If you’re a Tennessee Titans fan, you have to be feeling a whole lot better about this offense than you were a few months ago. The two-tone blue’s fan base was well aware of what this team was lacking at the beginning of yet another offseason, and for the most part, executive vice president and general manager Jon Robinson has done a decent job of addressing those needs with free-agent acquisitions, the most recent NFL Draft, and of course, a very timely trade.
Titans fans took to Twitter early and often after Tennessee lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round of the most recent NFL postseason, and that trend continued for well over three months. The goals were clear, especially on offense.
Tennessee needed a right tackle after releasing Dennis Kelly on March 16th. They needed a compliment for A.J. Brown after Corey Davis left in free agency, and if at all possible, it would be great if they could find a complement in the backfield for The King, Derrick Henry.
It appears they’ve hit the jackpot three times over as they’ve added Dillon Radunz in the most recent NFL Draft to take care of that right tackle issue and they traded a second-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft and a fourth-round selection in 2023’s NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the 2023 and Julio Jones.
No disrespect is intended to Corey Davis. Julio Jones has to be seen as an upgrade though.
The Tennessee Titans running back is one of the NFL’s 12 best players.
The next time you’re talking a little professional football with some Tennessee Titans fans and they seem a little excited, don’t take it personally. They’ve wanted to see this for quite some, and they deserve this.
Tennessee will field a loaded and start-studded roster in 2021. Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus has released his ranking of the top 50 NFL players in the game heading into 2021’s season in dramatic fashion. He’s done this one countdown style, releasing ten names each day between June 21st and June 25th.
Titans fans already saw Julio Jones and A.J. Brown crack the list at number 35 and 38 respectively. Derrick Henry landed at number 12 overall. Here’s what Monson had to say on the subject.
"Over the last two seasons, Henry has been on a one-man mission to prove that running backs do matter, and it’s tough to argue with what he’s done. He has piled up more yards after contact over that time (2,758) than any other running back has in total rushing yards (Dalvin Cook has 2,692 total rushing yards). Henry also leads the league with 133 broken tackles since 2019 and has averaged 3.7 yards after contact per carry in the playoffs."
At the time of this story being written and published, the top ten still have yet to be revealed, but it’s probably safe to assume that Henry would be the highest-ranking running back on the list right? If not, there would need to be some sort of recount.
Seeing Ryan Tannehill blossom into one of the NFL’s better signal-callers recently has been a joy to watch if you’re a Tennessee Titans fan. Knowing that he has A.J. Brown as a security blanket is a comfort to both Tannehill and the two-tone blue’s faithful. Tennessee’s trade to acquire Julio Jones has sent the fan base into a frenzy as their favorite team has more than compensated for the loss of Corey Davis. Make no mistake about it though. This is still Derrick Henry’s team.
He’s the face of this Tennessee Titans franchise. This team will go as he goes during the 2021-2022 NFL season.