Who will be the 2019 Cleveland Browns of 2020? Part 4 Tennessee Titans
What constitutes being the 2019 Cleveland Browns of 2020?
Last year the Browns were underwhelming, to say the least. Baker Mayfield’s Sophmore slump, Odell was disappointing, the Myles Garrett incident and Freddie Kitchens being fired after 1 season. In the 2019 Preseason, the Browns were dubbed to win the AFC North, potentially the AFC and possibly the Superbowl. Will the Titans be that team this year? In this series, I’m going to look at 5 teams who have the potential to be all style, but no substance team this year? Will it be the Titans?
Ryan Tannehill one year wonder?
All of these stats are adjusted to if Tannehill started all 16 games.
- Tannehill would have thrown 35 Touchdowns and only 10 picks.
- A 70% completion percentage.
- He would have thrown over 3,800 yards.
- A passer rating of 117.5 which is great.
Tannehill was great last year and was the comeback player of the year. He had been average at Miami for his whole career and when he came to be the backup in Tennessee people thought his career was on the ropes. But in week 7 Mariota was benched and Tannehill started. Ryan Tannehill will be 32 at the start of the season in September. That is not young in the NFL so signing him to a $118 million contract over 4 years doesn't seem very clever. I don't think the Titans will have had much competition to get Tannehill to sign so $118 million sounds a bit ridiculous for the 32-year-old.
Why hasn’t Derrick Henry been signed yet?
Derrick Henry has been franchise tagged but why not just sign him long term? I don't think anyone can argue any reason that Henry shouldn't be signed by the Titans. His success beat the Patriots and Ravens in the playoffs. It wasn't Tannehill. It wasn't Vrabel. It wasn't the Defence. It wasn't AJ Brown. It was Henry. You would have thought just for that stretch of games he deserves a payday! This one is really a head-scratcher. Derrick Henry deserves a bag and he's not getting that. We might see a Derrick Henry in a different uniform in 2020.
Defence? Weak in places. Great in others.
The Titans defence lost a big player on the defensive line in Jurrell Casey who signed with the Broncos, who might not be all they are projected to be in 2020, find out why here: Part 3 of the Series. The only viable defensive lineman on the roster is sophomore Jeffrey Simmons. I've said enough about sophomore slumps in the rest of this series. There are literally no other great defensive linemen on the roster. This could be a good landing spot for Jadeveon Clowney, Everson Griffin or Damon Harrison.
The Titans linebackers are above average at best. They have Harold Landry who last year had 9 sacks as a starter. Rashed Evans and Jayon Brown had 216 combined tackles in 2019. Vic Beasley has signed this to the Titans this offseason, who is still three years removed from that amazing 2016 season with the Falcons where he recorded 15.5 sacks, but hasn't shown that kind of production since could a fresh start in Tennesse help him achieve his potential? Or was he a one year wonder?
The Secondary is incredible though. 3 of the 5 members of the secondary are elite. Three great corners in Adoree Jackson, Malcolm Butler and Kristian Fulton. Malcolm and Adoree have both had better days but they are still really good assets for the Titans and 2nd round pick Kristian Fulton looked really promising in the run-up to the draft. Kevin Byard had 4 interceptions last year which is great especially from a safety however there is no clear safety partner for Byard in 2020.
Why the Titans could flop.
Tannehill is overrated. I'm not buying the hype that he is worth $118 million and the Derrick Henry situation is weird and I think there must be something that Mike Vrabel and the Titans aren't telling us about the Derrick Henry situation.
The offence was very reliant on Henry down the stretch if so if he goes down with an injury it could spiral out of control. Maybe one of these years the Titans could not go 9–7 like they have the last few years.
