Tag: Ben Jones

Madden NFL 23 reveals ratings for Titans’ offensive linemen

How Titans offensive linemen fared in Madden NFL 23 ratings.

On Friday, Madden NFL 23 revealed the ratings for the Tennessee Titans’ offensive linemen, none of whom landed in the top 10 at their positions.

Tennessee’s highest-rated offensive linemen in the video game, which is set to be released on August 19, were center Ben Jones and left tackle Taylor Lewan, both of whom were given an overall mark of 81.

Lewan ranks tied for 12th among left tackles, while Jones ranks ninth among centers. No other Titans offensive lineman ranked higher at their respective positions. Right guard Nate Davis had Tennessee’s third-highest overall rating among the team’s offensive line group.

Now, here’s a look at how every Titans offensive lineman fared in overall rating in Madden NFL 23.

The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best centers.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

Titans’ Ben Jones lands in top 5 of Touchdown Wire’s center rankings

Titans C Ben Jones is getting the respect he deserves in Touchdown Wire’s rankings.

Tennessee Titans center Ben Jones is routinely underrated when it comes to conversations about the best centers in the NFL, but he’s getting the respect he deserves in a recent rankings done by Touchdown Wire.

According to Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, Jones is the No. 5 center in the NFL going into 2022, up one spot from his place in last year’s rankings.

Here’s some of what Farrar had to say about Jones (we suggest checking out the full article linked above for Farrar’s film breakdowns of Jones):

Since moving to center full-time for the Houston Texans in the 2014 season, Ben Jones has been one of the elite players on the interior for two different franchises. After signing with the Tennessee Titans prior to the 2016 season, Jones has been dominant in the run game, and a solid contributor in pass protection.

In fact, the past two seasons have seen some of his best work in pass protection. Jones was credited with giving up zero sacks during the 2020 campaign, and followed that up with just one sack allowed last season.

Not only has Jones played at a high level, he was also Tennessee’s best all-around offensive lineman in 2021.

Per Pro Football Focus, the 33-year-old tallied the second-best pass-blocking grade behind left tackle Taylor Lewan, the second-best run-blocking grade behind former right tackle David Quessenberry, and allowed the second-fewest pressures and fewest sacks on the team.

Adding to that, he’s been available, with Jones missing just one game during his 10-year career, which is something to appreciate even more after the Titans fielded an NFL record 91 players in 2021 due to injuries.

The Titans rightly rewarded the veteran with a two-year, $14 million deal, which, based on these rankings, is even more team-friendly than initially thought, as the annual average of Jones’ deal ranks 10th among centers.

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The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the best centers in the NFL today.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

Titans training camp preview: The new-look offensive line

A look at the Titans’ offensive line situation going into training camp.

One of the most talked about position groups for the Tennessee Titans this offseason has been the offensive line, which will see two new starters in 2022.

Tennessee’s offensive line as a whole was not good in pass protection in 2021 after the Titans allowed 47 sacks, the seventh-most in the NFL. That must improve if the Titans want their offense to rebound this coming season.

The Titans parted ways with both left guard Rodger Saffold and right tackle David Quessenberry, both of whom struggled in pass protection. Saffold also routinely dealt with injuries that had him in and out of games.

The good news for Tennessee’s starting hopefuls at left guard and right tackle is that they don’t have big shoes to fill in terms of pass protection, but Saffold and Quessenberry were both good run-blockers.

In fact, Quessenberry (89.7) and Saffold (76.7) finished first and third on the team in Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade.

Now, let’s take a look at Tennessee’s situation along the offensive line going into training camp, and we’ll make a 53-man roster prediction at the end.

10 best salary cap bargains for Titans this season

The vast majority of the Titans’ best bargains are on the defensive side of the ball.

The Tennessee Titans have handed out some big contracts in recent years, but there are still plenty of salary cap bargains on the roster going into 2022.

The majority of the Titans’ money is wrapped up in the offense. Tennessee is set to spend $121.4 million on that side of the ball in 2022, which is the fourth-highest total in the NFL.

On the flip side, the defense comes with a cheap price tag. The Titans’ unit will cost $84.2 million, the seventh-lowest total in the league.

Based on what we saw from both sides of the ball in 2021, if we didn’t know any better we’d assume Tennessee is spending more on its defense. Alas, that isn’t the case, but the time to spend big on the defense is rapidly approaching thanks to some rookie contracts expiring.

For now, the Titans have plenty of bargains on the defensive side of the ball going into 2022 in terms of cap hit, and a few on offense. Let’s take a look.

Ben Jones’ contract named Tennessee Titans’ best for 2022

Ben Jones’ two-year deal was called the Titans’ best contract by Pro Football Focus.

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One of the biggest priorities for the Tennessee Titans entering the 2022 offseason was keeping center Ben Jones in the two-tone blue — and Tennessee did just that, signing Jones to a two-year, $14 million deal.

In terms of annual average, Jones’ deal ranks 10th in the NFL, which borders on a steal when you consider what he has done during his time in Tennessee.

Jones is routinely one of the most underrated centers. The soon-to-be 33-year-old has notched an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 82.9 over the past three seasons, which is good enough for top five in the NFL, but he rarely gets mentioned among the league’s best outside of Nashville.

Adding to that, Jones is a stalwart upfront, only missing one game during his time in Nashville, and he has become a key leader in the locker room.

Taking everything into account, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger named Jones’ contract Tennessee’s best in 2022.

Jones will be 33 years old in 2022, and while the center market certainly isn’t the strongest of the position markets, he’s a great value at this price tag. The 35-year-old Jason Kelce signed a fully guaranteed one-year contract for the same amount this offseason, and over the past three seasons, Jones’ 82.5 grade just narrowly trails Kelce (83.3). Both players, whose respective grades each rank in the top five among centers over the span, have logged over 3,000 snaps since 2019, as well, demonstrating impressive durability in addition to top-end talent.

Jones is a critical piece of the Titans’ rushing attack, earning a 70.0-plus run-blocking grade in every season since 2016. 

While Jones is getting long in the tooth, he showed no signs of slowing down in 2021. In fact, he was arguably Tennessee’s best all-around offensive lineman.

Even if he begins to show a decline in the next few years, the Titans aren’t committed to him for much longer with the two-year deal, and there’s even an out in his contract in 2023 ($4.5 million in dead cap if cut).

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The NFL’s most underrated offensive players

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar reveals his All-Underrated offense heading into the 2022 NFL season.

In the NFL, players are underrated for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes, they’re second banana to a superstar whose deeds take up all the oxygen. Other times, it may be that the player has to climb up the depth chart as a little-regarded contributor, and the media hasn’t caught up yet. It’s also possible that the player has an incandescent talent that’s hidden by an unfavorable scheme. And it could also be that the player has had one great season, and everyone’s waiting to see if it’s a fluke.

If we were to assemble a team made out of underrated players, how far could that team go? Given the talent on this All-Underrated offense, we tend to think that opposing defenses would not enjoy their prospects.

What Titans players said on Day 1 of offseason program

Five Titans players addressed the media on Monday, including CB Elijah Molden and TE Austin Hooper.

The Tennessee Titans officially began the voluntary portion of their offseason program on Monday, April 18, and a handful of players addressed the media in the process.

For Phase 1 of the offseason program, players will attend team meetings, as well as doing strength and conditioning and rehab work. However, players will not be taking the field.

In May, the Titans will begin Organized Team Activities (OTAs). The schedule for those are as follows:

May 23-24

May 26

May 31-June 2

June 6-9

Rookie minicamp should take place within a few weeks after the 2022 NFL draft, which finishes on April 30. Mandatory minicamp will take place from June 14-16, and from there training camp starts in July.

Titans players who spoke on Monday included safety Kevin Byard, tight end Austin Hooper, linebacker David Long, center Ben Jones and cornerback Elijah Molden. Here’s what they had to say about a number of topics:

Ben Jones was ready to ‘move on’ before re-signing with Titans

Ben Jones is happy to be back with the Titans, but there was a point where he thought he was done in Nashville.

For the first time since re-signing on a two-year, $14 million deal with the Tennessee Titans, center Ben Jones met with the media on Friday.

Naturally, Jones was happy to be back in Tennessee, the place he has spent the last six seasons in, but there was a point where he thought he might be moving on, according to John Glennon of Sports Illustrated.

“There was a point where we were looking to move on,” Jones said. “But they got it done. And I’m happy we got it done. But it was a point where I had to have that talk with my wife. It’s like, `Hey, we might have to leave.’ Those are not easy talks and anything like that. But you have to have those talks.”

“We had some interest,” Jones continued. “But the whole thing (was), I wanted to be here, I wanted to finish, and I’m happy we got it done.”

With his contract situation out of the way, Jones is now focused on helping the Titans win a Super Bowl, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.

“I am very excited,” Jones said. “I want to finish my career here. … The guys, the coaches, the people in this building, from equipment guys to trainers to coaches and staff, everybody treats you a certain way – (people) are amazing. … I have been here, I love it. I am ready to finish it here and go win a championship.”

Jones, who does a lot of charitable work, both in Nashville and in his home state of Alabama, plans to continue doing so.

“… We are so blessed to get this contract, and this contract is for us to help other people with it. It’s not about us and our family, it’s how many lives we can help here in Nashville and back in my hometown. We are going to try and do as much as possible for other people with this (contract).”

Jones, 32, has been a stalwart on Tennessee’s offensive line since 2016. Not only has the center been incredibly durable, he has played at a high level and is the most underrated center in the NFL. At $7 million per for two years, Jones’ contract is an absolute home run for the Titans.

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