Analyzing Titans’ first unofficial depth chart of 2022

On Monday, the Tennessee Titans revealed their first unofficial depth chart of 2022 ahead of their first preseason game on Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens.

Before we get to the details, it’s hard to glean too much from the very first depth chart, especially when the Titans will do just about anything to keep information close to the vest.

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However, there were a few interesting things of note to talk about.

In order to not give away anything in terms of who is winning the starting competitions in camp, the Titans used slashes to denote co-starters in some spots, and there’s one very interesting one at the starting cornerback spot.

That’s just one of the noteworthy things we see on Tennessee’s first unofficial depth chart of 2022. Here’s a look at the entire depth chart on offense, defense and special teams, and a little analysis for each.

Note: Depth chart pecking order goes from left to right, and then down to the next row and from left to right again.

Offense

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	Starter	Backup	Backup
QB	Ryan Tannehill	Logan Woodside	Malik Willis
RB	Derrick Henry	Dontrell Hilliard Jordan Wilkins Hassan Haskins	Tory Carter (FB) Trenton Cannon Julius Chestnut
WR	Robert Woods	Kyle Philips Mason Kinsey	Dez Fitzpatrick Terry Godwin Brandon Lewis
WR	Nick Westbrook-Ikhine	Treylon Burks Cody Hollister	Racey McMath Josh Malone Reggie Roberson
TE	Austin Hooper	Chig Okonkwo	Briley Moore
TE	Geoff Swaim	Tommy Hudson	Thomas Odukoya
LT	Taylor Lewan	Christian DiLauro	Jalen McKenzie
LG	Aaron Brewer/Jamarco Jones	Xavier Newman
C	Ben Jones	Corey Levin	Hayden  Howerton Willie Wright
RG	Nate Davis	Jordan Roos	Andrew Rupcich
RT	Dillon Radunz/Nicholas Petit-Frere	Carson Green

Takeaways

The Titans have slashes between Radunz and Petit-Frere at right tackle, and Brewer and Jones at left guard, denoting that neither competition has been decided yet.

Petit-Frere is the only Titans rookie on offense to sniff a starting spot on the depth chart, which isn’t unusual, as Tennessee has typically put its rookies in backup spots on past early depth charts.

Treylon Burks and Kyle Philips are listed as the backups to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Robert Woods, respectively. Haskins is far down among running backs, also.

The Titans have opted to use two starting tight end spots on their depth chart instead of a third wide receiver spot. Hooper and Swaim are listed as the starters there, with Okonkwo and Hudson as the primary backups.

At quarterback, Willis falls behind Woodside for the No. 2 job. We’ve expected that would be the case all along, as the Titans are unlikely to want Willis one injury away from seeing the field before he’s ready. And, from all accounts, Woodside is doing a god job earning the No. 2 role.

Defense

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	Starter	Backup	Backup
DE	Denico Autry	DeMarcus Walker	Da’Shawn Hand Larrell Murchison
NT	Teair Tart	Naquan Jones	Jayden Peevy Haskell Garrett
DT	Jeffery Simmons	Kevin Strong	Sam Okuayinonu
OLB	Bud Dupree	Rashad Weaver
OLB	Harold Landry	Ola Adeniyi	Justin Lawler David Anenih
ILB	David Long	Chance Campbell	Monty Rice (PUP) Jack Gibbens
ILB	Zach Cunningham	Dylan Cole	Joe Jones
CB	Caleb Farley/Roger McCreary	Greg Mabin Tre Avery	Shyheim Carter Tre Swilling
CB	Kristian Fulton	Elijah Molden Shakur Brown	Chris Jackson Kenneth George Terrell Bonds
S	Kevin Byard	A.J. Moore	Joshua Kalu
S	Amani Hooker	Theo Jackson	Michael Griffin II

Analysis

The biggest thing to come from the defensive depth chart is the situation at cornerback, where Farley and McCreary are listed as co-starters. It appears there’s a bit more competition for that starting spot than we initially thought.

Of course, we know McCreary has been sensational in camp while Farley has struggled a bit, but it would still be surprising to see the Titans opt for McCreary over Farley for that starting spot. Keep an eye on that.

Murchison is listed as the fourth defensive end, which is troublesome for his attempt to make the roster. The former fifth-round pick has not done much in training camp outside of a good day on Sunday.

At nose tackle, Tart is listed ahead of Jones, but our belief is the pair will split time at the position in 2022.

At inside linebacker, Rice is listed behind Campbell, but we probably shouldn’t read too much into that, as it’s likely a result of the 2021 third-round pick being on the PUP list.

Special teams

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	Starter	Backup	Backup
K	Randy Bullock	Caleb Shudak (PUP)
KO	Randy Bullock	Caleb Shudak (PUP)
P	Brett Kern	Ryan Stonehouse
H	Brett Kern	Ryan Stonehouse	Logan Woodside
PR	Kyle Philips	Mason Kinsey	Reggie Roberson
KOR	Dontrell Hilliard	Trenton Cannon	Mason Kinsey
LS	Morgan Cox	Ben Jones

Analysis

No real surprises here. The starting kicker, punter and long snapper are all who we expected.

On returns, Philips and Hilliard are listed as the starters for punts and kickoffs, respectively. Hilliard fielded kicks for Tennessee in 2021, and Philips has been working at both spots in training camp.

Not seeing Burks listed among the returners gives us hope that the Titans will think the better of using him there. Now, that’s not to say Burks wouldn’t be good at it, but he’s far too important to the offense to risk an injury in the return game.