SELF-PUBLICITY NOTE: Football Outsiders Almanac 2015, the annual tome previewing all 32 NFL teams, plus the college football season put out by Football Outsiders, is now available. I was a contributor for the sixth consecutive season, writing the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and, yes, once again, Tennessee Titans chapters. The PDF is currently available from the Football Outsiders website, while the dead tree version is now on Amazon. Buy it, buy it, buy it! /end plug
After quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, guard, center, and defensive line, the next stop on our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we approach the start of the 2015 regular season is a look at the outside linebackers.
The theme of my offseason positional analysis was that the outside linebackers for the Titans last year weren’t good enough, and I don’t think anybody disagreed with that assessment. So it was good the Titans went out and added a starter with the ability to be an impact player, kind of important in a 3-4 scheme where he will be your primary pass rusher. He comes with questions, though, and a departure I wasn’t expecting makes depth a major question mark.
Brian Orakpo is the big new arrival, after being signed from Washington in free agency. My time limitations this offseason meant I didn’t get to go too in-depth on his play, either what he did in an injury-plagued and -shortened 2014 (0.5 sacks in seven games, though six QB hits and 8.5 hurries per FOA2015). At his best, he was one of the better 3-4 weakside edge players in the NFL. He’s not a pure speed rusher, but has some speed, and is also a very powerful player, both in the run game and as a rusher. 2013 is a better example of the sort of player the Titans want to get-10.0 sacks, 26 hurries, run defense numbers that by Football Outsiders metrics look a bit like Jurrell Casey’s last year, and also some pretty proficient work in pass coverage.
The big question is just how many games you’ll get that Brian Orakpo. He was on the injury report every game he played in 2014 and only played two games in 2012. Even in 2013, he missed a game. He turned 29 at the end of July, young enough he can still be the same player we saw in 2013 but old enough that he’s probably at least starting the downslope of his career (the NFL is a rough business). The Titans and Orakpo aren’t worried about a recurrence of the pec injuries that sent him to IR those two seasons, but “team and player not worried about recurrence of injury” is one of those training camp staples.
With Orakpo in place at right outside linebacker, Derrick Morgan returns at left outside linebacker after re-upping with the Titans in the offseason. At this point we know who Morgan is, a solid run defender and unremarkable pass rusher with a history of struggling to convert pressures to sacks. The Titans are naturally hoping Orakpo’s arrival will have a transformative effect on Morgan’s production, at least in terms of results. I see the possibility, but I’m more on the skeptical side, as I have been of Morgan’s pass rush chops since before the Titans drafted him. If Michael Johnson can have a 12.5 sack season with Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap his Casey and Orakpo, there’s no reason Morgan can’t (Johnson in 2012: 12.5 sacks, 10 hurries. Fluke alert!).
Thus endeth the quality, or even known, portion of the 2015 OLB positional analysis. Kamerion Wimbley’s April retirement left the Titans without player (a) with regular season Titans experience other than Morgan, or (b) more than three years of NFL regular season experience other than Orakpo and Morgan. With Orakpo’s injury history, having at least one known quantity who can step in seemed crucial, and the Titans simply do not have that player on the roster right now, nor is that player available. In another positional analysis, I might list all of these players among the flotsam and jetsam at the back end of the roster. At OLB, chances are two (or more!) of them make the team, at least initially.
Atlanta cast-off Jonathan Massaquoi has the NFL experience, three seasons with the Falcons before they cut him this offseason and the Titans claimed him off waivers. He has 6.0 career sacks in 40 games since the Falcons chose him in the fifth round in 2012. Going back to predraft scouting reports reveal the kind of player I hate, the speed rusher who doesn’t test great. His Atlanta denouement apparently included skipping rehab sessions after a foot injury, and complaining publicly about lack of playing time probably didn’t endear him to some new team leaders, nor did his lack of production. He’s vowed the Titans will feel differently than Atlanta did. We’ll see what he does when he makes it on the field, since he missed the first preseason game after a shoulder injury kept him out of the offseason.
Like Massaquoi, Kaelin Burnett has spent three years in the NFL, though his playing time on defense has not been nearly as extensive as Massaquoi’s. I’ve never gotten his game, and as I noted in the offseason positional analysis was surprised to see him return. He played 2 snaps on defense last year, so my read if he returns is it will be to be a key special teams player. I didn’t have any notes on him in his 15 snaps at left outside linebacker/left defensive end against Atlanta.
Rookie undrafted free agents Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil and J.R. Tavai were the second stringers at OLB against Atlanta, YCV on the right side and Tavai on the left. Both had their moments, though not many of them. Both also came out of the game with injuries, Cudjoe-Virgil a hamstring and Tavai a knee. I don’t have anything to add on either beyond what I said in the UDFAs post.
If I was writing this post at the beginning of training camp, before we had an unofficial depth chart, sixth-round pick Deiontrez Mount would have been the fourth player and second backup I listed. A visitor, I keep repeating Rotoworld’s Josh Norris was a huge fan of his ability to convert speed to power because otherwise I’m left with a player who bounced from D-end to standup outside linebacker at Louisville and never became a regular starter at any of them. Scouting reports on him said strong outside linebacker in a 3-4, probably because that’s where he played his final seasons with the Cardinals. The Titans lined up him on the right in the first preseason game. He was one of the few Titans defenders to actually play a bootleg well, though the Falcons quarterback (I think it was Sean Renfree at that point) completed the pass anyway.
Chaz Sutton and Nashville native Dezmond Johnson were the last pair of outside linebackers to play Friday. I don’t give either a chance to make the team. I listed Nate Askew as an OLB in the positional analysis, but he played inside in Friday and that’s where he’s listed in the depth chart, so I’ll discuss him there. Veteran Andy Studebaker was signed after Cudjoe-Virgil and Tavai were injured; he should be able to step in and play immediately, but if the Titans liked him that much they would have signed him already given the current depth status at the position.
Conclusion-Type Thoughts
Two starters, one who could be a much-needed standout if he will actually stay on the field, one who we know will be a solid player, and absolutely zero depth behind them. If Ken Whisenhunt believes in the preventative power of prayer, he’s on his knees every night beseeching whichever deity or deities might grant his request that nobody gets hurt because if Brian Orakpo or Derrick Morgan does go down the Titans are screwed.
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