The Tennessee Titans are preparing for makeshift units this weekend
By Will Lomas
The Houston Texans added injury to insult on Sunday when they ended the Tennessee Titans final offensive drive with a sack that injured rookie QB, Will Levis.
Heading into this week there were questions about who would start for the Titans at quarterback this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks, but Mike Vrabel answered those questions on Wednesday saying that Ryan Tannehill would be the starter if Will Levis couldn't go.
That is the wrong decision, but it is what most fans were expecting. What fans weren't expecting was for the flu bug to hit the Tennessee Titans harder than it did last week and for nearly a dozen starters to miss practice or get limited reps.
According to reports, Will Levis, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Treylon Burks, Kyle Philips, Daniel Brunskill, T.K. McClendon, K'Von Wallace, Amani Hooker, Jack Gibbens, Aaron Brewer, Luke Gifford, Trevon Wesco, Denico Autry, and Jeffery Simmons all missed at least some of practice.
If those players all miss Sunday, that means that the Titans would be missing their starting QB, CB, WR2, WR3, WR5, RG, C, FS, SS, LB, EDGE, and DT, as well as several depth players and players like Chris Hubbard and Kristian Fulton who are already on I.R.
Now, some of those players will make it back and will play, but not all of them. At this point the Titans probably don't even have enough players to have a real practice, which certainly won't help them get ready for a team that just beat the Philadelphia Eagles.
The funny thing is, if Aaron Brewer can't play it actually might be better for everyone involved.
Can the Tennessee Titans stumble into a better roster?
Over the last few months, Ryan Tannehill has gotten more work with backup center Corey Levin, and honestly, Levin is a better center than Brewer. Considering how Brewer's play has been holding back Peter Skoronski, this would be a nice time to make a quiet switch at center without raising too many eyebrows.
Last year the Titans utterly failed to upgrade the offensive line, in fact, they somehow made it worse despite spending every draft pick on offense and despite their biggest free agent signing being a left tackle.
Next year they are going to have to wipe the slate clean again and try to find starting offensive linemen, so it would be nice to see how Skoronski and Brunskill would hold up with a better center on the field.
With the playoffs out of the picture and an eye on the future, winning isn't the more important thing anymore, and it actually hurts the Tennessee Titans more than it helps. The rest of the season should be about talent evaluation. Mike Vrabel did a terrible job evaluating the talent on the roster last season and that is one of the big reasons why they are a 5-win team despite seriously trying to make a playoff push.
To that end, getting a look at everyone on the roster to get a crystal clear picture of what they need is the most important thing. If Levin can step in and show that he can be a starting center for a few weeks then he will prove that he is worth bringing back to be a backup at the very least.