NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The one time in recent history the Titans took a big swing at an inside linebacker, Rashaan Evans was a dud.
The 22nd pick in the first round in 2018, Evans wound up a good short-yardage and goal-line player, far too narrow a role for a first-round pick. He was too often confused in space and didn’t pan out for Jon Robinson and Mike Vrabel.
Over the last 10 years, with minimal draft investment, one significant free agent (Wesley Woodyard), a waiver claim (Zach Cunningham) and an undrafted (Jack Gibbens), inside linebacker has never felt like a major priority and it’s never been a particular strength.
I’ve covered the Titans for 28 seasons, and it’s almost always been that way. It seems likely it’ll be that way again in 2025. Perhaps my proximity to them has trained me to be OK with it, but I don’t have a major issue with the second inside linebacker being the big weak spot in the base defense.
I think they will check in with Germaine Pratt, just released by the Bengals, where he worked with Brian Callahan. But he could find a better situation.
The Titans went to the Super Bowl with a terrific guy, Barron Wortham, as the middle linebacker in a 4-3. But he was a limited player with a narrow role. The upgrade the follow season to Randall Godfrey was what really took the franchise to a higher level in 2000, and he is the best inside linebacker they’ve ever had.
Guys like Godfrey are hard to find, more so as the league has evolved. We expect a player to be able to come forward and thump against the run and also turn and go stride for stride with top tight ends and running backs. More often, especially since they shifted to a 3-4 under Ken Whisenhunt and Ray Horton in 2014, it’s been a weaker spot on the defense.
I think the Titans, through multiple regimes, have generally conceded there aren’t a lot of guys who can do the whole job, and instead focused on the defensive backfield and/or the defensive front being better.
Wesley Woodyard was the “big” free agent, a settling presence and leader. And they had a nice run where they got value out of mid-round picks in succession, from 2014 fifth-rounder Avery Williamson, to 2017 fifth-rounder Jayon Brown to 2019 sixth-rounder David Long. That ended with a bust of a third-rounder in Monty Rice in 2021.
Game-changing inside linebackers like Fred Warner and Bobby Wagner are rare commodities, and outside of Evans, the Titans haven’t tried for one.
In the summer of 2024, the Titans traded a fifth-round pick for Ernest Jones and a conditional sixth-round pick. He played well for them and brought good leadership. But the team was bad and anticipated what Jones' salary demands would be when his contract ran out after the season.
So Titans dealt him in late October to Seattle for Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick. Jones later re-signed with the Seahawks for three years and $28.5 million, with $15 million in total guarantees.
Barton got three years, $21 million with $13.3 million guaranteed. Those contracts are not dramatically different. Barton is three years older, thgouh Jones has had a knee issue.
The Titans thought they could make things fit for a much narrower skillset in Kenneth Murray last season, but after a season with a hard worker who lacked great instincts, they decided it didn’t really work. They believe they’ve upgraded from Murray to Cody Barton.
The spot beside Barton could be the weakest on the defense, with Cedric Gray and James Williams at the head of the line.
Gray was a 2024 fourth-rounder, Williams a seventh-rounder who’s being converted from safety.
Brian Callahan and Dennard Walker have both emphasized the separation for them and Otis Reese, Anfernee Orji, Curtis Jacobs, David Gbenda and Amari Burney will really come in training camp when they get pads on and start hitting.
“It’s extremely wide open,” Wilson said. “First off, getting Cody, he’s a leader, he’s a guy that can orchestrate the defense, he’s ahead of it, he studies, he’s smart. I love that we have him.”
Everybody else is getting a look.
Wilson mentioned that they’ve moved Barton from the Mike, to the Will – from the middle to the weak side away from the tight end – when he’s paired with Gray, to let Gray be at Mike. That’s an early summer trial as the Titans shuffle things around to start to find what’s best.
“The best man’s going to play,” Wilson said. “Then also we talk about position flexibility. Some guys can do things better than others. There is always the chance of first and second down having players out there, you can have third down dime linebacker, whatever that may be.”
Maybe the Titans land an upgrade in Pratt. Maybe Gray emerges, maybe Williams makes a leap, maybe one of the others leapfrogs his way into the lineup.
Whatever happens, I think it’s perfectly fine to structure a defense where the second inside linebacker ranks as 11th of 11 on the defense. He’s coming off the field in nickel, which is on the field a great deal.
The Titans need to be better other places more than they need to be better beside Barton.