After quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, and tight end, the next stop on our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we head into the 2016 offseason is a look at the offensive tackles.
As I keep mentioning, offensive tackle was the easiest, least interesting positional analysis to write for years because it was always the same. And despite that era ending in 2013, the bottom line for this year’s offseason positional analysis is the same as it was last year: “it’s [February], and we don’t currently have two starting tackles, which makes that it’s [February] good because we have free agency and the draft to add somebody.”
What we do know, as we did last offseason, is that, barring injury or something shocking happening, Taylor Lewan will be starting at one of the tackle positions. That’s a slight change from last offseason, when I felt comfortable writing his name in pen at left tackle (metaphorically, of course; my Titans depth chart, to the extent it’s written down, lives in an Excel file). After a rookie season cut short by injury, he played 15 games, missing part of Week 16 and then Week 17 with a concussion (912 snaps total, 87.9% of total).
Offensive line in particular is difficult for me to write about. It’s hard to discuss players, particularly individual players, through the prism of statistics, and I freely admit I have approximately zero skill at evaluating the technique points required to really say an offensive lineman is any good or not. I can tell you Lewan was flagged 10 times, most on the team, four times for holding, four times for illegal use of hands, and twice for false start. That may seem like a lot, but it doesn’t put him in the top ten in penalties by an offensive tackle last year. I can tell you he appeared to have a very bad day against Whitney Mercilus in Ken Whisenhunt’s final game as head coach. I can tell you he had a recurring shoulder issue that apparently negatively affected his play at times, but I can’t tell you just how or how badly and if it’s the sort of thing that should be fixed with rest in the offseason (if he had surgery on it, I missed the reports) or if it’s something that we should expect to recur next season. And I can’t tell you if he’ll be playing left tackle or right tackle in 2016, and how he’d adjust to playing right tackle if that’s what the Titans wanted him to do. But he should be out there and he shouldn’t be bad.
So, what else can I say? The Titans came to their senses and decided Jeremiah Poutasi was a guard after Ken Whisenhunt’s 396-snap attempt came to an inglorious end with his second benching in three weeks, and I will discuss him in the guards positional analysis (bad prediction from the preseason positional analysis: DNP in 2015, pencil him in as the starting right tackle in 2016).
Byron Bell played guard during the “Poutasi at tackle” experiment and shifted to tackle thereafter. He was more or less the player I thought the Titans were getting when they signed him last offseason, in the range of a compete guy to an average to below starter at right tackle. But he wasn’t a disaster like Poutasi was, and he was out there almost every snap (1030 of 1038, 99.2%), which is something I value. He’s set to be an unrestricted free agent. It’s possible the Titans look to bring him back on a similar sort of low money, short-term deal, but I would guess that’s if and only after they decide not to do something that would have a bigger impact and cost more money.
Jamon Meredith is still a player I’d put in the same sort of tier as Bell, but below him-more of a reserve/swing tackle backup with the ability to kick inside to guard, like he did (394 snaps, 38.0% of total, 60.4% under Whisenhunt, 19.3% under Mularkey, though I wouldn’t read too much into those percentages). Like Bell, he’s a free agent. The Titans could look to retain him, but I’d guess that’s as a backup to a bigger-priced addition.
Will Poehls played some guard in the preseason, but also tackle and I think that’s still where his NFL future is likeliest to be (or I may just have an irrational hatred of 6’8″ guards). He spent the season on the practice squad and was signed to a futures contract at season’s end. I’d guess he’s a contender for the swing backup spot in training camp, and maybe more if the Titans like how he developed and don’t make a major investment in finding a starter at the spot opposite Lewan.
Conclusion-Type Thoughts
The Titans have one starter at offensive tackle. The Titans have one glaring hole at the other starting offensive tackle spot. The Titans could opt to try to go cheap and find a starter from among young players and compete-level guys like Byron Bell and just work on protecting that player since they might actually believe in that concept.
New GM Jon Robinson, though, has spoken of how he wants a tough, physical team. That often starts with the offensive line as potential tone-setters. That, plus the potential shape of the Titans’ draft board, suggests they could look to make a major move in upgrading the offensive line. That move could be signing a high-priced free agent like Cordy Glenn or Mitchell Schwartz, or it could indeed be spending the first overall pick in the draft on Laremy Tunsil. Robinson has been unsurprisingly non-committal on how he wants to handle things, and new offensive line coach Russ Grimm has been talking about how he doesn’t want to pre-judge players too much based on what they did last year. But the Titans pretty much have to do something at offensive tackle, and I believe they will.
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