While the majority of the offseason has largely been filled with nonsensical takes surrounding the Tennessee Titans, it appears as if at least one national media member is actually paying attention to the team.
The Athletic’s Robert Mays recently ranked his top 10 defenses heading into the 2023 season, and he has the Titans cracking the list, coming in at No. 9.
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Despite this showing of respect, you could make a strong argument that the Titans’ defense is one of the most overlooked and disrespected units in all of football.
Last year, the team suffered countless injuries throughout the year to players such as Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry, Harold Landry, Bud Dupree, David Long, Zach Cunningham, Kristian Fulton, and Amani Hooker.
Do you agree with @robertmays' picks for the NFL's top 10 defenses in 2023? pic.twitter.com/bJYx7tAQFr
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) August 7, 2023
In fact, all of those players, with the exception of Simmons, missed at least five games last season, and even he was practically playing on one healthy foot by the end of the year.
Despite the adversity, Tennessee still finished with the No. 1 run defense in the league, allowing an average of just 76.9 yards per game on the ground.
Unfortunately, the pass defense was on the opposite end of the spectrum, finishing last in the NFL. But an injury-depleted secondary and pass-rush played a major role in that.
When healthy, the Titans’ defense as a whole was every bit of an elite defensive unit.
The #Titans defense continues to dominate.
Since Week 3, they’ve only allowed an average of 15.1 PPG while ranking:• 1st in Success Rate
• 1st in Rush EPA
• 1st in Rushing Success Rate
• 6th in EPA/play
• 6th in Dropback Success Rate*6-1 record over that span* pic.twitter.com/N2QtuiBcoZ
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) November 15, 2022
The Titans’ defense is undoubtedly going to be anchored by a tenacious pass-rush that is led by Simmons, Landry, Autry, and Arden Key. Sadly, it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen the majority of the Titans’ defensive front on the field at the same time.
The last time a Mike Vrabel-led defense had its primary front-four together (2021), the group accounted for 52 sacks on the year, 35.5 of which came from the trio of Landry, Simmons and Autry.
The Titans chose to replace an oft-injured Bud Dupree with Key, a talented and reliable pass-rusher who has tallied 90 pressures, 25 quarterback hits and 11 sacks since the start of 2021, all while being limited to a rotational role.
The LSU product is coming off a season in which he finished with the third-highest pass-rush win rate (23.2 percent) among pass rushers who only rushed the passer on a limited basis (fewer than 170 pass rushes)
A player needs at least 170 pass rushes with a line or a loss at edge to qualify for the PRWR leaderboard at the position.
Here are the non-qualifying leaders — those between 80 and 169 edge plays with a win or loss — in PRWR at edge in 2022. pic.twitter.com/ciDQeT0xaV
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) August 7, 2023
Key hopes to carry over that success in Tennessee now that he’s expected to have a full-time role, and although we haven’t seen him in game action just yet, all indications thus far have been that Key has been phenomenal in practically every possible way.
On top of Key, the team added linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting in free agency, Kristian Fulton is in a contract year, and Roger McCreary is widely expected to take a second-year leap.
#Titans CB Kristian Fulton said he’s in the best shape of his career heading into the 2023 season. Thinks it will pay off this fall. pic.twitter.com/b2lILYkilC
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 8, 2023
When you combine that with everything we discussed earlier, it’s easy to see why Mays expects the Titans to have a top-10 defense this season.
In all honesty, that projection is probably a conservative one that is closer to the Titans’ floor than it is to their ceiling as long as the defense can find a way to stay on the field.
Nevertheless, it’s nice to see someone outside of those who follow the Titans closely giving Tennessee’s defense the credit it rightfully deserves heading into 2023.
