Bye week hot take, Tennessee Titans fans will like Rodger Saffold a lot more by Week 17

The problems he is still having.

There are two, maybe three things that I think are still a big problem for Saffold.

The first (and maybe second thing) is that he doesn’t seem to understand his responsibilities in pass protection. There are too many times where it looks like Ben Jones is trying to hand off a rusher to him and just simply isn’t there.

On top of that, when there are stunts or linebackers coming there are plays where he constantly spins his head around beyond the point of “being on a swivel” and looking for additional pressure.

I think he (like nearly every NFL player) is right in their responsibility in pass protection, but there are those handful of plays per game where he is lost and if you are a guard it is extremely important that you don’t let a blazing linebacker or a 300 lb. DT hit your QB because you were looking at the wrong thing.

Finally, there are too many plays where he doesn’t drive his feet on contact with a defensive lineman or linebacker which allows the defender to get position on him. If you are a lineman and you lose your leverage it leads to holding whether it is called or not.

I don’t know how much he can fix those things in the time the Titans have left and with Keith Carter trying to teach him, but in a bye week at least the mental part of it should get a little bit better.