Bolder prediction for the Tennessee Titans than ESPN's bold prediction

Taking a look at ESPN’s “bold prediction” for the Tennessee Titans.

There has been a lot of misinformation and dismissal of the Tennessee Titans during this offseason.

Luckily, one of the voices at ESPN has a good grasp on exactly how talented this team is and the stars on the roster.

Any time I see an article where each team’s beat writers break down something I am always interested to see what Turron Davenport picks for the Titans. Their most recent series about “bold predictions” for each team led to an interesting take.

Turron Davenport made the prediction for the Tennessee Titans and he thinks the passing game will see a new leader as Marcus Mariota‘s go-to player shifts from Delanie Walker to Corey Davis:

"Davis is entering his third season and has taken a leadership role in the receiver room. Davis attacks the football aggressively when it’s coming his way. Coming up with contested catches will help develop trust from Mariota and warrant extra targets down the field. Davis has improved as a route runner and wins early in his routes thanks to extensive work with receivers coach Rob Moore."

I completely agree, but is this bold enough?

Don’t get me wrong, Corey Davis looks like a star, but since Marcus Mariota was drafted no one has been more trusted in the passing game than Delanie Walker. So, predicting for that to shift isn’t a given by any means.

If I had to make an even bolder prediction (which if you read the title I am guessing you already know I do) then I would say this:

Jayon Brown will be the most dominant front seven player in the AFC South and he won’t even be the best defensive player on the Tennessee Titans roster.

I have shown it before, but Jayon Brown is the one of the two or three best front seven players in the AFC South right now. If Yannick Ngakoue and Jadeveon Clowney miss any time at all because of their contract issues, then the list of possible challengers gets even smaller.

Some people are going to talk about Darius Leonard and you can have that argument, but when you look at the stats they look very similar.

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-TFLs: Leonard (12), Brown (8)

-Sacks: Leonard (7), Brown (6)

-Pass deflections: Leonard (8), Brown (6)

-Interceptions: Leonard (2), Brown (1)

Based on stat lines alone it looks like Leonard is better from the 2018 season:

Leonard: 12 TFLs, 7 sacks, 8 PBUs, 2 INTs

Brown: 8 TFLs, 6 sacks, 6 PBUs, 1 INT

However, Leonard played 250+ snaps more than Brown. That means that if you adjust for those snaps the adjusted statline for Brown looks like this:

Brown: 11 TFLs, 8 sacks, 8 PBUs, 2 INTs

If the stats are similar and on paper Brown is a better athlete, so I give the nod to Brown.

When it comes down to it, it could be a three man race is between Brown, J.J. Watt and Calais Campbell. The other two have been stars in the NFL, but they could be in for a tough year.

Watt is 30 and has missed 24 games during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. It isn’t a given that he will be 100% throughout the seasons. Campbell will be 33 by the start of the season and when players get close to that 12th year mark, they tend to dip in production.

Bolder prediction for the Tennessee Titans than ESPN’s bold prediction

By Will Lomas | Jul 31, 2019

Taking a look at ESPN’s “bold prediction” for the Tennessee Titans.

More from Titan Sized