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The curious case of the Tennessee Titans 2019 special teams

By Brady Akins

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 8: Cairo Santos #7 of the Tennessee Titans is congratulated by Brett Kern #6 after kicking an extra point during the fourth quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 8, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. Tennessee defeated Cleveland 43-13. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 8: Cairo Santos #7 of the Tennessee Titans is congratulated by Brett Kern #6 after kicking an extra point during the fourth quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 8, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. Tennessee defeated Cleveland 43-13. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /

What It All Means

Back to that million-dollar question. What does this all mean for the Titans going forward? Can Tennessee continue to punt and block kicks at an elite level? Can they snap out of their field goal funk and at least make more kicks than they miss?

Taking in everything we looked at, the answer should still lay somewhere in the middle, but the outlook should be an optimistic one more than anything. Tennessee has a proven track record for the last three seasons of Brett Kern being an exceptional NFL punter. Even if he takes a step back in 2020, he’ll be regressing from being an All-Pro punter, and there’s nothing he’s done in the last three seasons to suggest his talent will be falling off a cliff any time soon.

Even the blocked kicks should be looked at through a similar lens. Even if the Titans do regress from leading the NFL in field goal blocks, they’ll be regressing from being the best team in the league to simply a very good one. The special team’s talent they’ve brought in over the last few seasons shows that they’ll always at least have a chance to disrupt a kick.

The one aspect of the Titans special teams unit that would make sense to undergo a dramatic shift would be the field goal accuracy, and there’s really nowhere to go but up. The burden of bringing Tennessee’s kicking game back from the dead will most likely fall to Greg Joseph, who hasn’t been given much of a chance to show his talent but did hit the one field goal attempt of his Titans career in the AFC Championship.

And even if he hasn’t shown his talent with the Titans, he has at the last stop of his career, kicking for the Cleveland Browns. He didn’t set the world on fire, but Tennessee doesn’t need the next Justin Tucker, they need consistency. And if Joseph can kick at 85% as he did in 2018 with the Browns, it would be the perfect change of pace.

If Joseph is able to kick at the level, he would join the rest of the Titans special team’s unit that has all the makings to be elite in 2020. 2019 was a rollercoaster, but expect it to settle down for the better heading into 2020.

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