Well, I woke up this morning in a respectable state of depression after that soul crushing loss by the Titans yesterday. I want the Titans to win the Super Bowl so dang badly. As heartbroken as I am, I can't imagine what the actual players feel like today. I guess they're rich, so they probably feel pretty good, but still LOL.
As a fan I can barely even picture what next season is going to look like. There will obviously be a bunch of roster changes, as there are for every team in every season in every professional sport.
QB Ryan Tannehill?...
Tannehill should have played better yesterday. No doubt about it. Tannehill seems to be fully within the Alex Smith/Andy Dalton/Carson Wentz realm of quarterbacks, and I don't know how I feel about that.
I do wonder, unfortunately, if Tannehill is just a solid regular season QB that can't seem to get it done in the playoffs. Arguably that narrative could be premature since he has only been in the playoffs a few times and does have two wins, but Tannehill is entering year 10 now. We shall see I guess.
I do like Tannehill and I believe it is possible to do some great things with him. But I fear it may take a lot of work and GM magic to gather the perfect pieces. That is a kind of depressing thought but who knows. Titans GM Jon Robinson has done a great job over the years so I think it is possible.
Do the Titans search for a QB? I think it is probably unlikely but I don't know if it would be completely out of the realm of possibility. Perhaps a rookie to develop long term. GM Jon Robinson has been known to be aggressive and make changes where he thinks changes need to be made, so really anything is possible.
Ultimately, unless the Titans can get a QB CLEARLY superior to Tannehill, I would be ok with keeping Tannehill around. It's not easy to get a decent respectable QB, and I do believe overall, Tannehill is a QB you can definitely work with.
2022-23 will be a big year for him though, I think there will be some pressure on him next season. But also, these receivers gotta stay healthy!!
Apparently, the 2022 QB Draft Class is weak, but then again I don't think too many people truly saw Patrick Mahomes coming, so who really knows. I have not done too much research really.
Could the Titans attract Aaron Rodgers? Aaron's future is pretty much in question in general, but just throwing that out there. Nashville is a small but growing market. Would be a solid team around him.
I don't know if I would really want Russell Wilson.
I don't know about any other potentially available quarterbacks that are far and away better than Tannehill.
Tannehill is probably getting wrecked in the media. It's always a tough situation when you have a middle of the road QB.
I would love Tannehill to prove everyone wrong and just be a beast. But at the end of the day, I need to see it to believe it.
I guess I'm just 50/50 when it comes to the future of Tannehill in Tennessee. I love the fun moments he has helped bring for this team, but man. It's just tough after a loss like this.
Maybe this loss will motivate him. I don't know.
Titans roster needs: Linebacker, Tight End, add Wide Receiver depth... QB?
It's always interesting to see where teams decide to add to their roster in the draft, or even in free agency and things like that.
For the Titans in my opinion, the need some inside linebacker help. Maybe I'm wrong, but to an extent they truly need inside linebacker help because there is a strong chance that the Titans could lose two of their better linebackers this off-season in Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown since their contracts expire.
Jayon and Rashaan were drafted by the Titans and were supposed to be the Titans starting linebackers for the foreseeable future. But that hasn't really gone according to plan.
Rashaan never really improved as much as the Titans thought he might. He isn't terrible but seems inconsistent at times and isn't amazing in pass coverage really. He is a pretty physical dude, so that is one positive, but overall he has been rather underwhelming.
Jayon on the other hand has sort of opposite problems than Rashaan has. Jayon once again, is not terrible. He actually has had some good games in Tennesee. But he has missed a lot of games these past two seasons due to injury. He's actually really good in pass coverage but seems to lack some physicality to make a huge difference in stopping the run. Jayon is a small linebacker and while that may allow him to be a fast dude, I'm afraid that his size is contributing to his injuries maybe? I don't know.
Of all the position groups on defense, the inside linebackers on this team always seem to lack real juice in my opinion. The Titans d-line, was pretty fantastic this season. The secondary, was ok enough and Kevin Byard is back there being a beast often. But I rarely notice the inside linebackers making big impacts.
This is all easier said than done, but if the Titans can get just a savage freak inside linebacker, that could really solidify this defense and maybe even make this defense even BETTER.
I thought the Titans might have a nice tight end in Anthony Firkser, and he's ok I guess, but his production really seemed to decline in 2021-22.
Ryan Tannehill has some big receivers, this is true, but if he had like a truly BIG good tight end, that could change things positively on offense I believe.
There has not been too many times in the Tannehill Era that Tannehill has been able to just throw the ball to a wide big target when he's in trouble or something. I think that would help a lot.
The Titans lost a bunch of receivers due to injury this year. Honestly, I don't think there was a single Titans receiver that DIDN'T get injured in 2021-22. I mean, I get injuries happen everywhere all the time but DANG.
The Titans drafted receiver Dez Fitzpatrick last year who so far has been a bust.
A.J. Brown is obviously a freaking superstar and this team is extremely lucky he is there. If A.J. wasn't here man, I don't know what the Titans would have done.
Honestly, the amount of injured receivers had to have contributed to Tannehill's down year a little.
The Titans need to go hard at receiver I believe. Draft like three, at least two.
The QB situation I obviously rambled about. I will take a look and see which QBs look ok in the near future.
This is not an insanely urgent area of need. But if J-Rob has a gut feeling about a QB in the draft that maybe some of these Titans coaches can develop over a few years, who knows.
Some positive thoughts about the Titans 2021 Draft Class
CB Caleb Farley
Caleb was the Titans first round pick last year and well, when he was drafted he was coming off of and healing from a back injury. Then, once Caleb did play, he basically got injured immediately, tearing his ACL.
So, yeah. I hope he's been healing up and working while he's been out so long. Caleb has ridiculous speed and great size for a corner. He has potential to be a freak for the Titans secondary.
OT Dillon Radunz
Last year's second round pick had a rough start to training camp and had a lot to learn at first, from what I learned. But this kid has been developing ok ever since. He seems to be on a better trajectory than it seemed initially.
Notably, Radunz did a respectable job at blocking star defensive end Nick Bosa when the Titans played the 49ers.
ILB Monty Rice
Monty Rice has looked pretty good, but pretty average so far in his career. He also dealt with Covid a lot and missed some time.
CB ELIJAH MOLDEN
Molden was really a stud for the Titans as a rookie. A scrappy corner who tackles well. I am really liking what I'm seeing out of Elijah! I'm quickly becoming a big fan! Can't wait to see how he develops. He was easily the Titans best draft pick in 2021, so far.
WR Dez Fitzpatrick
Dez was the biggest clear bust of the draft last year for the Titans. Anything is possible, but it seems this dude is a practice squad body right now.
DE Rashad Weaver
In the fourth round last year the Titans selected Rashad Weaver, a defensive end from Pittsburgh. He showed a lot of promise! But once again he was yet another Titan that suffered a season ending injury.
Hopefully he's been healing up and can contribute next year.
WR Racey McMath
McMath is a big body, project type of receiver that helped on special teams. Not much was really expected of him, but it seems like the Titans like his potential.
The 2021 Draft Class was a mixed bag, hopefully these players can be healthy next year and help the Titans win.
If these guys can get healthy, and the Titans add more young talent in this year's draft, the Titans can go into next year feeling really re-loaded.
Especially if like, everyone else can stay just a little bit more healthy.
Writing this post out makes me actually feel a smidge better about Tannehill. The amount of injuries that surrounded him was truly outstanding and literally record breaking.
The Titans as an organization, have really been turning things around. I believe in J-Rob, and Vrabel. There is still a lot of talent on this team.
Now is time to heal up, get over this loss and keep building.
That's all they can do.
I'll be supporting the whole time!