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Where do Tennessee Titans land in Bleacher Report’s NFL power rankings

By Will Lomas

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 22: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with Tajae Sharpe #19 during the first quarter against the Washington Redskins at Nissan Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 22: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with Tajae Sharpe #19 during the first quarter against the Washington Redskins at Nissan Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Where do the experts at Bleacher Report think the Tennessee Titans rank among their NFL peers.

This is the last time Tennessee Titans fans can say NFL football is days away, because Thursday night they play against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now is the time where all Titans fans need to start looking and listening at what the national media has to say about them because it is a great time to figure out who is paying attention and who isn’t.

Bleacher Report was the first of the national media outlets to release their preseason NFL Power Rankings.

So, where did the team put the Tennessee Titans?

22. Tennessee Titans

"The Tennessee Titans aren’t a bad football team. Had they pulled off a Week 17 win against the Indianapolis Colts, they would have made the playoffs.They lost that game, though. It was partly because quarterback Marcus Mariota was out with an injury—again. But also, while the Titans aren’t a bad football team, they aren’t an especially good one.Like Winston, Mariota is headed into a make-or-break fifth season. With Winston, the issue has been consistency. With Mariota, it’s been availability. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft has missed time in all of his four seasons.Derrick Henry broke out with a 1,000-yard campaign in 2018, but Tennessee’s passing-game talent remains a question mark. So is a pass rush that finished in the middle of the pack a year ago.The AFC South is wide-open in 2019. But the odds aren’t good that the Titans will be a factor."

So, you may see a lot of words there and a lot of names but it all boils down to this:

-They weren’t in the playoffs in 2018.

-Mariota struggles with injuries and is in a contract year.

-Derrick Henry is good, but we don’t know about the passing game.

-The pass rush is a question mark.

Ok, great. Now that we know the issues let me tell you why every single one of them is a on issue and why the Titans should be much higher.

Playoffs in 2018.

The Titans could have made the playoffs last year if they won, that is definitely true. That is because they had won nine games up to that point, making it their third winning season in three years.

You know who else didn’t make the playoffs? The Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, or the Green Bay Packers, 9 teams that were listed ahead of the Titans.

Mariota struggles with injury.

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Mariota has definitely had trouble with missing games in the past, but like the experts said in their analysis, his issues is availability not ability.

Cool, you know what will help that? The addition of Rodger Saffold, the return of Delanie Walker, a better offensive coordinator, and shifting to an offense that features 3WR sets and has built in dump offs to relieve pressure.

They did at least note these upgrades in their analys- nope, wait. I just looked back at it and that was never mentioned, nor was the addition of Ryan Tannehill…oh.

Well, it is true that Mariota has missed time every year he has been in the NFL but if you are going to talk about the downside of that, you need to also talk about what the team has done to mitigate that.

Derrick Henry is good, but we don’t know about the passing game.

Henry was good last year, but you know who else was good? Corey Davis and Adam Humphries.

When adjusted for volume, Corey Davis would have put up nearly 1,500 yards in an offense as pass-heavy as someone like the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it is funny how he doesn’t get a lot of attention because he doesn’t fill up a stat sheet.

Similarly, Adam Humphries left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as one of the best slot receivers in the NFL and was getting a lot of attention when it looked like he could go to the New England Patriots who wanted him badly. Then all of the sudden we didn’t hear anything about him…strange how that happens.

Oh yea, and the Titans do get back Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker who has had 800+ yards every year since 2015 except for 2018 where he was injured on a freak play.

Sure, there are unknowns in the passing game but they aren’t “will the Titans have any good receivers” it is more like “can Corey Davis and Delanie Walker both make the Pro Bowl” or “will A.J. Brown going to lead rookies in receiving yards?”

The pass rush is a question mark.

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Again, the way this is phrased is strange. When you say that you act like the pass rush is probably going to get worse?

Did you know that last year Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan played 1,100+ snaps and only combined for two sacks? I mean, it is rhetorical I know you didn’t know that.

So when you suggest that the pass rush will get worse you are saying that the Tennessee Titans best EDGE (Harold Landry) doubling his snaps won’t lead to him increasing his production at all?

You are also saying that you don’t think Cameron Wake or Rashaan Evans will provide a sack boost for the Titans which surely you can’t mean.

Again, sure you can phrase it like that and be technically right. However, a better way to say it is:

“A pass rush that finished just five sacks away from being top-8 in the NFL last year, should get that boost from giving 2nd year breakout candidate Harold Landry twice the snaps. If Cameron Wake brings 5.5 sacks to the team (a number he has hit every single year since coming into the NFL in 2009) and if everyone else just stays the same, the Titans could hit 55 sacks which would have led the NFL in 2018.”

I don’t know, that may be asking for too much research for a preseason power ranking, but it sure would be interesting to see someone (anyone) who actually watched the Titans defense last year talk about how much better the EDGEs should be this year.

Where should the Titans rank?

For a team that has had 9 wins per year over the last three years and who only got better in the offseason, you should project them to be a playoff team. Somewhere between 8-10 makes sense.

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