The Tennessee Titans have begun the process of rebuilding their defense — which was putrid last season — in free agency with the additions of Bud Dupree, Denico Autry and Janoris Jenkins.
However, Sam Monson and Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus believe the Titans have actually gotten worse overall after parting ways with some key players like Adoree’ Jackson, Malcolm Butler, Corey Davis and Jonnu Smith.
As a result, PFF is giving the Titans a grade of “below average” for their offseason thus far, and also believes that the signing of Jenkins is the team’s best move up until this point.
Here’s the logic for those two opinions:
Best signing: CB Janoris Jenkins
Few teams have actively gotten worse during free agency, but you can make that argument about the Tennessee Titans considering the players that have departed. They have had to watch as Corey Davis, Adam Humphries and Jonnu Smith leave, representing three of their top four or five targets on offense. In the secondary, they also cut three players that have seen extensive snaps for them in recent seasons, including both starting cornerbacks Malcolm Butler and Adoree Jackson.
To replace the losses at cornerback, they signed Janoris Jenkins, who at his best is a match for Jackson’s level of play. But his best came back in 2016, and his baseline performance is likely a significant downgrade if Jackson was going to return to full fitness. They have yet to add a significant receiver and are likely targeting the draft for that. Tennessee’s big splash came at edge rusher, where they signed Bud Dupree from the Steelers.
The team badly needs an answer at edge rusher, but Dupree is a classic case of buyer beware. He has solid sack numbers, first-round pedigree and is a great athlete, but he has never generated a consistent volume of pressure by beating blockers one on one. Last season at the time of his injury, Dupree had a massive 61% of his total pressure coming either completely unblocked or on clean-up or pursuit plays. Dupree is unlikely to answer their pass-rush woes, and he is paid as if he will.
This was written before the Titans signed wide receiver Josh Reynolds, so it’s possible the team will get a boost in this grade because of that move, which presents a ton of upside.
Even still, the biggest need going into this offseason for the Titans was to add to the pass rush, and they’ve done that in a big way with the signings of Dupree and Autry, two moves I would rank ahead of the Jenkins signing.
The overall grade is mostly fair considering the players the Titans have had to let go, but then again it’s easy to argue that both Davis and Smith were overpaid, thus making Tennessee smart to let them go.
The biggest knock on the Titans was their decision to release both of their starting cornerbacks from last season. Butler was arguably the team’s best defender in 2020, and we know how good Jackson can be when healthy.
We would have preferred Tennessee to keep at least one of them so as not to leave such big voids in the secondary, and the team’s move to simply cut Jackson instead of trying to trade him isn’t something we’re on board with.
With plenty of offseason left, and the 2021 NFL draft a little over one month away, general manager Jon Robinson still has opportunities to adequately replace those players, but it’s going to be difficult to do so in the short term.
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