Titans Mailbag: Too Many Topics to Pick for This Headline

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- I asked for your questions this week, and you packed the mailbag. I enjoyed digging through them and giving each one a full look.

Questions from the members' private Facebook page had priority as always.

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Michael Elrod Has there been any rookie quarterback, who had stats similar to Cam Ward does now in their first season, who eventually became a true franchise guy?

Some very impressive quarterbacks had some very bad starts.

John Elway (1983): seven touchdowns, 14 interceptions, 47.5% completion rate, 54.9 passer rating, Broncos 4-6 record.

Troy Aikman (1989): 9 touchdowns, 18 interceptions, 52.9% completion rate, 55.7 passer rating, Cowboys 0-11 record.

Alex Smith (2005): 1 touchdown, 11 interceptions, 50.9% completion rate, 40.8 passer rating, 49ers 2-5 record.

Eli Manning (2004): 6 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 48.2% completion percentage, 55.4 passer rating, Giants 1-6 record.

Jared Goff (2016): 5 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, 54.6% completion rate, 63.6 passer rating, Rams 0-7 record.

I think maybe 10. 

At 10, I think you could get one of these players:

WRs: Jordyn Tyson, Carnell Tate
Edges: Keldrick Faulk, David Bailey
CBs: Mansoor Delane

I won’t pretend to be an expert, but Branden Gall has gotten me a bit more up to speed than I would usually be at this stage. In mid-November, expecting a trade down, knowing what I know about that group, I think I’d be happy with one of them. 

Audrey Cross Whose fault is it that the Titans’ market is so small? The Titans for sucking, ownership for being terrible at promoting, or the NFL for shrinking the audience?

Well, it’s the Titans’ fault for not being better and attracting more fans. It’s challenging to promote a mediocre product and a team with few stars, but they aren’t skilled at marketing, no. It’s not the NFL shrinking its audience; it’s the networks.

National networks and local affiliates outside the main broadcast area for a team make decisions on what games to broadcast. They aim to maximize revenue, and what helps them make the most money is the highest ratings. 

David Jackson Why do you think so many Titans fans have trouble admitting that Vrabel was/is a really good coach?

Great question. Embarrassment? Stubbornness? I mean, it should be easier to admit now than ever. He had two bad seasons, which amounted to 13-21, as opposed to 4-22 since then. 

Two “down years” with seven wins and six wins from a guy who’d won a Coach of the Year, maximized Ryan Tannehill, went to an AFC Championship Game and earned a No. 1 seed was criminal to some people.

I’d think having seen the alternative in Nashville and watching the electricity in New England, where he’s taken a four-win team and has it with the best record in the NFL at 9-2 would force anyone to admit he’s good.

Good doesn’t mean flawless. We know he hired some questionable assistants, an oversized ego, could be terrible talking to fans through media, etc.

The Titans will have a tough time in their second search finding someone as good or better.

Alex Law What skills should the team work on developing with Cam over the rest of the year? Even though the team stinks, live reps for young QBs are precious.

Continued work on his footwork and mechanics, though there is only so much they can do in the time they have, as I wrote about here.

Better choices when he had short but profitable targets available to him.

More of a sense of when he should take off and get some yards running.

That’s my list.

Alejandro Cantu I've always wondered why a so-called good player doesn't "get the ball." Is it because he's washed up and isn't opened or do teams really avoid play calls to a good player?

It’s because defenses work to take that player away or cover him well on a specific play where he may be the first read.

But the offense is the actor and the defense is the reactor. When that happens, the Titans need to counter and find the next action that does better to get their desired target open. Teams scheme ways to consistently feed players they want to get the ball. The Titans are bad at this.

Dennis Murre With the Giants and possibly Miami jobs available, How difficult will it be for the Titans to land a top-tier Coach?

Well, if they landed the third-best available coach, that could be just fine.

I’ve said I think Amy Adams Strunk has damaged the job by making the job security so shaky.

Still, it’s one of 32, and it will come with certain assurances. Giants ownership has been pretty bad for a good while now, too, and a coach has to work with that in the white-hot spotlight of the New York Metropolitan area. There are benefits to doing it in a smaller environment.

Miami will probably be more appealing to a lot of candidates, yes.

Chris Sharpe What would be better overall for the team. Cam starts to click, and has a remarkable run to end the season or lose every game and get the #1 pick?

The whole league works like crazy to get in position to have a quality, established quarterback. If the Titans could finish this season knowing that Cam Ward is one of those, that’s more valuable than anything to me.

I know the vast majority of fans are obsessed with high picks and would prefer he and the Titans lose so he could be surrounded by more highly drafted players next year and beyond. But then there would be far less certainty about him, and higher draft picks are hardly guaranteed to be better than lower ones.

Any scenario that benefits Ward and increases the chances that he improves and establishes himself is the more favorable scenario for me.

If you want micro detail, head here.

For a broader look, here.

Alan Hadley Would moving oledejo to our 2nd middle backer with Cedric Gray even be a thought? Would solidify a young core at that position. And isnt that the position he played for his whole career?

It shouldn’t be a thought, no. Femi Oladejo was an off-the-ball linebacker at UCLA, and it didn’t work. He couldn’t handle that job, so they moved him to edge so he had narrower job responsibilities.

They need edge players and they drafted him to develop him at edge. Nothing about that has changed. 

David Hurd If your job was not on the line would you consider taking another qb in the draft and who would it be?

Absolutely not.

If my job were on the line, I’d be drafting players who would be on the field. Drafting another quarterback would mean one of two picks from the last two years would be sitting on the bench and I would have passed on a player who could be helping the defense or helping Ward.

When you spend the first pick in the draft on a quarterback, he gets at least two years to prove himself, and it should be three. Ward’s going to have new coaches and start with a clean slate. It’ll be as if he IS a new draft pick.

Drafting another quarterback, anywhere in the draft, sabotages the roster-building plan.

Indicted is a long way from guilty. L'Jarius Sneed will need a trial, a conviction and a sentencing for us to get your answer. There could be a settlement before any of that.

Chet Wyatt Stedman How will the o-line be that much better next season if 4 of the 5 starters will be back next season?

Five of the five could be back, even. It might not be better. It might be a lot better. We have no way of knowing.

But they will be playing in a new offense, so we don’t know what the scheme will look like and what they will be asked to do. And they will have a new line coach, who may get something entirely different out of them than Bill Callahan or Scott Fuchs/ Matt Jones.

Jon Arte de Vaca What are the odds the titans leave Nashville ? I see this weekend that Memphis and east TN won’t even get the titans broadcast. The stadium is either empty or full of visitors fans. And the owner doesn’t even live in town.

Zero. The city, state and team and well along in building a $2.2 billion enclosed stadium for them. 

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