The Tennessee Titans have done a fantastic job injecting defensive talent into the roster this offseason. When you look at the complete picture, you can see just how much different this team will look in 2024.
Assuming that Jamal Adams will have at least a moderate role on defense, the Titans have acquired the following players this offseason that could play roughly 50% of the snaps or more:
1. L'Jarius Sneed
2. Chidobe Awuize
3. Kenneth Murray
4. Sebastian Joseph-Day
5. Jamal Adams
6. T'Vondre Sweat
That is a lot of bodies for new Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson to work with. Coach Wilson has been busy installing a new scheme, one that will prioritize press-man coverage on the outside while playing an attacking-style defense up front.
When you look at how Adams has been used in the past, his addition should help ease the depth issues at safety and linebacker. While the Titans could add more bodies just to be sure, fans might shift their attention to EDGE.
Harold Landry has established himself as one of the better, more consistent pass rushers in the NFL, and Arden Key is having a nice offseason where he might have a chance to make a bigger impact than he did last season.
Behind him, you have Rashad Weaver and seventh-round rookie Jaylen Harrell, but neither of those guys makes you feel great about the top-end potential of this group.
Fans have been clamoring to add someone like Carl Lawson to the defense, but that is assuming that the Titans want to add another body to the position. When you look at where Wilson has coached recently, the trend has been to elevate players instead of signing ready-made solutions to your problem.
While Wilson wasn't calling any plays himself, he has repeatedly credited Todd Bowles and Gregg Williams for his coaching development.
If you know anything about either of those guys, you know that they are two of the most aggressive DCs in the NFL when it comes to blitzing. So much so that former TItans linebackers coach Dave McGinnis ("Coach Mac" for most people) has repeatedly said that Bowles would blitz his own mother if afforded an opportunity!
With those coaches being Wilson's biggest influences, then rushing the passer may be about quantity for this new-look Titans defense. Rushing the quarterback from different angles can help a defense confuse the quarterback and the offensive line, which leads to more opportunities for chaos.
If Wilson believed that before, then that has only reinforced those ideas over the last five years. When you look at the teams he has been a part of, those defenses have done an exceptional job of turning above-average players into stars for the year:
2023: Justin Madubuike, Jadeveon Clowney, and Kyle Van Noy all tied or surpassed their career high in sacks.
2022: Haason Reddick had a career year with 16 sacks. Interestingly enough, he had 11 sacks before signing with the Eagles, and he had 11 sacks after Wilson left. Javon Hargrave and Josh Sweat shockingly both had career years with 11 sacks after only having 7.5 the season before (which was his second-best season).
2021: Second-best seasons of Hargrave and Sweat's career with 7.5 sacks.
2019: Career years from Jamal Adams and Jordan Jenkins.
While Wilson wasn't the DC for any of those teams, he is the one common thread that they all share and it seems worth mentioning.
Maybe Wilson will realize that he needs more pass rushers this offseason and the Titans can go after another one in free agency or in next year's draft, but that isn't the most likely path. When you look at what he has done in the past, the most likely outcome is that Landry and Simmons both see spikes in production while other players are used to effectively rush the passer when teams overcommit to stopping those two.
We could be on our way to witnessing a season where the Titans receive production despite largely ignoring the EDGE position this offseason. If history is any indication, Landry and Simmons could also be in line for career-best seasons.