Story by
Titans Insider Reveals Glaring Need That Must Be Addressed Soon
- Story by
- Titans Insider Reveals Glaring Need That Must Be Addressed Soon
(Steve Roberts-Imagn Images)
The Tennessee Titans pretty much have their roster set ahead of training camp this week.
The rookies will report on Thursday, and the remaining players head to camp on July 28.
All the free agents, rookies and undrafted free agents are accounted for. There have even been players added here and there to spice things up.
Advertisement
John Franklin-Myers , Wan'Dale Robinson, Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott were the most significant free-agent additions.
Then, the Titans selected Carnell Tate, Keldric Faulk, Anthony Hill Jr., Fernando Carmona, Nicholas Singleton , Pat Coogan, Jackie Marshall and Jaren Kanak.
The UDFAs the franchise brought in included Tyren Montgomery , Hank Beatty, Shad Banks Jr., Sean Brown, Bishop Fitzgerald, Jeadyn Lukus, Latrell McCutchin Sr., Jalen McMurray, Rasheed Miller, Mani Powell and Aamil Wagner.
Other additions outside of those three groups include Austin Deculus , Courtney Jackson, Andre James and Jalyn Holmes .
Advertisement
For James, he was added earlier this offseason and makes things very interesting for the center competition that is brewing, which was thought to be between Coogan and free-agent acquisition Austin Schlottmann .
James has more NFL experience than Schlottmann does, with 106 games played and 61 starts.
Before James arrived, there was not a lot of depth at center.
Insider Jim Wyatt highlighted another position on the offensive line as one the Titans may want to add a player or two to.
Wyatt discussed the need for the Titans to potentially bring in another swing tackle.
"Most of the talk heading into training camp will center on the interior offensive line, at center and right guard, and we'll discuss those spots in here," Wyatt said. "But the most critical area where the Titans need to excel up front is at left tackle ( Dan Moore Jr ) and right tackle ( JC Latham ). Moore is headed into his second season in Tennessee, and Latham is headed into his second season on the right side after playing at left tackle as a rookie. The Titans need this twosome to be a reliable duo, and work during camp, especially in joint practices and preseason games, should give some clues on how things might look. Behind these two, the Titans will have others, including Austin Deculus, battling it out at the swing tackle spot."
Advertisement
Before we keep going, it's important to define what a swing tackle is. It's essentially someone who can play either left or right tackle on the offensive line.
Now that that's been covered, we need to look at the state of the offensive tackle room of the Titans. We know that the starters are going to be Dan Moore Jr. on the left and J.C. Latham on the right.
The backups behind them are where it gets interesting.
So far, the projected backups are Ryan Hayes , Deculus, Miller, Wagner and Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson. Deculus has the most NFL experience of that group at 26 games played.
However, Deculus was awful last season. He had a PFF grade of 33.1 in pass blocking and 46.9 in run blocking.
Advertisement
The Titans may want to add another swing tackle for that reason alone. Crenshaw-Dickson doesn't have much NFL experience, playing in four games for the Titans last season.
Hayes played in one game for the Miami Dolphins in 2024 after bouncing around the practice squads of multiple NFL teams since he joined the league out of Michigan in 2023.
Then, you have Miller and Wagner, who are UDFAs and haven't played an NFL snap yet.
Doesn't look very promising if either Latham or Moore goes down with an injury or needs a break, does it? The Titans already added another player at center, but swing tackle may need to be addressed before training camp, if not sooner.
The Titans can't afford to have Deculus as the best option off the bench at swing tackle.
