14 key decisions for the Tennessee Titans
After the Tennessee Titans spent the better part of November limping to the finish line, the bye week has finally come and gone.
As Titans fans stop looking backward and start looking to the rest of the season, now is as good of a time as any to look at who the key players are on this roster going forward.
I’m not talking about players that will be here for the long haul like Ryan Tannehill and Jeffery Simmons, what I am talking about is which players are doing enough to prove that they deserve new deals from Tennessee This offseason.
Right now there are 14 players who are going to be free agents after this season that have played 25% or more of the snaps this season.
As far as I am concerned, these 14 players fall into one of four categories.
1. No-brainers: It doesn’t matter how much money they want (within reason) the Titans should figure out a deal.
2. Guys you would love to have back: Starting quality players who have earned a new deal as long as they don’t pull a Jonnu Smith and get some crazy deal.
3. Cost-effective options: These are players that you would let test the open market, but a return may be the best option for both parties.
4. Bye: Obviously these are players who are either going to be too expensive to keep or the Titans shouldn’t consider re-signing them regardless of price.
No-brainers
Harold Landry, EDGE
If you are the Tennessee Titans, Harold Landry has to be the top priority in this free agency class and it isn’t close.
In the Tennessee Titans era of this franchise, the team has only drafted three players who have finished a season with 10+ sacks (Jevon Kearse, Jurrell Casey, and Harold Landry). That is partially an indictment on previous drafts, but the truth is that 10+ sack players don’t grow on trees.
This isn’t the case of a one-year wonder either. In 2019 Harold Landry technically had 10 sacks, but one was in the playoffs so it doesn’t go in the record books. Aside from splitting hairs like that, at times over the course of his career, Harold Landry has been the only pass-rushing presence on this roster.
It isn’t a coincidence that his numbers jump up when he has a force multiplier on the other side of the line as he does now with Bud Dupree and like he did in 2019 with Cameron Wake.
Not every great EDGE is going to have 10+ sacks a season, in fact, it is hard for a responsible EDGE to rack up numbers like that because they are asked to do so many different things to help the team.
If Harold Landry walks it will hurt the Titans rush defense and pass defense, and it would send a terrible message to the locker room that it doesn’t matter if you do your job or not, the Tennessee Titans won’t outbid other teams to keep you.
Guys you would love to have back
Ben Jones, C
If Ben Jones was playing just a little bit better this season he would have ended up in the top slide with Harold Landry.
No one on this roster means more to the chemistry of his position group than Ben Jones. Not only does he help call the protections and coordinate the running game, but he is also tough as nails and he is one of the few players that grind it out to practice every day that he can to make sure that he knows exactly what his unit should be doing.
A favorite in the locker room and by the coaching staff, it would be surprising if he was allowed to walk.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR (ERFA)
Is he good? Kinda? Regardless, he can do a lot for this team just by being an average-level talent who you can plug and play at every wide receiver position and on special teams.
He is the classic WR5 who has a 10-year career by being a favorite by the coaching staff and doing the stuff that high-flying receivers don’t want to do. Signing him would have no impact on potentially signing or drafting another receiver in the offseason.
Teair Tart, DL (ERFA)
Tart is one of many big wins for the Titans front office on Day 3/UDFA. Each year this team manages to find two or three starters where other teams just find guys to be healthy scratches for a year before being “surprise camp cuts” a year later.
He and fellow UDFA NaQuan Jones are key players that rotate beside Jeffery Simmons in the middle of the defensive line, and while Jones could theoretically take all of those snaps it doesn’t make sense to get thinner on defense for no reason.
Morgan Cox, LS
Cost-effective options
David Quessenberry, OT (RFA)
The starting right tackle for 2022 should be Dillon Radunz. He fits the ZBS scheme that this team is supposedly running and he is a smart player that seems to be committed to getting better.
Despite that, Quessenberry is a guy that Mike Vrabel has known for a long time since his days in Houston and he is doing a decent job at the right tackle spot. If this coaching staff wants to go with him over the younger and more athletic option, that is their decision but he is a solid (but unspectacular) option if they can keep him for the right price.
MyCole Pruitt, TE
Pruitt is a really solid tight end, but he isn’t blocking at quite the level he was last year under Arthur Smith. Instead, he has blossomed into a good red zone receiving threat and he should probably be the Titans TE2 if they can keep him for the right price.
Dane Cruikshank, S
There is nothing wrong with Cruikshank’s play on the field, but he just can’t seem to stay healthy. Keeping him as a third safety would be nice, but it is hard to imagine him hitting the open market and not getting a look from a team that is willing to roll the dice on him as a starting strong safety.
Chester Rogers, WR
Rogers started out really well but just hasn’t been able to step up despite a rash of injuries. He has earned the right to compete for a spot on the 2022 roster, but only at the right price.
Randy Bullock, K
A terrible week in New England moves him down the list a little bit, but a nice stretch run could move him right back up into the second-best tier.
Anthony Firkser, TE
No one has had a more disappointing year than Anthony Firkser. I don’t expect him to be back after this year because it is too easy to imagine him going to Green Bay or Atlanta and making similar money while putting up monster numbers in an offense run by someone other than Todd Downing.
Bye
Geoff Swaim, TE
Swaim has been fine at best, but more often than not he isn’t a good blocker and he doesn’t seem to provide an upgrade in the passing game over any other tight end. Despite being given a big opportunity by this coaching staff, he really never stepped in and looked like a factor.
Jayon Brown, LB
This is going to be hard for some fans to read, but Jayon Brown has been the Titans’ third-best off-ball linebacker this year.
Nagging injuries and just general confusion in the passing game have made him more of a liability than an asset. Last year the staff was comfortable letting him walk until both parties settled on a $5 million contract.
Going forward, the Titans starting linebackers should be David Long and Monty Rice, along with another Day 3 rookie.
Rashaan Evans, LB
You probably noticed that Evans wasn’t on that list of future linebackers, but I don’t think he or the Titans coaching staff really think this is a fit anymore.
Not only does Evans struggle in pass defense, but he also struggles to find the ball in the run game. What is worse is he struggles to get to the ball and make the tackle when he does find it. Maybe it is best for everyone that he got banged up after a couple of nice performances against the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
With a big name and a good draft pedigree, someone will sign him to a deal in the offseason.