The Tennessee Titans finished the 2023 season with a 6-11 record and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. It was a very frustrating year for the Titans as they let several games slip away from them and shortly after a week 18 victory over the Jags – former head coach Mike Vrabel was fired. It’s a very big deal any time a head coach is fired because more often than not – when a head coach is fired – it’s not just one guy losing their job while everyone else stays and tries to do a better job next year. No. It’s usually several guys getting fired and along with not only losing their jobs – their families are usually impacted in a pretty big way too. There’s no doubt 2023 was a disappointing year for the Titans – but there was a lot of roster overhaul this offseason and it was a lot of out with the old and in with the new. And we are starting to see how current GM Ran Carthon is building his football team for the future. I really believe from where this roster was when they fired Mike Vrabel 6 months ago – to where they are now – that the Titans are one of the most improved teams in all of football heading into the 2024 season. But how will they do this year? Well we’re going to break it all down in today’s video. Now let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by taking a look at what the Titans did in free agency. The Titans were a very active team in free agency and to be completely honest I thought they were going to trade for Bengals receiver Tee Higgins and have him be Will Levis’s go to guy for the next several years. But they didn’t and went out and signed receiver Calvin Ridley from the division rival Jags. They also signed Center Lloyd Cushenberry, running back Tony Pollard, and even brought in Tyler Boyd on a cheap 1 year $2.4 million dollar deal too. While none of these players are elite at their respective positions – one thing Ran Carthon knew he had to do entering the year was – as simple as this sounds – get better offensively and give his quarterback a chance. Which he did. And we will breakdown more of what to expect from the Titans offense later in the video – but I can not emphasize how excited I am to watch the Titans defense play this year. Losing Azeez Al Shaair and Denico Autry to the division rival Texans wasn’t ideal – and I really would have liked to have seen them retain Azeez – but as we all know – the NFL is a business. Now I don’t want to downplay what Denico Autry did for this team last year as he had over 50 pressures and had 11.5 sacks – which is great production from any pass rusher and any team would take that – but for where this franchise is headed – I don’t blame them for letting Autry walk. And I don’t think even Titans fans would say they’re going to try and win a Super Bowl this year. So letting a 34 year old pass rusher leave while you have a first year head coach and a first year defensive coordinator too for that matter in Dennard Wilson – well – letting Autry walk was for the better in the long run. Throughout a few team previews we’ve done so far in the series – corner depth has been a big concern I’ve had with nearly every team. But I really really like the 3 corners Tennessee has when healthy entering the 2024 season. Titans fans – best of all – know 3rd year corner Roger McCreary is one of the more underrated corners in all of football and he presents a challenge for any receiver when lined up against him. He was picked on a bit during his rookie year – as most rookie corners are – but rebounded nicely in 2023 and in 542 coverage snaps last year – allowed zero touchdowns. But having just one solid corner is never enough because teams can easily line their receiver up on the other side of the field and throw away from a corner – as most corners do not trail receivers throughout an entire game – and the Titans also have Chidobe Awuzie and L’Jarius Sneed. Awuzie was a 2nd round pick for the Cowboys back in 2017 and signed a 3 year $36 million dollar contract with Tennessee this offseason and while I do have concerns with corners that are approaching age 30 – the Titans aren’t going to be asking him to be one on one with Nico Collins for 70 straight plays – or they’re not going to ask him in their season opener against Chicago to lock up DJ Moore and hold him in check for the entire game. Awuzie is a solid corner and while he’s not going to haul in 5 interceptions this year with 3 of them being pick 6’s – what he will do – is be a solid starter and show up week in and week out and be a good player for the titans defense. And that’s what they need from him. Not every player is a superstar – and that’s fine
But a move I liked a lot this offseason was when the Titans acquired veteran corner L’Jarius Sneed from the Chiefs for a 2025 third round pick and a swap of 7th round picks. Sneed has been a very good player over the past few years and has been one of the most consistent players on the Chiefs defense during this time. And whenever there’s a player like Sneed that becomes available – you know – a guy exiting his rookie contract or about to exit his rookie contract that’s looking to get paid – and then have a team with a lot of space available step up and make the trade to go get him – well I am all for this trade every single time. Period. Acquiring a player of Ljarius Sneed’s caliber for a third round pick is pennies for what he’s going to bring to this franchise. And I know the next thought is always – well you have to pay him – and man what a tough situation to be in – to have to pay good players versus a 3rd round pick that’s a year away from even contributing to our roster. Especially while we have a quarterback entering his second year on a rookie contract. This move alone was an A+ move by Ran Carthon. And another reason I like this is because of how much of a tone setter Sneed is. We’ve all seen the clips of Sneed pressing guys and jamming guys at the line and frustrating the hell out of opposing receivers over the past few years. I don’t say this about a lot of players but it certainly applies to L’Jarius – he’s a dog and he plays with that mentality and you see it every single sunday. And these are the types of guys you want in your locker room as you are a rebuilding franchise trying to ascend your way back to the top. But I also really like the Titans pass rush and I have decently high expectations for this defense. I am very eager to see what Dennard Wilson brings to the table as a DC – but I also think the Titans will quietly be one of the better defenses in all of football this year. They had 4 players have 40 or more pressures last year in Autry, Harold Landry, Jeffery Simmons, and Arden Key. And I think that will be much of the same this year – minus Denico Autry of course. Jeffery Simmons is the best player among this bunch and had 47 pressures in just 12 games last year before his season ended prematurely. There’s a few reasons as to why I’m pretty high on the Titans defense entering the 2024 season – the first is – I think they have a very talented group and improved from a team that already finished 16th in points per game last year. They also forced just 14 turnovers over the course of the entire 2023 season – which obviously isn’t good and they ranked 31st in this category. The Titans offense also turned the ball over 20 times – which by the way isn’t bad – but when you have a -6 turnover difference for a team that already can’t score the ball offensively – well you’re going to be put in a lot of bad situations as a defense. And by having an improved secondary and a defensive line that can routinely get after the quarterback – I think they’re going to force more turnovers this year naturally. It’s incredibly hard to go two straight years forcing just 14 turnovers as a defense – especially for how talented of a group this is. And one other big thing that will also help the Titans defense this year – is – they should be much better offensively as there were plenty of times throughout the 2023 season where either Andre Dillard or Jaelyn Duncan would give up a big sack to start the drive and the offense would have to climb out of a 2nd and 19 hole on their own 16 yard line. That in turn of course affected the defense because with how bad the weaponry was for Will Levis was last year – well they would end up going 3 and out and give the opponent the football in decent field position and the Titans would be fighting an uphill battle. So through improvement from the secondary, staying healthy up front, and by playing more complimentary football this year than they did last – I really like where the Titans defense is heading into the season
Their run defense was already good last year and they added a mammoth along the defensive line in the second round in Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. The 2023 Titans run defense actually finished 7th in yards per carry allowed and 4th in rushing touchdowns allowed and they should be good up front again this year. The only real concern I have with this defense is the play at inside linebacker. I am admittedly not the biggest Kenneth Murray fan and if there is any move to criticize that Ran Carthon made this offseason – it would be signing Murray to a 2 year $15 million dollar deal and hoping he is the long term answer. Jack Gibbons played well during the 2023 season and I hope he has a year similar to last year because I think he can be a starter for the Titans at linebacker for the next few years. But I would have rather had Tennessee go almost any other route than signing Kenneth Murray – based on what we saw during his time in LA. But aside from Murray – l like this defense a lot and think they are going to be one of the better units this year. And a defensive line with T’Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons on it is going to be downright scary.
