As we pointed out on Sunday, the Tennessee Titans have no shortage of skeptics ahead of the 2023 campaign and will have to prove themselves worthy of being considered a contender, even in their own division.
Knowing that, it comes as no surprise that the Titans landed in the bottom 10 of the NFL power rankings of Pro Football Focus’ Amelia Probst and Arjun Menon, coming in at No. 24 on the list.
Here’s what they had to say about Tennessee:
The Titans signed tackle Andre Dillard, who may have potential but hasn’t proven himself due to a limited workload with the Eagles. Despite fielding a top-10 defense already, the additions of Arden Key, an elite edge rusher, and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair will improve Tennessee’s unit.
The Titans ranked last in the league during the 2022 regular season in pass-blocking grade (53.7) and allowed the fifth-most sacks in the league (33). As Northwestern’s starting left tackle this past season, Skoronski allowed just six total pressures on 474 pass-blocking snaps.
The skepticism surrounding the Titans is warranted given the amount of question marks on both sides of the ball, but this team isn’t that far away from returning to its winning ways following a 7-10 campaign.
If the Titans can shore up their receiving corps. with DeAndre Hopkins and enjoy better health throughout the roster than they have the past two years, there’s no reason why they can’t unseat the Jacksonville Jaguars for the division crown.
In fact, if you told me things would play out that way, I’d consider the Titans the favorites to win the AFC South.
Granted, the Jaguars may still have the edge on offense even if the Titans add Hopkins, but the gap between the two offenses would be small at most, and definitely smaller than the gap between their defenses, an area where Tennessee figures to be superior.
