The Tennessee Titans’ defense as a whole was incredibly disappointing during the 2020 campaign, and one position that saw some lackluster performances was at inside linebacker.
Rashaan Evans was expected to take the next step to becoming a top-notch inside linebacker in 2020, but instead he took a step in the opposite direction. Evans’ specialty is supposed to be defending the run, however he didn’t do much to help a Titans run defense that was worse in 2020 than it was in 2019.
Not only was his play disappointing, Evans was also a penalty machine, leading the Titans with eight, which was five more than he had in his first two seasons combined. Despite all that, he still finished with a higher Pro Football Focus grade in 2020 (53.7) than he did in 2019 (49.9).
Jayon Brown, who was in a contract year, saw his season end early after 10 games due to an elbow injury. Even when he was healthy, Brown didn’t play up to the standard we’ve come to expect, as evidenced by his PFF grade of 66.4, the lowest of his career.
A normally steady hand in coverage, Brown surrendered a completion rate of 72.4 percent, a QB rating of 115.3, 436 yards and five touchdowns when targeted, all of which were career-worsts.
One of the positives at the position was 2019 sixth-round pick, David Long, who filled in for Brown after he went down to injury. While Long struggled in coverage, he was always around the ball and showed great speed and instinct, two qualities he flashed during his rookie campaign.