We conclude our trip around the Tennessee Titans as we head into the 2013 offseason with a look at the special teams.

I like to start these positional analyses with a more macro-level view of where the Titans are in the position, focusing less on the specific individuals than in trying to provide a bit of context for where the position has been, where it is, and where it seems to be going. That's harder to do on special teams.

Far more than is the case even for a position with some division of responsibility like outside linebacker, special teams is made up of (a) one set of three skills, two of which are normally handled by one person and one by another; (b) an unrelated fourth skill, which is customarily handled by the other of the aforementioned duo; (c) an unrelated fifth skill, which is customarily handled by a third person who may or may not have responsibilities elsewhere; and (d) one other set of two skills, which may be handled by the same or different people. The results of skills in groupings (a) and (d) are also heavily influenced by (e) people from other positions, some of whom have significant responsibilities elsewhere on the team that are or are not related to what they do on special teams. As I indicated, a bit of a mess.

My preferred metric for evaluating special teams play, and not just because I write for them, is Football Outsiders' numbers. By FO metrics, the Titans were a touch below average on special teams in 2012. They actually finished first in the league in punt return value, a little above average in kickoff return value, a little below average on field goals and extra points, and well below average on both punts and kickoffs. I've previously written about the effect of field position on the Titans offense and defense in 2012, which dealt with field position following punts and kickoffs.

Of the three players I typically categorize as special teams players when I do my roster breakdowns, two are under contract and should and are likely to return in 2013, while the status of the third is an open question after a down season. The primary return man in 2012 is a free agent, but the job isn't guaranteed to be his if he does return. Oh, and for the first time since the Clinton administration, the Titans have a new special teams coach.

Our final stop on the defense as we tour the Tennessee Titans position by position as they head into the 2013 offseason is a look at the safety position.

Back in 2008, when the Titans had the best record in the league thanks in large part to a very strong defense, you could credibly argue the league's best safety combination was in Tennessee. While one of the players from that combination is still there, the Titans since that season ended in disappointment have experienced new faces or simply poor play at the position every season. As with the outside linebacker position, which has been subject to a broadly similar dynamic, this extended period of transition and uncertainty was accompanied by something of a change in conception for the position.

The goings-on at safety haven't been quite the same as the transitions at outside linebacker, as there's been one player whose presence, though not his level of performance, has been quite consistent. Having made a dubious decision to financially commit to him before last offseason, the story of the safety position for the Titans in 2012 was how to get their designated star to play like a star for the first time in five seasons, a problem that seemed to vex defensive coordinator Jerry Gray as much as the casual fan.

The 2013 offseason has already seen one move made and another potential one not made at the safety position for the Titans. Given that context, just what should we think of the Titans' safeties as they stand right now, and should we expect more moves to be made?

We continue our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we head into the 2013 offseason with a look at the cornerbacks.

Last offseason, the Titans faced a big decision at the cornerback spot. Would they give a third contract, a big-money deal to impending free agent Cortland Finnegan, or would they let him make it to unrestricted free agency, in which case he would almost certainly go elsewhere. As I predicted in last offseason's positional analysis, the Titans let Finnegan walk and added a corner in the middle rounds of the draft.

Finnegan's departure left the Titans with two corners with starting experience, whom they gladly turned into starter. Both played reasonably. As I cautioned last offseason, though, the Titans needed a good slot defender and improvement from the rest of the defense. The pass rush got better, but the faults that could be ending up being the faults that were. With a young core, though, the cornerback group could be better in 2013 simply from internal improvement.

On Friday, the Titans got an early jump on free agency, signing strong safety George Wilson, formerly of the Buffalo Bills. The deal is reported to be for $4 million over two years, with an extra $1 million available in incentives. Wilson was available now after the Bills decided his nearly $3 million base salary in 2013 was more than they wanted to pay.

Wilson, who turns 32 next month, had a very fine season in 2011, earning some defensive player of the year praise after the Bills' surprisingly unexpected performance the first half of the season. As I wrote in Enemy Intelligence before the Titans-Bills game that year, I wouldn't have gone that far, but he was having a very nice year before an injury knocked him out for three games, including that Titans-Bills contest. In Enemy Intelligence before the game in Buffalo this past October, I described him as a good but far from great player.

Especially at this stage of his career, Wilson is a box safety and just a box safety. He's been pretty good at that, though he might not have been quite as effective in that role in 2012 as he was in 2011. Buffalo in the past has played an awful lot of dime with Wilson and S/LB Bryan Scott playing in the box, and a team like the Patriots with their two-TE package just annihilated them this year. Fortunately, as we all know, Jerry Gray never runs out packages with too many defensive backs on the field.

Wilson was well-regarded as a leader in Buffalo. In that sense, he represents a pleasant break from the recent past. It's something that's very hard to evaluate from afar, but I've thought a tagline for this past season might have been 2012 Tennessee Titans: Leadership Removal Project Completed. That said, how much of a leader Wilson will be depends in part on how much and how effectively he'll play. I'll break that down in more detail when I do the safety positional analysis in the coming days. At the minimum, though, I consider Wilson an upgrade on Jordan Babineaux, the presumptive starter at strong safety in 2013, and a player who gives the Titans time to find another strong safety in the draft. Even if he doesn't start, I think he'd be a pretty good fit for the Ruby package.

Next up on our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as head into the 2013 offseason is a look at the outside linebacker position.

If middle linebacker was a position that went from stable last offseason to potentially unstable this offseason, something like the opposite transition has occurred at outside linebacker. It's been a gradual process, almost an exceedingly gradual one at times. It started, in a way, back in 2009, as the Keith Bulluck-David Thornton pairing that worked so successfully the previous three seasons showed increasingly major wear. A temporary solution came in free agency, and the draft brought more players cursed with potential.

The current picture started to take shape in 2011. New defensive coordinator Jerry Gray brought a new conception of what being one of the outside linebackers meant, and that year's draft brought a player to fill that role, one who made too many mistakes due to inexperience and lack of skill, but seemed like a promising piece to build on. Unlike at Mike, that second-year Sam had about as strong a second season and still looks like a good solution, albeit one who needs more improvement. 

The 2012 offseason brought a new player at the other outside linebacker position. With a player at his position already on the roster, this highly-drafted rookie was not immediately installed as a starter, but like the middle linebacker became a starter during his rookie season thanks to the starter's ineffectiveness. He looked good at times, less good at others. Can the Will avoid the Mike's fate and continue to improve in his second season?

After covering the defensive ends and tackles, we turn our position to the next level of the defense, specifically the middle linebackers, as we continue our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position heading into the 2013 offseason.

When we addressed the Mike backer last offseason and again in the preseason, it looked like the Titans had found a solution for 2012 and going forward. Then, the regular season happened.

Things didn't go so well for the Tennessee Titans at the middle linebacker position in 2012. The player who'd looked like a potential star in the making the second half of 2011 got hurt, then got healthy but looked less like a star in the making, then got hurt again. The backup played a few snaps, then got hurt again. The third-stringer came in, and, well, played like a third-stringer, resulting in outside linebackers taking snaps.

Suddenly, a position that seemed solid suddenly seemed much less so, especially because it wasn't the potential star in the making's first injury issue. What, then, should the Titans do this offseason? Will they hope the young player can stay healthy and retain his 2011 form, or do they need reinforcements at the position again?

We continue our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we head into the offseason with a look at the defensive ends.

Will the Titans ever be happy with their defensive end grouping? As Andrew wrote last offseason, two (now three) years ago, defensive end was the biggest offseason need, and the Titans addressed the position in the first round of the NFL draft. It was one of the biggest needs of last offseason, and the Titans addressed the position with a big money free agent contract (and in the draft as well, albeit at the end of the draft).

By at least one measure, the defensive end grouping was much improved in 2012. Both starting defensive ends had more sacks than any defensive end did in 2011, and the Titans went from the second-worst Adjusted Sack Rate in the league to a league-average one. At the same time, the big free agent was widely regarded as somewhere between a bit of a disappointment and an outright bust, and there's still something of a need at the position.