A potential NFL trend among defenses could make the Tennessee Titans’ backup tight ends’ blocking abilities even more vital to the team’s success.
If NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah is right about a potential trend taking shape in the NFL in 2019, Tennessee Titans tight ends Jonnu Smith and Anthony Firkser will become even more important as blockers.
While making the rounds to different training camps, Jeremiah has been told by two different defensive coordinators that they will challenge teams using two tight end sets to run the ball against their nickel defenses in what has become a passing league.
Here’s the tidbit Jeremiah shared.
Interesting trend to monitor from my tour— offenses have been falling in love with 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE). However, I spoke to 2 DC’s & they said they will stay in nickel vs that grouping this year. Basically daring teams to run the ball. Can your TEs block?
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) August 3, 2019
One of the teams that have fallen in love with that kind of personnel on offense in recent years has been the Titans.
As Jeremiah alludes to, that means having effective blocking tight ends will help offenses exploit this daring approach. We know tight end Delanie Walker can block, but what about the rest of the players at the position on the Titans’ roster?
Both Smith and Firkser have been solid pass-catchers in their young careers, but haven’t exactly nailed down the art of blocking at this point. Knowing this, both backup tight ends will need to improve that part of their respective games, regardless if this trend takes place or not.
Not to mention, if Walker doesn’t play as many snaps in 2019 as he has during his career, Smith and Firkser could find themselves on the field together more often.
Of course, this defensive dare might not be a viable approach to the Titans specifically. Teams will be planning on Tennessee being a run-first offense to begin with, thus more frequently stacked boxes could be the norm.
If defenses do decide to challenge the Titans this way, it would be a huge mistake.
As our own Will Lomas pointed out earlier in the offseason, we’d like to see the Titans use more three-receiver sets than has been the case in years past. Those sets are now more possible than ever with three receivers like Corey Davis, Adam Humphries and A.J. Brown on the roster.
Whether or not the words of two defensive coordinators turns out to be the majority thought process among teams around the league remains to be seen. But it just goes to show you how much more important the blocking capabilities of Smith and Firkser could be.