Now that the Titans have made the cuts necessary to get down to 53, it is time for me to take my promised look at the shape and form of the roster.
As the process played out, I chronicled what the Titans did to get to 53 men on their roster. Since then, they’ve made a couple further transactions. I’ll get to those, and why I think the Titans made the moves they did.
First, though, the overall shape of the roster. This was one of the big imponderables in my roster prediction, as the Titans could have plausibly gone one or two players heavier or lighter at a number of different positions. Here’s what the roster looks like, with the number of players at the position on the roster for the first game of the regular season last year in parentheses:
QB: 3 (3)
RB/FB: 5 (5)
TE: 5 (3)
WR: 4 (6)
OL: 8 (8)
DL: 8 (7)
LB: 8 (9)
CB: 5 (5)
S: 4 (4)
ST: 3 (3)
Given the players the Titans had on the roster, there were only a couple questions in terms of positional distribution. I thought there was only one, with a slight possibility of two, floating positions on offense. I had one of them going to a ninth offensive lineman, and thought five receivers was pretty much a lock, with a sixth a candidate for that last spot on offense. The Titans, once again, weren’t thinking the way I did.
Defensively, Dick LeBeau has a strong history of keeping 10 defensive backs and given Jason McCourty’s injury I thought the Titans would want to keep 10 secondary players. But if there weren’t 10 secondary players they liked, then they were only going to keep nine (which was why my initial roster projection had nine on it). For tactical and player evaluation reasons, I had a very strong belief the Titans would absolutely not keep eight defensive linemen; I was obviously wrong there, too.
Now, the position by position breakdown of who was kept and who was not, and what the Titans may have at each position.
QB: Marcus Mariota, Zach Mettenberger, Charlie Whitehurst
Analysis: Absolute chalk, despite some people’s attempts to cut Whitehurst. Now we’ll see how Mariota plays, which I covered in the post-draft / pre-camp post on him and the QB positional analysis and will address more in the big season preview.
RB/FB: Antonio Andrews, Jalston Fowler (FB), Dexter McCluster, Bishop Sankey, Terrance West
Analysis: I had five chalky names here, and those were the five to make the initial 53. But then David Cobb went to IR-Designated For Return and the Titans picked up West from the Browns. I hope to have more on West tomorrow, but for now I’ll note he slots into the between the tackles power back grinder role a healthy Cobb would have had. Adding West also makes it more likely in my mind Antonio Andrews will be your Week 1 kickoff returner; were he forced to play the power back role, my idea of a sensible coaching staff would have limited his special teams snaps and give them to another player (a non-RB, likely).
I was surprised to see David Fluellen get signed to the practice squad, given the depth and overall youth of the position group in general. With the acquisition of West, the Titans now have five backs (including Fowler) with no more than a season’s worth of NFL experience. That tells me they’re not necessarily certain which of them, if any, are actually any good.
In case they haven’t figured it out yet, fantasy football players will once again hate Ken Whisenhunt because of his unpredictable running back committee. My expectation, as it has been all along, is Bishop Sankey will end up with the most fantasy points of any back, especially in PPR leagues, but you probably won’t want to start any of them.
TE: Chase Coffman, Anthony Fasano, Craig Stevens, Phillip Supernaw, Delanie Walker
Analysis: Why you would keep five tight ends is a question that I can’t satisfactorily answer. I thought TE4 was a candidate for the one offensive roster spot I had unassigned, but finding a second tight end spot beyond the three locks (Fasano, Stevens, Walker) was quite a surprise to me. Supernaw’s special teams value and ability to block, at least a little, made him the favorite for the TE4 spot. Coffman is neither a special teams player nor a blocker, so he was probably most directly in competition with the fifth wide receiver for the right to be inactive most weeks; I wouldn’t have made the choice the Titans did, but they’ve consistently valued Coffman more than I have.
Tevin Westbrook, more of a pure blocker, earned a practice squad spot. If things work out, consider him the favorite for Stevens’ job next year.
WR: Harry Douglas, Dorial Green-Beckham, Justin Hunter, Kendall Wright
Analysis: When I finally sat down and worked through things, I thought it was very likely the Titans would only be dressing four wide receivers on a regular basis. Thus on one level, I’m not that surprised the Titans only kept four wide receivers.
On the other hand, Dorial Green-Beckham is a rookie who came out early and is incredibly raw, while I’ve never tried to hide my belief that Justin Hunter is a very not good receiver. By only keeping four receivers, the Titans are counting on at least one of them, probably both, to be a consistent week-to-week producer. My thoughts on that possibility range from “the triumph of optimism over experience” to “this is completely insane.” It is particularly surprising after last year, when the Titans went into the season with obviously completely inadequate receiving depth, and, que shocking!, that came back to hurt the team. Green-Beckham and Hunter obviously offers more upside than Hagan and Hunter did as last year’s WR3-4, but Hagan offered some special teams value and overall reliability. It is even more surprising because Ruston Webster’s past strategy in response to major depth failures (e.g., 2012 center, 2013 returner) has been to overload the team with options the next season.
Tre McBride and Rico Richardson picked up practice squad spots. It would not surprise me at all if the Titans filled one of their three remaining practice squad spots (they have used 7, of 10, thus far) with another wide receiver given they only kept four of them.
OL: Byron Bell, Andy Gallik, Taylor Lewan, Jamon Meredith, Jeremiah Poutasi, Brian Schwenke, Quinton Spain, Chance Warmack
Analysis: I consistently kept both Byron Stingily, for better tackle depth, and Fernando Velasco, for better interior and particularly center depth, on my roster predictions. That the Titans cut both of them and kept Spain instead tells me (a) they don’t share my concern, even after last year’s late season mess at tackle (see above, and I’ll have more on last year’s OT situation and how I think it should affect your thinking about the 2015 Titans in the season preview), and/or (b) they have a lot more confidence in their players, particularly Gallik’s ability to step in should Schwenke suffer another injury, than I do.
Two practice squad spots here, at least to this date. Will Poehls, who I thought was a candidate for the potential “interesting developmental prospect, not likely to play a significant role in 2015” spot that went to Spain, took one, and Josue Matias took the other. I wondered if Gabe Ikard was a candidate here; keeping a third likely C-only player, after Schwenke and Gallik, would have been a curious use, but unless the Titans have a ton of confidence in Gallik, it would have been justifiable.
My biggest concern, especially after Kansas City in Week 3, is Poutasi, but he’s just one of many. Outside of Taylor Lewan, every starter at the position came in with big questions about how well they’d play this year. The line for Week 1 won’t be the same as I thought it would be at the start of training camp, but the same questions still remain after the preseason.
DL: Angelo Blackson, Jurrell Casey, Sammie Hill, DaQuan Jones, Karl Klug, Mike Martin, Ropati Pitoitua, Al Woods
Analysis: So, the Titans kept 8 defensive linemen when they only dressed five or six every game last year and Dick LeBeau’s defense had kept either six or seven each of the past ten years. They’re still running a 3-4, so this seems kind of nuts like a very odd decision. Why might the Titans do this?
One obvious answer is Sammie Hill’s injury. He’s likely to miss the first three games, so it makes sense for the Titans to keep an extra player at the position relative to what they might otherwise do. But with only five or six players dressing, the Titans would have had sufficient depth even if they only kept 7, which is what I consistently had them doing. So, why?
One answer is DaQuan Jones’ hand injury. He did not play in either of the last two preseason games, and though he reportedly returned to practice, the Titans could be concerned about his availability. If so, they might only have six players available for five or six spots. Though this is an explanation, I don’t see it as a good enough one; a questionable Jones for Week 1 would make keeping seven players a lock, but I don’t find it sufficient.
The other explanation is they aren’t confident in all their players. If so, then it’s obvious who that would be, the one player who doesn’t have NFL experience, with Angelo Blackson likely to reprise Jones’ role last year as a regular inactive. But even so, he didn’t look that bad in the preseason and should be able to handle a fifth or sixth lineman role if needed with injury (like Hill and potentially Jones).
The other other explanation is the split among the players and their roles; Jurrell Casey and Karl Klug are likely to be your base nickel combination, and Mike Martin will have a regular role in a six-man defensive line rotating with them in that job. That would leave three players (from among the other five on the roster) also active on gameday as primarily run-stuffers. I think that would be kind of weird, as both Klug and Martin are vulnerable to getting pushed back in the run game and should not be asked to play many, if any, snaps in base defense. But it would help explain why eight and why keep Martin, who I thought for sure was toast.
No practice squad spots here, at least yet. I thought Toby Johnson flashed enough he might have one, but he was dropped in the cut to 75 and joined Jacksonville’s practice squad. With eight players on the active roster, it wouldn’t surprise me that much to see the Titans not have any D-linemen on the practice squad even though I would.
OLB: David Bass, Derrick Morgan, Deiontrez Mount, Brian Orakpo
Analysis: A waiver wire claim here, with David Bass replacing the disappointing Jonathan Massaquoi. I was wondering for months if this would end up happening, after writing the Titans and Bears chapters in Football Outsiders Almanac 2015 (still available in PDF and dead tree!). Bass might be part of tomorrow’s post with West; I haven’t decided yet. He’s flashed in brief playing time the past two seasons, but was caught in a numbers game in Chicago this year. I think he’s probably OLB3 and will have a chance to play a decent number of snaps. Somebody will have to, as LeBeau will probably only want Morgan and Orakpo to play no more than 80% of the time and preferably even less and I’m not sure Mount’s a 25 snap-plus player.
I would say a practice squad is or at least should be a possibility, given the obvious depth questions.
ILB: Zach Brown, Steven Johnson, Avery Williamson, Wesley Woodyard
Analysis: Another waiver wire claim here, with Johnson replacing Justin Staples. Staples seemed like a placeholder they’d look to upgrade on, likely earning his spot only after the decision was made to put Zaviar Gooden on injured reserve. Though he nominally started seven games for Denver last year, Johnson only played 210 snaps. He’s around primarily for special teams value and as a better defensive emergency option than Staples.
Assuming Staples clears waivers, which seems likely to me, he’s a candidate for a practice squad spot.
The questions remain if Brown is able to translate his physical gifts to being a good football player and if Williamson is any good in pass coverage. Preseason was not particularly encouraging in that regard, but we shall see what happens once LeBeau starts proper planning for opponents.
CB: Perrish Cox, Jason McCourty, Cody Riggs, Coty Sensabaugh, Blidi Wreh-Wilson
Analysis: The names I expected, at least when I came around to the Riggs train on my second roster prediction. I thought there might be a waiver claim here if the right body became available, but that apparently did not happen.
Well, the overall position group is better than it was last year. Sensabaugh and Wreh-Wilson have another year of experience. Cox has some experience. Which doesn’t negate all those questions I outlined in the positional analysis, at all: McCourty is the only known quantity, and his groin injury makes him an unknown quantity. Oh, yeah, and we haven’t seen more than a handful of snaps with what seems like the best possible first-team nickel, since Wreh-Wilson missed the first three preseason games. Better does not mean my glass-mostly-empty mind has a hard time constructing disaster scenarios.
I’m probably listing way too many positions as a possibility for the three open practice squad spots, but there could be one for the right player.
S: Michael Griffin, Marqueston Huff, Da’Norris Searcy, Daimion Stafford
Analysis: I tried to hand a fifth safety a roster spot, either to Josh Aubrey or Khalid Wooten, but the Titans kept neither on the 53 (Aubrey did make the practice squad).
Judging from preseason, the Titans will be playing nickel as their primary sub package, so the third safety role will not be nearly as important as it was last year when dime was their primary sub package. So the big questions are still the ones from the positional analysis about the deployment of Griffin and Searcy and how Searcy fares playing every snap instead of 60 or 70% of them.
ST: Brett Kern, Beau Brinkley, Ryan Succop
Analysis: Highly reliable chalk. The question is kick returner
Speculation about the Week 1 inactives: Sammie Hill (injury), Jason McCourty (injury), Charlie Whitehurst (QB3), Quinton Spain (surplus OL), a defensive lineman (Jones if he’s hurt, else Blackson or Martin), and an offensive “skill position” guy (West if he’s not ready, else Coffman due to Supernaw’s special teams value)
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