The Tennessee Titans’ starting lineup on both sides of the ball is set at most positions, but there are some that won’t be decided until competitions take place in training camp.
The five most important spots up for grabs are at right tackle, kicker, slot cornerback, defensive line and backup quarterback, as we outlined in an article naming the biggest competitions that will take place in camp.
Pro Football Focus’ Ben Linsey did his best to come up with a starting lineup projection for each side of the ball, as well as team competitions to watch and a player to keep an eye on.
Let’s see what he came up with.
Offense
QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB: Derrick Henry
WR: A.J. Brown
WR: Corey Davis
Slot: Adam Humphries
TE: Jonnu Smith
LT: Taylor Lewan
LG: Rodger Saffold
C: Ben Jones
RG: Nate Davis
RT: Dennis Kelly
Defense
DI: Jeffery Simmons
DI: DaQuan Jones
EDGE: Harold Landry
EDGE: Vic Beasley Jr.
LB: Rashaan Evans
LB: Jayon Brown
CB: Adoree’ Jackson
CB: Malcolm Butler
CB: Kristian Fulton
S: Kevin Byard
S: Kenny Vaccaro
Now for Linsey’s battle to watch and name to watch:
Battle to watch: Isaiah Wilson vs. Dennis Kelly at right tackle
Generally, when you take a tackle in the first round, that player is going to start as a rookie. I think it makes sense for the Titans to give Wilson time to develop, though, because he isn’t ready to go up against NFL edge defenders week in and week out. We had listed him as a potential guard convert — a position where his power could shine — given his sluggish feet and problems with speed off the edge. Kelly would give more security to a team that is looking to contend once again in 2020. He is coming off two consecutive seasons with 70-plus overall grades on 300 or more snaps as the Titans’ swing tackle.
Name to watch: Amani Hooker
The Titans are losing a key contributor from their secondary last season in Logan Ryan, and in the starting lineup above, I made the assumption that Malcolm Butler would remain outside and the recently drafted Kristian Fulton would start his career in the slot for Tennessee. There is a chance that Hooker could earn a larger role in the slot, though, after playing primarily deep at free safety in 2019. Hooker was one of the best coverage defenders in the slot in all of college football at Iowa, picking up a coverage grade of 91.1 in his final season with the Hawkeyes while playing the majority of his snaps in the slot.
Those projections are all spot-on and exactly the way we’d have them. Even the player to watch and battle to watch were great choices. Of course, the only thing that could throw a wrench into everything is if the Titans land Jadeveon Clowney in free agency.
There’s no question the Titans drafted Kristian Fulton in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft with the idea that he’d play in the slot and replace Logan Ryan, however we can’t rule out Hooker from at least getting snaps there, as he was an elite slot corner at Iowa.
At right tackle, PFF has Dennis Kelly getting the starting spot, which makes sense considering his main competition, Isaiah Wilson, is an unproven rookie who will have an uphill climb beating out the more experienced and trusted Kelly, partly because of an abbreviated offseason.
The biggest question here is, who will be getting the majority of snaps alongside DaQuan Jones and Jeffery Simmons?
For now we’d have to consider guys like veteran Jack Crawford, 2019 UDFA Isaiah Mack and 2020 fifth-round pick Larrell Murchison as possibilities. The edge definitely goes to Crawford because of his experience.
One position that isn’t listed here by PFF that is of concern for the Titans is at kicker, which, for now, will see a competition between Greg Joseph and UDFA out of Missouri, Tucker McCann.
Joseph is the obvious better bet of the two there, but it certainly wouldn’t be shocking to see a veteran added to the competition at some point, as Joseph only attempted one field goal with the Titans in 2019 and has just 21 attempts in his short career.
[lawrence-related id=34667,34653,34633]