The Tennessee Titans gave a massive stamp of approval to one of the team’s best undrafted free-agent signings in recent memory. Aaron Brewer was one of two players (Teair Tart) that officially received a second-round tender on Wednesday.
This move will pay the interior lineman $4.3 million in 2023 unless another team decides to offer him a contract that the Titans don’t want to match, ultimately luring him away.
However, if that highly unlikely situation were to somehow occur, Tennessee would receive a second-round pick in the upcoming draft as compensation.
The Titans’ willingness to do all of this just to ensure that Brewer is in the fold for 2023 is a pretty strong indicator that Tennessee views him as a starter, and most likely for the now-vacant center job.
Brewer is an athletic lineman that is a severely underrated run-blocker within the Titans’ zone-blocking scheme. Truthfully, Tennessee’s rushing attack is built for someone with his athletically fluid skill set, and the thought is he should be better at center, his natural position, than he was at guard.
The Texas State product excels in practically anything that allows him to take advantage of his rare movement skills for an interior lineman (blocking in space, reach blocks, cut-off blocks, etc.).
Brewer’s problems mainly revolve around his inconsistencies in pass protection. To put it nicely, the undersized blocker can be a major liability whenever he’s forced to anchor down against physically superior defenders.
For the most part, Brewer is actually technically sound in pass protection. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop the Texas native from being taken for an occasional ride right into the backfield.
Thankfully, the inevitable transition to center should hide some of his physical limitations going forward.
#Titans are not paying Aaron Brewer $4.304 M in 2023 to be a backup.
I'd bet big he'll be the starting center.
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) March 15, 2023
Barring something dramatic happening, it’s a relatively safe bet that we’ll see Brewer in the starting center role come the fall.
