After quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, and guard, our final stop on the offensive side of the ball on our trip around the Tennessee Titans heading into the 2015 offseason is a look at the center position.
I mentioned in the preseason positional analysis my view that the gist of the center positional analysis is the same as the gist of the guards positional analysis. That seems to be true once again, minus the guards’ durability the past two seasons. There’s a starter, who is pretty young and could be pretty good, but didn’t play in 2014 at the level the Titans wanted and probably expected. Depending on how much said starter improves, center could be a pretty good position for Tennessee in 2015 or it could be pretty average once again.
Brian Schwenke is that starter. I had him as a third-level “X-factor” for the 2014 Titans, and that worked out about as well as my first-level “X factor” Jake Locker and my second-level “X factors” Justin Hunter and Chance Warmack. (Yes, I know the 2014 Titans were bad, and this is news to absolutely nobody.) He played 646 snaps in the first 11 games before a knee injury in Week 12 against Philadelphia sent him to injured reserve.
The injury and his 2014 play make it another very important offseason for Schwenke. This is still a sensitive issue and one that’s hard for an outsider like me to write about, but like Warmack, I suspect he needed both body work and technique work to reach his maximum potential as an NFL player. The ankle injury he suffered as a rookie probably set him back last offseason in the regard, and I just hope I’m not writing the same thing come August about his knee injury. As with Warmack and Andy Levitre, though, there’s a coherent and not unreasonable story you could tell about how Schwenke could turn into a very good player in 2015. Given the Titans’ needs at other positions, I think it’s unlikely they look for Schwenke replacement this offseason.
On the other hand, Schwenke’s injuries in his first two NFL seasons suggest the Titans shouldn’t skimp on having a quality backup. Chris Spencer has filled that role the past two seasons. He played 331 snaps (34.3% of the season total), 315 of those in the final five games where he was the starter for Schwenke. He was mostly solid, reliable, dependable. I wouldn’t trot him out there as the sixth offensive lineman again, which the Titans did at times in the first 11 games with what I thought were results that showed interior linemen should never be asked to play on the edge of the line of scrimmage as a tight end. But he probably should be able to fill a similar sort of role in 2015 if the Titans want. Not currently under contract for 2015. He turns 33 later this month. That’s an age that makes him definitely a year-to-year proposition, but I wouldn’t have any issues if the Titans re-signed him.
The Titans also have Gabe Ikard on their roster. He spent the entire season on injured reserve after tearing his ACL in the preseason game against the Saints. I don’t have an updated take on him from last offseason, when I profiled him and the other UDFAs and in the center preseason positional analysis. Obviously the Titans hate rookie UDFAs, so he wasn’t going to make the roster, but he had some traits that could have made him a potential practice squad candidate. My guess is he would only be a serious roster candidate as a center and if the Titans kept nine offensive linemen. With Schwenke’s injury history, my guess is the Titans would look for an experienced backup center who would likely be more ready to step in immediately and Ikard is once again an extreme roster longshot whose likely ceiling is the practice squad.
I covered Eric Olsen, listed as a G/C, in the guards positional analysis. Especially if they only want to keep one interior lineman reserve, he could be an option and his youth (27 in June) could make him more attractive than Spencer. Not under contract for 2015, though, and as I mentioned in the guards analysis I’m not sure he’s an NFL-roster player.
Conclusion-Type Things
Brian Schwenke will very likely be the starter, and the Titans will be counting on him to play better. There’s a reasonable case for him to do so. His injury history suggests the Titans should have a quality veteran backup behind him. There’s no such player on the roster, so I would expect them to add one at some point this offseason. No, I won’t be worried if that player isn’t signed in March. Yes, I will be worried if there isn’t such a player on the roster come training camp beginning. But really, it’s about Schwenke and what he can do in his third season.
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