When the Tennessee Titans used what little resources they had to try and fix up the offensive line on the fly last offseason, I was optimistic about the group, if for no other reason than it couldn’t possibly be worse than the offensive line from 2022.
Boy, was I wrong.
In their Week 15 loss to the Houston Texans, Tennessee’s group upfront gave up a whopping seven sacks, which brings Tennessee to 50 allowed, one more than the 2022 group gave up.
In terms of total pressures, this year’s unit has surrendered 120, 26 less than last year’s. But, bear in mind, there’s still three games left and the Titans are averaging 8.6 pressures per game, so they’re on pace to at least match that.
Looking ahead to 2024, the Titans have a ton of work to do upfront in order to improve the protection for their franchise quarterback, Will Levis, as left guard Peter Skoronski is the only surefire starter for next season.
•Most pressures allowed by a LT this season, per PFF:
50 – Orlando Brown Jr
•Most Sacks allowed by a LT this season, per PFF:
11 – Mekhi Becton
•Sacks & Pressures allowed at LT by #Titans Andre Dillard, Jaelyn Duncan, Dillon Radunz & NPF:
76 Pressures
20 Sacks pic.twitter.com/TBKuRb2Nie— Wes on Broadway (@TitansStats) December 18, 2023
The Titans may (and that’s a BIG may) have some in-house options for starting spots, with guys like Dillon Radunz, Daniel Brunskill, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Jaelyn Duncan all under contract.
However, none of those four have done enough this season to stop the Titans from looking at any and all options at guard and tackle, both in free agency and the draft.
Fire Andre Dillard into the sun, and I’m good with not bringing the one-dimensional Aaron Brewer back, unless it’s in a backup role. I don’t have an issue with Chris Hubbard returning, but it should only be as a backup, also.
The bottom line: the Titans should go into this offseason knowing they only have one spot spoken for and must explore all of their options at left tackle, center, right guard and right tackle.
It’ll be a daunting task to get this situation fixed, but thankfully the Titans will have a high draft pick and a ton of cap space to do so.
