The Tennessee Titans have a question mark in their starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill going into 2022, but the team must also figure things out at the backup spot.
Titans general manager Jon Robinson, who has publicly thrown his support behind his embattled signal-caller, said he and head coach Mike Vrabel have “talked about Ryan (Tannehill) a lot” over the course of this offseason, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.
“We have talked about Ryan a lot, and I know I have talked to him a couple of times this offseason and he took (the end of 2021) about has hard as anybody, maybe harder than anybody, how the season ended,” Robinson said. “He is working extremely hard to rectify a lot of those things and to be better.”
As far as the backup competition goes, the Titans have two signal-callers on their roster at the moment in Logan Woodside, who was Tannehill’s backup in 2020 and 2021, and practice squad quarterback, Kevin Hogan, who was also with the team last season.
The problem with both of those options is that Woodside has never thrown a pass in a regular season game, while Hogan hasn’t thrown a pass in a contest since 2017 when he was with the Cleveland Browns. Hogan’s career stats are nothing to write home about, either.
Robinson noted that Woodside has shown good progression over the years and likens his athleticism to that of Tannehill’s.
“Logan’s progression has been good,” Robinson said. “He obviously won the No.2 job last year. He’s a good young player who provides a similar athletic element that Ryan does. He throws a good ball, he studies.”
Vrabel believes Woodside gives the Titans a chance to win games if he is called into action, while also noting that Hogan made strides in 2021.
“Logan just continues to compete and give us a chance to win games if we didn’t have Ryan,” Vrabel said. “Kevin got better (last fall), and (QBs coach) Pat O’Hara did a nice job working with him when he came in.”
Robinson echoed Vrabel’s sentiments about Hogan, and went more into detail about how he has improved.
“Kevin Hogan really improved last year just with his overall mechanics,” Robinson explained. “I thought he was a little stiff, almost cumbersome a little bit in his delivery earlier in his career, and he has honed that. He is fluid, he throws a good ball, he has good zip, he has good arm strength. He has done a great job immersing himself in the culture.”
The big question now is if the Titans will bring in another quarterback to add to this competition. One avenue the Titans could take to do that is the 2022 NFL draft, which Robinson certainly hasn’t ruled out doing.
When asked about adding another signal-caller to compete with Hogan and Woodside, Vrabel said “we’ll see.”
“Jon and I’s job is to have some competition,” Vrabel said, “and we’ll see if we bring somebody else in (at QB) and try to identify who gives us the best chance if Ryan isn’t available.”
While taking a quarterback later this month would be a big shake-up in Nashville, it doesn’t guarantee the Titans a dependable backup for 2022. Tennessee would be wise to explore its veteran options in free agency.
