Far too many times we’ve seen the Tennessee Titans ranked outside the top 10 in various NFL power rankings over the course of the offseason, but Pro Football Network is going against the grain a bit.
PFN’s Dalton Miller placed the Titans in “Tier 3” of his rankings among teams he believes are “possible division winners/playoff contenders.”
We believe the Titans should be in “Tier 2” of Miller’s rankings — among the “Conference Championship contenders” — but at least he ranked them at No. 9 overall. Here’s his take on things:
The addition of Julio Jones is massive for the Titans from a personnel perspective, but it didn’t propel them into the second tier of teams. The biggest question surrounding the Titans is their secondary, and in particular, their cornerbacks. However, if Caleb Farley and Elijah Molden can play to their potential, the secondary should be serviceable.
Offensively, the biggest question they have to answer is how they replicate their fantastic efficiency with the loss of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Ryan Tannehill has been a top-10 quarterback with the Titans. If he continues that pace, this team will win the division.
First off, the loss of Arthur Smith is way overblown in our opinion. Yes, he was a good offensive coordinator and had immense success; however, that success can be directly correlated with the emergence of Ryan Tannehill.
As long as new offensive coordinator Todd Downing doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel — the Titans likely stayed in-house for their new OC to avoid that — Tennessee should continue to sport an elite offense.
Miller’s concern about the Titans’ secondary is valid. While on paper the team has a lot of talent all over the defense, the amount of question marks leaves no guarantees that this defense will be vastly improved.
The good news is that the Titans were able to overcome a terrible unit last season en route to making the playoffs. We expect the defense to be better, and if the offense can remain elite or reach what we believe is all-time great potential, the Titans will be primed to make a deep playoff run in 2021.