Assessing the Titans' roster after two weeks of free agency: Offense

Written by Tom Gower on .

We're not quite two weeks into free agency, but the main rush has happened and the Tennessee Titans have very likely made all of the major moves they'll make, so I thought it would be useful to take a step back and see where the Titans stand, in terms of what they've done and which holes on the depth chart remain to be filled. I'll cover the offense in this post and the defense in a separate post. I will be doing things position by position.

Quarterback 
Moves: Released Matt Hasselbeck, signed Ryan Fitzpatrick
Roster: Nathan Enderle, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jake Locker, Rusty Smith
Commentary: Locker is your starter, Fitzpatrick the backup, Enderle and Smith compete for the third-string job. The Titans will add somebody for rookie minicamps, but there were no holes on the depth chart here and Fitzpatrick filled the one they created.

Running Back
Moves: Signed Shonn Greene, re-signed Quinn Johnson, re-signed Darius Reynaud
Roster: Darren Evans, Shonn Greene, Jamie Harper, Chris Johnson, Quinn Johnson (fullback), Collin Mooney (fullback), Darius Reynaud
Commentary: Javon Ringer's departure created a hole at RB-2, which was filled by the signing of Greene. Retaining QJ filled the hole his temporary departure created at FB-1, though with a modest signing bonus and minimum salaries, he's not a lock for the team. Do they look for an upgrade at RB3 over Evans/Harper?

 

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Titans sign SS Bernard Pollard

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Tennessee Titans added another man to their defense on Thursday, signing strong safety Bernard Pollard. Pollard started 13 games each of the past two seasons for the Ravens, but Baltimore released him at the start of the new league year last week. It's reported to be a one-year deal.

Pollard is perhaps best known for his injury-causing hard hits, most notably on Tom Brady. As a player, he's a box safety, a hard-hitting run defender but somewhere between decent and abysmal in space. Good athletic tight ends will be able to take advantage of him, and he's no more than adequate for a strong safety in a two-deep look. Think of him as an undersized linebacker, which is the job the strong safety performs in a cover-3 look.

As to where he fits on the Titans, he's a younger player than George Wilson, not turning 29 until late this coming season, and the likely starter at strong safety. In that role, I'd say he's a slight upgrade from what Jordan Babineaux did in pass coverage in 2012, but the bigger difference will be in the run game. Pollard ranked second on the Ravens in tackles on run plays last year despite missing three games, and it was more than the linebackers; he's legitimately a factor there, and a very physical player who brings an element to the Titans they didn't have last offseason.

Whither Wilson then? The obvious answer is that Gregg Williams plays a lot of 3-2-6 and uses safeties as a rusher, Wilson and Pollard are both strong safeties, they'll be playing and rushing. I think that's actually overcomplicating things, though. Yes, we probably will see some 3-2-6. One thing Jerry Gray has done a lot of (too much, probably, in my book) has been to bring on extra defensive backs. The result, too often, has been the Titans getting gashed in the run game. A Pollard-Wilson combination gives the Titans the ability to play some Big Nickel, bringing on the extra defensive back Jerry Gray likes to have but at the same time improving the Titans against what they (rightly) identified as a major weakness last season and something opposing teams definitely recognized and exploited. Beyond that, having both Pollard and Wilson gives the Titans quality depth at the strong safety position, something they needed and lacked last year.

My guess is this move likely means the Titans are done with major additions at safety this offseason. The Titans are apparently still looking at run-stopping defensive ends, with the names Israel Idonije and Ropati Pitoitua being mentioned. They may also still be looking for a wide receiver, but Nate Washington's job appears safe for now.

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Titans sign G/C Rob Turner

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Tennessee Titans announced Tuesday they signed guard/center Rob Turner, formerly of the St. Louis Rams.

Turner, who turns 29 in August, entered the NFL in 2007 as an undrafted free agent with the New York Jets. He played in 57 games with the Jets from 2007 through 2011 before joining the Rams last offseason. He started at center for the Rams when big money free agent acquisition Scott Wells was recovering from injury and played left guard the rest of the time. He was credited with two starts for the Jets, but that's a little misleading; one of them came at fullback and the other as a sixth offensive lineman. That means all 16 of his real career starts came for St. Louis last season, and he's started just as many games at right guard in the NFL than I have.

In the statement released with his signing, GM Ruston Webster indicated he would either fill a starting role or serve as the interior swing backup. If he is starting, my guess/hope is that it would be at center for Fernando Velasco rather than at the vacant right guard spot. I believe Velasco is the favorite to be the starting center, though, and Turner's most likely role is as the swing backup. I do not really want to see him starting at right guard, but he could be a fallback plan if whatever the Titans do to get a starter at right guard (hint: draft one) does not result in someone ready to play Week 1.

At the minimum, Turner should be a better interior backup than Kevin Matthews and has upside beyond that. So long as the Titans did not overpay him, I like the move from what little I know of Turner. I'll have more on him, and the Titans' other new acquisitions, in due course.

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Titans release Matt Hasselbeck, sign Ryan Fitzpatrick

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Tennessee Titans played the old switcheroo with their backup quarterback on Monday, first releasing Matt Hasselbeck and then signing Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick's deal is reportedly for two years, terms undisclosed.

Hasselbeck was entering the final year of the three-year deal he signed to join the Titans as a free agent in 2011. Due $5.5 million and clearly the backup to Jake Locker, for better or worse, Hasselbeck's salary was clearly excessive, something he didn't even dispute. The only question was whether the Titans and he would come to terms on a proper contract restructure. Today's release shows that they could not. I indicated I thought his return was very likely in the quarterback positional analysis, due to his excellent relationship with Jake Locker, but it was not to be. Notwithstanding the current deep limitations in his game (outside the 3- and 5-step quick game, he's not very effective at all), he was the Titans' most effective quarterback in 2012. That's not saying much, but as a veteran content to be a backup, he'll be missed. Best of luck to Matt in his next destination, which appears to be Indianapolis.

The Titans moved to fill the gap quickly with Fitzpatrick. Reports of their interest in him first came out Sunday night, as the NFL meets in Arizona, where Fitzpatrick makes his offseason home. He becomes the third former Buffalo Bill to join the Titans this offseason, joining George Wilson and Andy Levitre. He served as the triggerman for Chan Gailey's offense the past three seasons, starting 45 of 46 games since being named the starter. With Gailey's firing this offseason, being a bad fit for Doug Marrone's offense and Buffalo's winds made Fitzpatrick's salary excessive and led to his release.

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Titans receive three compensatory picks

Written by Tom Gower on .

Ruston Webster's 2012 free agent strategy paid off today, as the NFL announced the Titans were awarded three compensatory picks, in the third, sixth, and seventh rounds. The Titans lost Cortland Finnegan, Jason Jones, and William Hayes. Ballpark, they got the third for Finnegan, the sixth for Jones, and the seventh for Hayes, while not signing any qualifying free agents. As players who were cut by their former team instead of free agents, Kamerion Wimbley and Steve Hutchinson were not counted in the compensatory picks formula. They also waited long enough to sign Kyle DeVan so he did not count in the formula either.

With the award of the compensatory picks, the Titans now hold the following picks in the draft:

1st round, 10th overall (own)
2nd round, 40th overall (own)
3rd round, 70st overall (own)
3rd round, 97th overall (compensatory)
4th round, 107th overall (own)
5th round, 142th overall (own)
6th round, 202nd overall (compensatory)
7th round, 216th overall (own)
7th round, 248th overall (compensatory)

As a reminder, I'll be updating this previous post to reflect any and all draft pick transactions, not this one.

Ballparking things, and subject to change with further changes in which picks the Titans have, I expect the Titans to end up with a rookie pool amount of about $6.5 million to sign their draft picks. Note that that $6.5 million figure is not how much cap space the Titans will need to sign their draft picks; that's a more complicated question, but figure around $3 million.

With their additions this offseason, do not expect the Titans to receive any compensatory picks in 2014.

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Shonn Greene, the Titans, and short yardage rushing success

Written by Tom Gower on .

When the Titans signed Shonn Greene this week, the key number that was bandied about as to why the signing was a great move was Shonn Greene was incredibly successful in 2012 on converting third-and-short into first downs. It's true, he was. Eleven times Shonn Greene ran the ball on third down and three or less, and 11 times that resulted in a first down. It's also true that the Titans struggled at times in 2012 to run the ball in short yardage. Like Shonn Greene, the Titans converted 11 first downs on designed runs on third down and three or less, though it took them 16 attempts to get there rather than Greene's 11. Ergo, instant upgrade, right?

If only the story was quite that simple... let's compare how two players did in third and short.

  Conversions Attempts Percentage
Player A 22 26 84.6%
Player B 25 31 80.6%

Those numbers look pretty close to me. Player A comes out slightly better in percentage terms. Over pretty modest sample sizes like that one less conversion for Player A or one more conversion for Player B basically eliminates the difference between the two of them.

 

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Titans re-sign Darius Reynaud

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Titans continued doing business on Thursday, re-signing return man Darius Reynaud to a one-year deal. Jim Wyatt indicated Reynaud will make roughly $1 million.

Reynaud did a pretty good job on punt and kick returns in 2012, leading the league in Football Outsiders' punt return value metric. I covered his effect on field position in some detail, so I won't rehash that. He played a very modest role on offense under Chris Palmer as a running back/slot receiver, but once Dowell Loggains took over almost never saw the field (9 snaps in 5 games). Approximately all of his value to the 2013 Titans would be as a return man.

I'm not convinced Reynaud will be a member of the 2013 Titans, though. While he had a fine year as a return man, it was not so great that he is clearly superior to any other option. The likely financial implications of any cut would not be too hard to handle. I believe the Titans, like most teams, would prefer that their return man do something of value beside return kicks. Marc Mariani would at least be a fourth or fifth receiver, which unlike Reynaud gives him some added value. Reynaud is probably the favorite to win any return man competition in training camp, but I expect there to be a competition.

In other Titans news, wide receiver Brandon Gibson is still scheduled for a visit after not yet signing elsewhere. Defensive end Matt Shaughnessy, who would be a nice fit on early downs and has some pass rush ability, is now also on the schedule. I would be fine with either player at the right price.

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