By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Much of the narrative surrounding the Tennessee Titans this offseason has been that a championship-level defense was wasted by a horrific offense last season and that an improvement from bottom-five to the middle of the pack in scoring would be enough to put this team into the playoffs.

There is no doubt that Tennessee’s defense was overworked and under-rewarded in 2022 as the offense consistently failed to put up points, but there also aren’t a ton of metrics to support “championship-level defense” claims either.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Popular in the national vibe about the 2023 Titans is the idea that Derrick Henry is going to fade hard this season.

And even some great running backs his age have nosedived rather than taperd off.

It’s easy to rattle off a list of top backs who fell off sharply at 28, 29 or 30:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Training camp is made for sorting things out.

The Titans are in transition, counting on a lot of players who haven’t had full roles to take those on for them, looking to maximize others who may have more to offer and, of course, monitoring injury returnees.

There are a slew of unknowns and I want to run through them. For the purposes of this piece, I’m going strictly with people, not schemes or depth or anything else.

I’ve attempted to stack the Titans' mystery men roughly in order of importance, with the most important highest on the list.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Earlier this week I looked at the Titans' 2024 depth chart based on who they currently have under contract next year.

It's not pretty, and it will be awfully difficult to avoid calling it a rebuild.

Some of you read that and wondered, why wait?

That's where I start this week's road edition of the podcast.

The new episode awaits you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube, which is below.

Other subjects I dive into:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Among the Titans' biggest additions to their defense, it would be great if Arden Key was the highest impact.

He will take over for Bud Dupree, playing opposite Harold Landry. In the Mike Vrabel era, the team has been at its best when the front four has generated consistent pressure on its own. If Landry, back from an ACL repair, and Key can do that in combination with Jeffery Simmons and Denico Autry in between them, the Titans will be in prime position to impact games defensively.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A lot has been made of the semantics of what the Titans are doing this year. Is it a rebuild? Is it a soft rebuild? Is it a retool?

I don't know that it has to have a label. They've managed to keep Ryan Tannehill without extending him and Derrick Henry, too, is heading into the last year of his contract. Meanwhile, they drafted likely replacements for each in Will Levis and Tyjae Spears.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Welcome to the mailbag.

I'm glad you are here.

If you've not checked out the podcast somehow, here are handy links to the new episode, Vrabel Converting Me: Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube.

There is some vacation ahead for me, that will be centered around some travel baseball, a beach and some time with one of my brothers and his family. So I hope the pod and this mailbag will hold you over for a while.

Onto the best of what you asked.

As much as we all love Derrick Henry and all he’s accomplished, how much can we really expect this offense to change with him on the team? He’s always been the centerpiece and to some degree limits their creativity and unpredictability.

— The General (@mac9nj) June 21, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When the Titans are flat, we look for energy from players to get the team started. 

But Mike Vrabel is not a big believer in the idea that energy produces plays.

"Energy is brought by making plays on the field," he said in 2019. "Finishing. Whether it be a block downfield, an extra effort run, a great catch. The people who make plays are the ones who bring energy. That’s who we count on.”

I've always thought he overly downplayed the amount of energy that could come from non-playmakers. But watching u13 baseball last weekend did a lot to convert me to Vrabel's thinking.

That's a piece of this week's podcast.

The new episode awaits you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube, which is below.

Other subjects I dive into in an edition heavy on analytics: