In its annual rankings of every inside linebacker group in the NFL, Pro Football Focus believes the Tennessee Titans’ unit is right in the middle of the pack.
PFF’s Steve Palazzolo places the Titans at No. 15 on the list, which is the worst ranking of any AFC team. The Houston Texans (No. 4), Indianapolis Colts (No. 5) and Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 12) were all ranked higher.
Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown took most of the Titans’ snaps at linebacker last season, and they both return this year. Evans continued his trend of making plays in the run game, putting together a 9.5% run stop percentage over the past two years that ranks 15th out of 112 linebackers. However, Evans had his struggles in coverage, where he left far too many routes open behind him in zone coverage and surrendered 13.1 yards per reception into his coverage. Tackling was also an issue — Evans missed 18 on the season when including the playoffs.
Brown has established himself as one of the better coverage linebackers in the NFL, ranking 17th during the regular season last year after finishing fourth in 2018. He’s been excellent at limiting big plays in zone coverage and has forced an incompletion on 7.4% of targets, ranking 18th over the past two years. There’s little experience beyond those two, as 2019 sixth-rounder David Long played just 155 snaps as a rookie and Nick Dzubnar, who spent his first five seasons with the Chargers, has 71 career snaps.
Keep an eye on undrafted free agent Cale Garrett, who had three straight years of 80.0-plus grades at Missouri. However, his 4.92-second 40-yard dash time at the scouting combine is worrisome for a linebacker. He’ll be yet another case to see if on-field production can overcome physical limitations.
The Titans have a solid unit, and a smoother year in coverage from Evans could vault them into the top 10.
Considering the Titans have one of the better inside linebacker duos in the NFL, they should be higher on this list.
Brown is criminally underrated, especially considering his status as an elite coverage linebacker. The former fifth-round pick has posted the fifth-highest PFF coverage grade among coverage linebackers since 2018.
While his coverage grade indeed took a hit in 2019, as Palazzolo noted, it’s important to point out that Brown wasn’t totally healthy. He was forced from multiple games early and missed three others as a result. Even with that, Brown finished third on the Titans in tackles during the regular season.
Despite needing to improve in coverage, Evans definitely took a step in the right direction last season. Not only did he finish second on the team in tackles, he was also a force against the run and made multiple huge goal line stops.
Tennessee is mostly solid in the depth department at inside linebacker, also. The team’s 2019 sixth-round pick, David Long, flashed serious potential in limited action and looks to have the chops to be an impact player.
The only concern at the position is who fills out the rest of the depth chart beyond Brown, Evans and Long with Wesley Woodyard unlikely to return.
Nick Dzubnar and Nigel Harris have been primarily special teams players during their careers and have limited experience on defense.
Tennessee’s UDFA linebackers, Cale Garrett and Khaylan Kearse-Thomas, are total wild cards, although Palazzolo rightly points out that Garrett is an intriguing player.
Even with all that being the case, we’re talking about question marks at the fourth and fifth inside linebacker spots, which isn’t going to make-or-break the Titans’ season.
Perhaps the rest of the football world will finally wake up to just how good the Titans’ top-three linebackers are once the season gets underway.
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