The Tennessee Titans had a marvelous season, but what are the chances Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill are back with the team heading into 2020?
The Tennessee Titans went on quite a run this postseason. Tennessee was the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs, coming up one game short of Super Bowl glory. The Titans were able to upset the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens thanks in large part to their offense. With free agency approaching, what are the chances both Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill are back?
On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Josh Hill and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, look at if it is possible both Henry and Tannehill will be back with the Titans in 2020 (24:05).
Hill believes that if you have to bring back one of the two, you need to prioritize bringing back Henry. He feels that Tannehill was a nice story this season, but Henry is the heart of this team. He is the type of running back you build a team around. It’s counterintuitive, but Henry might be that type of runner who can be the face of a franchise.
Schwartz doesn’t think the Titans need to bring either player back. He says if you remove emotions from the conversation, you can draft another bell-cow back in the upcoming draft and maybe position yourselves to land a transcendent quarterback. The Kansas City Chiefs did this by moving on from a more-than-capable Alex Smith in favor of a growing legend in Patrick Mahomes.
If the Titans do bring back both, it would be more advantageous to give Tannehill a longer deal than with Henry. The reason for this is running backs’ shelf lives are so much shorter than quarterbacks. So you could afford to overspend on Tannehill on a multi-year deal than you would with Henry on a comparable offer.
Ultimately, we should expect both to be back in Titans uniform next season. Henry feels like a prime candidate to be franchise tagged. Tannehill might get something like what Blake Bortles got with the Jacksonville Jaguars after his team made it to the AFC Championship game in 2017. The Titans have some big decisions to make this upcoming offseason, don’t they?
Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:
- 49ers are more well-rounded than Chiefs – 7:47
- Schwartz: The Jimmy G hate is unfair – 8:25
- Kyle Shanahan vs. Andy Reid will be offensive fireworks – 17:33
- Will 49ers sack Patrick Mahomes more than 2 times? – 33:25
All this and more!
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