Tennessee Titans September report card: Defense

Grading the Titans defense a quarter into the season

In an odd turn of events, the 2020 Titans defense has actually been weaker than the Titans’ offense across the board.

The Titans have historically been a team that is carried by a stout defense, but in 2020, the offense has done more than their share.

It was widely believed the Titans’ defense might suffer after the departures of Jurrell Casey and Logan Ryan, but I doubt anyone was expecting the unit to be below-average at this point. The Titans defense is currently allowing 24.7 points per game, 4 points worse than the 2019 team.

The veteran losses from the offseason have contributed, as have the injuries to Adoree Jackson and Dane Cruikshank. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 fiasco, the Titans defense will likely get worse before it gets better. DaQuan Jones, Jeffery Simmons, Kristian Fulton, and Kamalei Correa have all been placed on the COVID-19 list.

The loss of Jeffery Simmons is especially devastating, as Big Jeff has had an amazing start to the season.  Correa is a useful pass-rusher, Jones is a solid run-stuffer, and Fulton has been the only 2020 draft pick to do anything at all so far.

Hopefully, as the season goes along and key players get healthy, the unit will improve and play up to their potential. With that being said, let’s go ahead and grade each position group of the defense based on their performance so far in 2020.