The Tennessee Titans suffered another embarrassing loss in Week 11, losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 34-14. Over the last two weeks, the Titans have been outscored 54-20, with the majority of Tennessee’s points coming in garbage time.
This feels like a team with no hope of even being competitive going forward.
The offensive line is a disaster, and the run game is suffering because of it. The pass-catchers not named DeAndre Hopkins aren’t good enough, and the defense has been a letdown on practically every level.
To make matters worse, it’s hard to get a true evaluation of rookie quarterback Will Levis with how bad things are right now.
Statistically, he played well. Unfortunately, most of his numbers occurred late in the game when the Jaguars were playing off a bit in the hopes of avoiding giving up the big play.
For that reason, I decided to leave Levis off of either section of this week’s stock report since it’s not fair to act like he improved or lowered his stock given the current state of his surroundings.
As for everyone else: several worthy candidates could fall into the “stock down” section, but there were very few who we could say ended up raising their stock following Week 11.
Here’s who fell into which category:
Stock up: OT Jaelyn Duncan
The Titans’ sixth-round rookie was thrust into action after right tackle Chris Hubbard suffered a season-ending injury. Head Coach Mike Vrabel said on Monday that Duncan did well enough to get the chance to continue playing going forward.
In his 10 true pass-blocking snaps, Duncan didn’t allow a single pressure, hit or sack despite being lined up across from a formidable defensive front.
Every Jaelyn Duncan snap from Week 11 – not a lot of action, but I put the "gradable reps" first pic.twitter.com/Yi06ppQ0og
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) November 20, 2023
It’s a small sample size, but an encouraging one, all things considered.
Stock down: CB Kristian Fulton
After looking like he might be turning the corner recently, Kristian Fulton has resorted back to being a liability these last two weeks and it led to his benching in Week 11.
You could argue that his game against the Jaguars was his worst of the season after he allowed all six of his targets to be completed for 115 yards (19.2 YPR). Fulton also displayed weak tackling and lapses is discipline.
It’s gotten to the point where it’s a safe bet that the Titans won’t be bringing Fulton back next season. Knowing that, Tennessee should give other players some reps to see what else they have on the roster ahead of 2024.
Stock up: CB Tre Avery
This one is by default, considering what we just wrote, but Tre Avery has a strong chance to see a lot more playing time following Fulton‘s latest bad game.
He wasn’t anything special against the Jags by any means, but he filled in admirably once the LSU product was benched. More importantly, he didn’t beat himself, which is something that the other corner can’t say right now.
Stock down: C Aaron Brewer
Aaron Brewer is someone who I think is very underrated when it comes to his overall game.
With that said, I’d be lying if I downplayed how concerning his inconsistent snaps are becoming. It seems like the Titans are having at least one bad snap every other week, which often results in either a turnover or a drive-killing play because it puts the team behind the sticks.
This is a trend that cannot continue if he wants any chance at being brought back next season as the starting center.
Stock down: TE Chig Okonkwo
After being labeled as a breakout candidate by nearly every media outlet, Chig Okonkwo has not lived up to the hype — and it seems like the Titans are starting to accept it as well.
Last Sunday, Okonkwo was out-snapped by rookie tight end Josh Whyle, 17 to 16. That would’ve been unfathomable if you had told me this would happen during the offseason.
However, this doesn’t mean Okonkwo is destined for failure.
There have been several players who had great rookie seasons before suffering from a sophomore slump, only to ball out in Year 3. Maybe that’s the trajectory Okonkwo will be on, but it’s safe to say his current stock is about as low as one could get right now for someone with his potential.
Stock down: Titans’ coaching staff
All it takes is watching a post-game press conference to realize that the seat has never been hotter for Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff.
He’s constantly being asked difficult questions regarding his comfort level, the leadership in the locker room, lack of player development, in-season coaching changes, etc.
I don’t know if Vrabel and Co. will be fired at the end of the year, but I do think it’s becoming a real possibility with each passing week.
