1 Mantra the Tennessee Titans must live by this offseason

Over the next three months, the Tennessee Titans are going to experience more change than they have in any offseason since the franchise moved to Tennessee.

They have an offensive head coach who is an expert in quarterback play, which means for the first time in a decade the forward pass is going to be the first priority on offense. Despite what some people might say, both Mike Mularkey and Mike Vrabel had plenty of chances to build an offense around the passing game, and both decided that they would rather coach football like they were playing against Curly Lambeau.

On defense, this defense is shifting from a passive defensive mind in Mike Vrabel to an aggressive mind in Dennard Wilson. Wilson comes from the Gregg Williams background and would rather turn up the heat than play bend-don't-break behind 10-yard cushions from cornerbacks.

New philosophies on offense and defense mean that the Titans are going to need new players or they are going to need some players to adapt to new roles. When it is all said and done, there could be 11 starting jobs open for competition in 2024.

That seems like a daunting task, and it is hard for anyone to wrap their head around how the Titans are going to be able to rebuild their roster. That is why the mantra for this offseason has to be, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

Tennessee Titans need to focus on one thing at a time

The Titans aren't going to be able to add Pro Bowlers at every position this offseason, it just isn't going to happen. Instead, they are going to have to do their best to maximize their resources in free agency and the draft and try to find long-term answers at key positions while patching other roster holes.

Chad Brinker was recently promoted to President of Football Operations, and he broke talent acquisition into three different categories. During his interview with the Official Titans Podcast crew, he essentially said that you have to overpay for players in free agency so you want to do that sparingly and that the draft and cap casualties are more cost-efficient ways to build your roster.

Still, with as much money as the Tennessee Titans have, they have to identify some guys that they believe can make a big difference in their roster and target them in free agency.

Instead of building a fantasy roster out of free agents, the Tennessee Titans have to attack free agency with the intent of signing at least one blue-chip player and one player who is nearly a blue-chip player. As it stands right now, the blue-chip free agents in this class (before franchise tags) are, in no real order:

1. Tee Higgins WR, Cincinnati Bengals
2. Chris Jones DT, Kansas City Chiefs
3. Justin Madibuike DL, Baltimore Ravens
4. Josh Allen EDGE, Jacksonville Jaguars
5. L'Jarius Sneed CB, Kansas City Chiefs
6. Jaylon Johnson CB, Chicago Bears
7. Mike Evans WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8. Brian Burns EDGE, Carolina Panthers
9. Danielle Hunter EDGE, Minnesota Vikings
10. Michael Onwenu OT, New Engalnd Patriots

There are several more that are near that level like Michael Pittman Jr., Christian Wilkins, Patrick Queen, (re-signing) Denico Autry, D.J. Reader, and Calvin Ridley, but there are several of those. While you can overpay for the blue-chip guys, you would ideally get guys from this tier without paying them eye-popping numbers.

The point is to bring in one guy who can be a multi-time Pro Bowler and one guy who can have spikes in production that could lead to one Pro Bowl or seasons where it felt like he was a Pro Bowl snub.

Anything more than that is great, but the Tennessee Titans can't chase high-risk/high-reward guys because those are the guys that destroy cap space and this team isn't one or two big hits away from a championship run.

Then in the draft, the goal should be to come out of it with immediate starters in the first and second rounds, preferably at tackle and receiver where the 2024 NFL Draft is strongest.

That means that the Tennessee Titans should bring in four guys who should finish the 2024 season as absolute locks to start in 2025 and beyond, but what about the other 7 jobs that could be open?

Unfortunately, the Titans are going to have to attempt to develop guys at those positions or to coach around those holes. This is where the second and third wave of free agency comes into play as well as the cap casualties that Chad Brinker mentioned earlier. Those new additions combined with depth players already on the Titans roster like Kyle Philips, Treylon Burks, Dillon Radunz, Nicholas Petit-Frere, Josh Whyle, and Elijah Molden, will need to compete for some of the open jobs.

It won't be perfect, but it should look much better than before and that is the goal for this season. The mission is to improve as a football team for the first time since Arthur Smith was hired by the Atlanta Falcons.

Brian Callahan and Ran Carthon have time to build this roster and if they try to fix everything at once they might end up fixing nothing. It would go a long way with this fan base to see a head coach and a GM take an aggressive, but measured approach to free agency and the draft even if that meant that it took two years to rebuild this roster instead of one year.