several times he took nothing screens that were designed to get a few yards and turned them into touchdowns. Likewise, he would beat a guy deep and snatch the ball out of the air using his unique combination of size, speed, balance, and concentration. Other times he would dominate the intermediate area of the field like I talked about earlier, but he would turn 20-yard passes into 60-yard TDs because of his physicality and RAC ability.
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If the Tennessee Titans are going to use an outdated offense, then they need to offset that by having someone provide them with an extra edge.
That guy could and should be Corey Davis, with his ability to separate at every level of the field and his potential for growth. So much of the Titans offense rests on Marcus Mariota’s healthy and what he can do with this new, upgraded group of receivers. If Davis can take even a small step forward while the other positions raise their game then he truly could be the Tennessee Titans X-factor.