Colt Anderson isn't the only one to blame for Titans' special teams disaster

The Tennessee Titans officially hired Brian Callahan as their new head coach on January 24th. Rumors of his appointment first broke two days earlier, on January 22nd. Less than two weeks later, both Nick Holz and Dennard Wilson were hired as Callahan's offensive and defensive coordinators.

The hiring of a special teams coordinator appeared to be more complicated. Callahan didn't appoint Colt Anderson, somebody he already possessed an existing relationship with from their shared days with the Cincinnati Bengals, until February 16th, almost one full month after his own hiring, and more than two weeks after Wilson and Holz joined the staff.

Naturally, the Titans interviewed other candidates for the role before appointing Anderson. Many of the interviewees had no direct ties to Callahan or GM Ran Carthon. One was Thomas McGaughey, who ended up taking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job one week before the Titans hired Anderson. Another was Chris Tabor, who served as special teams coach/interim head coach for the Carolina Panthers last season.

Fast forward two weeks into the 2024 campaign and the Titans' disastrous results on special teams should bring that less-than-convincing process into question.

Week 2 disaster

Punter Ryan Stonehouse had a punt blocked for a second consecutive week in Sunday's defeat to the New York Jets. Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Titans became the first team since 2012 to allow blocked punts in back-to-back games to start the season. Like the blocked punt in Week 1, it directly led to points for the opponent in games Tennessee wound up losing by one score.

"It starts and ends with me," coach Anderson told local media following Stonehouse's Week 1 blocked punt. Well, it's an ongoing problem. As former Titans linebacker Will Compton pointed out above, the blocked punt occurred via a light four-or-man-five rush. That's elementary stuff.

Roster Retention

Four of the Titans' best special teams players on the 90-man roster in training camp were running back Hassan Haskins, safety Matthew Jackson, and cornerbacks Eric Garror and Anthony Kendall. All four were released during final cuts. Haskins was waived in favor of Julius Chestnut, the player at fault for Sunday's whiff on the blocked punt.

Chestnut won the job behind Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears because the Titans acknowledged he's a better pure runner than Haskins, as proven by his performances in the preseason. But does keeping a third running back for offensive-related purposes, one you hope never sees regular-season action, do more for your roster than Haskins, who Callahan described as a "special teams demon" days before making the shared decision to release him? They could use one of those "special teams demons" right now.

In fairness, it's worth acknowledging the Titans didn't totally neglect special teams. They elevated linebacker Luke Gifford from the practice squad to the game-day roster for a second consecutive week. Gifford is an outstanding special teams player, but after two disastrous weeks, you wonder if additional roster-based decisions should have been made in that same vein.

The blocked punts haven't been the only early-season signs of how poor the Titans have been on special teams thus far. Anderson's coverage team allowed a 67-yard kick return against the Chicago Bears in Week 1. Through two completed contests, the Titans also rank fifth-worst in punt return yards average (8.2) among teams that have returned a minimum of three punts.

Perhaps the Titans didn't retain enough special teams standouts on their 53-man roster. Or perhaps Callahan and Carthon didn't oversee the most confident process of hiring the special teams coordinator. Both questions are fair to pose while things are going so terribly wrong. Either way, the Titans must collectively solve the issue ASAP.