A look at the Tennessee Titans starters now vs when the season started
By Will Lomas
Tennessee Titans Week 1 roster
Starting offense:
QB: Ryan Tannehill
WR1: A.J. Brown
WR2: Julio Jones
WR3: Chester Rodgers
LT: Taylor Lewan
LG: Rodger Saffold
C: Ben Jones
RG: Nate Davis
RT: David Quessenberry
TE: Geoff Swaim
FB: Khari Blasingame
RB: Derrick Henry
This group is so talented that you just have to imagine what they could have done if this group had made it healthy until at least midseason.
I’ll talk more about the players that replaced the starters on the next page, but it is important to keep in mind that Taylor Lewan is still recovering from an ACL injury and hasn’t been right all season. He has struggled to keep his feet underneath him as a run blocker and in pass protection and while the good news is that the athleticism seems to still be intact, the coordination is taking some time.
Josh Reynolds didn’t crack the lineup as a starter, but again you have to wonder what would have happened if he was able to stay healthy in the preseason and if he was on the roster now. Would the Titans have beaten the Houston Texans if Josh Reynolds was on the field instead of Dez Fitzpatrick?
Starting defense
EDGE: Harold Landry
DL: Jeffery Simmons
DL: Larrell Murchison
DL: Teair Tart
EDGE: Bud Dupree
LB: Jayon Brown
LB: Rashan Evans
CB: Jackrabbit Jenkins
CB: Kristian Fulton
SCB: Elijah Molden
S: Kevin Byard
S: Amani Hooker
People forget that to start the season Tart and Murchison both played more snaps than Denico Autry. Even the healthy version of this group wasn’t healthy.
Another place that shows up is at linebacker where David Long started the season banged up. It is hard to say whether he would have gotten the starting job without the injuries to Jayon Brown and/or Rashaan Evans, but he has certainly earned it and never looked back.