While Tennessee Titans free-agent signing and offensive tackle Andre Dillard is expected to take the left tackle job in 2023, head coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t ready to definitively say that’s the case.
Vrabel was asked about his new offensive lineman while down at the NFL owners meetings this week and said he believes Dillard’s best football is yet to come.
“Andre Dillard is a player that we feel like his best football is in front of him with a new opportunity,” Vrabel said, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport. “Very skilled pass protector, which is something that we have to improve on. We have to be able to protect our quarterback.”
When asked about the idea that Dillard will man left tackle in 2023, Vrabel isn’t ready to proclaim him the starter there yet and instead the former Philadelphia Eagle will have to earn that job.
“I think that he’s got to earn that right,” Vrabel said, per Paul Kuharsky. “But I think that’s why you’re making some of these moves in free agency. He’s got to go out and earn it just like everyone else, but I think he’ll have the opportunity to do that.”
Barring the Titans taking a left tackle early in the draft and that player being ready to start right away, Dillard will get a crack at protecting the blindside of Ryan Tannehill or whoever is under center in 2023.
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