Next up on our series as we move around the Titans position by position as we approach the 2010 season is the outside linebackers.

After being a strength of the team for the last several seasons, with Keith Bulluck and David Thornton manning the positions, outside linebacker looked like a position of change for the Titans in 2010, as age and injury had robbed both players of some of their talents.  That period of change began last year, when rookie Gerald McRath started when Thornton went out, and then accelerated when the Titans signed Will Witherspoon to occupy the weakside linebacker spot previously occupied by the man who were jersey #53 for a decade.

This sort of clean transition was upset a little when the news of Gerald McRath's 4-game suspension came down.  Who starts for those first four weeks, and what happens if Witherspoon gets injured during that game?  Right now, it looks like the Titans may be searching for answers to those questions.

We continue our series of positional analyses with the defensive end group, which was considered the Titans' #1 priority to be addressed in the offseason.

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The issues surrounding the Tennessee Titans' special teams return units in 2009 are well-documented. Failing to replace Chris Carr's 2008 production, a combination of rookies and veterans failed miserably as the team struggled mightily on returns last year.

Third-rounder Damian Williams was selected in the draft to serve as the team's designated punt/kick return specialist but unfortunately, a lingering hamstring injury has sidelined him through OTAs and training camp.

With the start of the preseason looming on the horizon, should we be concerned with the Titans' state of affairs at PR/KR?

The shoddy play at the safety position played a key role in the Tennessee Titans' defensive struggles in 2009. Often caught out of position and failing to provide stellar support as the last line of defense, starting safeties Chris Hope and Michael Griffin had uncharacteristically bad seasons last year.

In 2010, a better performance from the safeties would likely contribute to an overall better effort from the Titans' defense as a whole.

Will the safeties step up their games this year? The answer to that question and more...after the jump.

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On Thursday, the Denver Broncos lost OLB Elvis Dumervil to a torn pectoral injury that almost certainly knocked him out of the entire 2010 season.  Dumervil provided by far the better part of the Broncos' pass rushing threat in 2009, and his loss is a serious blow to a team Football Outsiders already projected to have a bad defense.  The Titans have a marginally better projection than the Broncos did, but still one below average.  Still, Dumervil's question got me thinking: which defensive player could the Titans least afford to lose?

In some ways, we got the answer to what happens when you lose a key player like Dumervil last season when the former #92 went to Washington and the players left were unable to hold the defense together.  I don't think there's any single player whose loss would impact the defense anywhere near that badly.

Still, there were two names that to me immediately stood out as candidates for the defenders the Titans would miss the most: DT Tony Brown and CB Cortland Finnegan.

In 2008, LenDale White and Chris Johnson combined to form Smash and Dash; a running back tandem that consistently wreaked havoc. With White serving as the hammer and CJ providing his world-class speed, the Titans' rushing attack often ran over and sped past the opposition.

Of course, CJ is still in town to provide the dash in the Titans' running game, but the element of smash left the building with LenDale White's offseason departure.  

With White no longer around, can rookie undrafted free agent RB LeGarrette Blount follow in his footsteps by stepping up as the Titans' designated power back?