By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special contributor

The Titans roster is starting to look competitive again after years of poor drafting and free-agent signings that have depleted the team's talent pool.  The Titans will be without their best player over the past decade in Derrick Henry. The team also loses productive veterans Denico Autry, Ryan Tannehill, Azeez Al-Shaair, Aaron Brewer and former starters Kristian Fulton, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Chris Hubbard.

The new-look Titans will infuse some much-needed youth and speed into their roster with the likes of Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley, Lloyd Cushenberry, Saahdiq Charles, Kenneth Murray, L’Jarius Sneed, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Kenneth Murray and Chidobe Awuze. 

The upgrades in the secondary and at center are dramatic, while also adding Ridley to pair with Deandre Hopkins. Pollard will have a hard time living up to Henry’s production and dominance, but he adds a very productive compliment to last year’s third-round pick, Tyjae Spears, while Murray needs only to replace the speed and production of Al-Shaair. 

Make no mistake -- this team will only go as far as second-year quarterback Will Levis can take it. With the additions of Ridley, Pollard and Cushenberry the team has replaced or added stable players with past production. The Titans are still in rebuilding mode and have some major holes to fill at left and right tackle along with the defensive line, outside pass rusher, another inside linebacker and safety. Rebuilds are not done in one year. Still, the draft will help them fill some major holes while also adding, youth and inexpensive replacements. 

My Mock

By ZACH LYONS, STACKING THE INBOX

We are just one week away from the NFL Draft and it cannot get here quick enough. It has been a long, arduous offseason filled with tired narratives, mock draft analysis and draft scenarios peaking with Drake Maye in two-tone blue. People are running out of things to say, and it is easy to sympathize because the time between the combine and the draft moves at a snail’s pace.

There is draft analysis that has gone a little under the radar this season and that is this class of pass-rushing prospects. The EDGE class isn’t as sexy as years past or maybe we aren’t valuing its importance enough. Either way, the Titans have one clear solution at outside linebacker right now, Harold Landry. Outside of him, the team decision-makers, specifically Brian Callahan, have told you they don’t see much else.

At the latest owner’s meeting, the Titans' head coach talked to Paul Kuharsky about the situation at outside linebacker, and his words made the position sound more dire than the majority previously thought.

“I think good, I think with Harold (Landry) we’ve got a guy with proven ability to rush,” Callahan said. “I think Arden (Key) is a proven situational rusher. I think he played really well last year. I think we still need more. You can never have enough pass rushers, I think we’ve got guys who have proven themselves with the ability to do it.

“You’d like to have three of them. You’d like to have four of them. I think we do have some guys that can rush the passer and we’ll keep trying to add guys to the position.”

I put the important words in bold because sometimes people will just look over everything he said so it can fit their preconceived notions about a player or position group. By telling you that Arden Key is situational, he is telling you they don’t have a starter. By saying they need more, he’d like to have three or four, he’s telling you they don’t believe much will come from Rashad Weaver or fan favorite, Caleb Murphy. All three of those conclusions are the right conclusions to make.

I am a big supporter of Key. I do not think his 2023 campaign was as bad or tepid as people make it out to be, but they do need more from a starter. We all now have enough information from his previous stops and last season to know he is a situational pass rusher and that is perfectly fine for this team…as long as they find another one.

They sort of addressed the pass-rushing by bringing in Kenneth Murray, whose best work is when he is a human torpedo on a seek-and-destroy mission, but that doesn’t make the situation better for the Titans. So, who are some of the EDGE prospects in this upcoming draft that can come in and make an impact for this team without having to use a first-round pick?

Figuring Out What the Titans Look for in EDGE Prospects

By MIKE HERNDON, COLUMNIST

This is one of my favorite pieces to write each year as the NFL Draft remains one of my favorite weekends of the entire sports calendar. It’s the one weekend each year when every team – well, almost every team – feels like a winner. Fans of all 32 franchises will leave this weekend with hopes and dreams that the young men that their team selected will become the next Mahomes or the next Donald.

Of course, most of those teams will be slowly let down over the next four years, but then again, there is always next year’s draft.

However, I want to start this year’s edition of “My Guys” with a look back at my take on the 2023 draft class, which you can find here. I’ll go ahead and take an early victory lap on this quote:

“Stroud is my QB1 in this class. Yes, even over Bryce Young.”

I’ll also pat myself on the back for guys like Sidy Sow, who earned a starting job as a fourth-round rookie in New England and debuted as the highest-rated interior offensive line rookie per PFF with a grade of 64.4, and YaYa Diaby, who was selected in the third round by the Bucs and produced 7.5 sacks as a rotational edge rusher in his first season.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For five years as part of Cincinnati’s coaching staff, Brian Callahan shifted into scout mode after the season. He and his fellow coaches with the Bengals were more a part of the draft scouting process than any staff in the NFL.

They were an extension of the scouting staff in February, March and April, spending significant time writing reports and assisting a small scouting staff – currently two scouting directors and two scouts. The Titans' new coach said being that involved in evaluation, conversations and selections was fun. 

“I think coaches always have a unique perspective,” he said “Evaluators evaluate talent, they look at measurables, they look at profiles in terms of athletic abilities. Coaches sometimes look at the football part -- how do they play football on tape? Now most scouts have some feel for it too, but guys who aren’t evaluators of talent sometimes have a better feel of what the player looks like and how they fit.

“And sometimes there is a good balance of talent evaluation and measurables versus coaching and fit. So that’s what you hope for, to get the best of those both those worlds, to find the best players, A lot of times there is a difference involved in what they see on tape and it’s a good thing.”

But just as some scouts may have a better eye and feel for wide receivers than defensive linemen, some coaches are better at evaluating draft prospects than others.

So how do general managers learn new assistant coaches and figure out how to weigh their input in scouting meetings like the ones being held now?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – One of the Titans' best players, knocked out of their Week 13 game in 2023, is expected to continue rehabbing his injury through the spring and likely beyond.

Ryan Stonehouse owned the third-best net punting average in the NFL at 44.7 yards in early Dec. when the Titans special teams broke down terribly against the Colts at Nissan Stadium. He had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown and got crunched on the team's next punt, suffering a gruesome injury the details of which have been unknown.

I’ve learned he suffered torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments as well as a broken bone in his left, plant leg. That means his spring work will be continued rehab, not that teams generally do much live punting during OTAs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With a spectacular podcast with guests this week, there wasn’t much Q&A so it seemed time to get back to a mailbag for the first time in a while.

I’ve sorted through the best of what you’ve thrown my way on the private Facebook page (where members get priority), the public Facebook and Twitter to find these questions.

I also wanted to point you here, where you can find all the current best deals to sign up to make bets in advance of the draft when you may want to find a couple of favorable lines on what the Titans will do or what else will unfold.

David Jackson Do you think that the Titans would secretly prefer that all of the big 3 receivers are gone when they pick at 7 to make picking Alt easier? If one of those 3 receivers is available as well as Alt, seems like a tougher decision.

Read More...

By ZACH LYONS, STACKING THE INBOX

You may think that linebacker isn’t an important position, but it’s not so unimportant that you just ignore it and roll out just any UDFA at the position and expect no dip. Not just any average Joe can come in and wear the green dot. Sure, other positions can wear the green dot, but in today’s NFL, defenses need a guy in the middle who can be trusted to play all three downs and convey the signals.

Not only has Ran Carthon mentioned other positions taking on that very important role, but he also mentioned rookies being able to come in and have that ability to be entrusted with it as well. While this draft class doesn’t have players of an elite pedigree, there are a lot who can come in and immediately start for the Tennessee Titans. Not just start, but play all three downs and gain that invaluable trust among the staff.
 
Let's break down some of the guys that the Tennessee Titans decision-makers will have on their radar head into Day Two and Three of the draft.

How They’re Graded

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans started with the very basics when many of them got together for the first time Monday as the team started organized team activities.

Like how they are going to huddle.

“Choir style?” Nick Holz said. “Some people are in a circle. Where does the quarterback stand? Is he always to your sideline? Is he to their sideline? There are more ways than you think. We’re in a circle. We’re a circle huddle. The quarterback is always to the offensive sideline. There we go. I can give that away.”

That appears to be how the Titans huddled last year, so the first offensive step isn’t a big departure from what returnees are used to.

Here are five other things from Wednesday’s press availability with Brian Callahan, Holz and Dennard Wilson that I found interesting.