A Titans' Mailbag You Simply Must Read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Greetings people who follow the Titans. Nice to see you as we prepare to say goodbye to daylight. Just another reason to mourn, stacked on top of a terrible fifth inning and kids taking too much of our candy on Halloween. 

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Onto your best questions, with priority given to questions from members on the private Facebook page.

J.t. Kemper How can we view Ran’s roster construction as solid when he cut all of the backend of the roster special teams players for offensive or defensive guys who aren’t seeing the playing field.

He and Brian Callahan clearly devalued guys like Hassan Haskins, Anthony Kendall, Matthew Jackson and Elijah Molden. And that’s something that goes firmly in the con column for Ran Carthon. It seems they just presumed the backend guys you speak of would be able to do the job and they can’t.

It feels like they had very little feel for the basics of what was needed to have functional special teams.

I don’t know a great deal about the draft class yet.

I’m not a Shadeur Sanders guy. I think he brings a circus that the Titans don’t need and I don’t have a high degree of certainty he’ll be a great NFL player, but I bet against every QB prospect. Do they want to have Deion ringing their phone all the time? Will he even come here or make an Eli Manning-type of play to get to a big market?

The Titans have absolutely got to have a QB, and they can’t totally dictate things, but Arch Manning in 2026 would be so ideal. If they could deal out of a super high pick this year and pile up assets, then address edge, right tackle and wide receiver early this year, that would be great. Get a bridge to go with Levis and be a more complete team next year, then go QB high in next year’s draft with trade chips.

The thing is the teams at the top of 2026 are going to want Manning and not deal to you.

So maybe you’ve got to take the best you can get this year.

Keep in mind, they’ve had better success with veterans – Kerry Collins, Matt Hasselbeck, Ryan Tannehill – than draft picks – Vince Young, Jake Locker, Will Levis. 

This is why the Titans being the No.1 yardage defense is such an overrated thing for people to be hanging their hats on.

They are 24th in the red zone, allowing touchdowns 61.9 percent of the time opponents get inside the 20. Three times in Detroit we saw a touchdown pass catcher standing alone when the ball arrived. They don’t get turnovers and they don’t sack the QB.

There are moments when a truly good defense makes plays, and while the Titans have some ingredients and some stats of a good defense, they don’t make plays in a lot of those moments.

Now the points stat, where they are 29th, is a bit misleading in that they had five short fields to defend in Detroit and have two pick-6s, a blocked punt returned for a TD and a punt return score all counting against them. It’s all points scored against the team, not just points scored against the defense.

Robert Draper PK, how do you assess the need to prioritize young receiver talent? Jackson has zero receptions to date. Granted, that also holds true for nearly all the 12 other WR's who were available & eventually drafted after the Titans used their 4th & 5th round picks on Gray & Brownlee. (The glaring exceptions being Jordan Whittington & DeVaughn Vele, who didn't fit the burner mold Callahan was seeking.) Still, with all the talk about addressing needs at QB, EDGE and RT, isn't a younger receiving room a pressing concern as well for 2025?

Set quarterback aside they are desperate for three things: An edge rusher, a right tackle and a young, dynamic receiver.

They’ve not put resources into edge rushers for too long. Jevon Kearse and Derrick Morgan are the only two edge pass rushers they’ve drafted in the first round in the Titans era. TWO!

Meanwhile, as dynamic receivers just pour into the league they’ve drafted five in the last five years: In the sixth round (Jha’Quan Jackson), seventh (Colton Dowell), first (Treylon Burks), fourth with a trade-up (Dez Fitzpatrick) and sixth (Racey McMath).

They busted on Burks as part of the AJ Brown trade and have not invested nearly enough in the position. If this winds up being a non-quarterback draft I’d say Colorado’s Travis Hunter is as intriguing a prospect as there is. But he’s a better cornerback than receiver.

With Ridley aging, Boyd old and not signed beyond this year, NWI lacking speed and Jackson unproven, they absolutely need a premier young WR.

Alex Law Will Stonehouse’s leg ever return to full strength? The hang time hasn’t been good.

He’s not having trouble hitting the ball far. You think height indicates strength but distance doesn’t? I’d disagree with that premise. 

I think his leg strength is fine. I think the unit is discombobulated and he’s not being coached to hit the ball higher at the expense of distance to align better with the coverage.

David Jackson How troubled should we be about Ran’s shape of the ball commentary? As if one or two bounces would have changed Sunday’s outcome?

If he truly thinks the bounce of the ball is the difference between the Titans being terrible and even average, that’s a really scary perspective. To say that after a 38-point loss, when perfect fumble luck would have created a 17-point loss, just makes you wonder about his feel for the pulse.

First and foremost, Carthon needs to acquire good players.

Of his biggest acquisitions  – LC Latham, T’Vondre Sweat, Lloyd Cushenberry, Kenneth Murray, Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley, Quandre Diggs, L’Jarius Snead, Ernest Jones (since dealt), Peter Skoronski, Will Levis, Arden Key, Nick Folk and DeAndre Hopkins  – how many of the 14 are performing at a B-minus level or higher?

I’d say seven – Pollard (A), Folk (A), Hopkins (B-plus), Latham (B), Diggs (B-minus), Sweat (B-minus), Murray (B-minus) have scored well or reasonably well. I’m probably being generous to Sweat, who’s not rushed the passer well, and Murray, who scores higher on leadership than production. Jones played well, but was here only briefly, and they turned him around for a second draft pick and Jerome Baker, who they preferred in free agency, so that’s a plus.

That's not enough As and not enough guys over a C.

So he’s done OK at best in two rounds of personnel decisions.

Secondly, he’s got to read the heartbeat of the team and have an honest understanding of what he has and does not have -- and be able to express it to the fans, super clearly. Has he done that once yet?

To think he looks at his assembled team’s terrible production and results – after the fourth-worst loss of the Titans era -- and talks about fumble luck and the bounce of the ball? I’d be very concerned with that. I think it’s very out of touch with the realities of his football team. 

They’ve got to force fair catches, get Ryan Stonehouse to sacrifice distance for height on punts and get Nick Folk to get them a touchback on every kickoff possible.

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine played 19 special teams snaps against Buffalo, but with DeAndre Hopkins traded and NWI moving into a full-time offensive role he was down to one special teams snap in Detroit.

That hurt them.

I don’t know if they can handle it, but I’d look to get Roger McCreary and Jarvis Brownlee involved if they could handle the additional work. Their special teams’ roles at this point are on kick block.

“I think I’d be a lot different (on special teams),” Brownlee said. “I’m fast, I come with speed, toughness, aggressiveness. So I think I bring a lot, just saving plays. 

“I did mention to our coaches if they do need me, I’m willing to go out there if I’ve got to, if it comes down to it and I have to then I’m willing to do it.”

NWI said the Titans have regularly backed off his special teams load when he’s played more receiver.

“They try to take the mileage off,” he said. “I’ll do whatever they asked me but it’s tough trying to run down there on gunner after you take three plays on offense and you’ve got a third down where you’ve got a competitive rep there. It’s not easy. There is a healthy balance there where you’ve got to let guys get off their legs so they can perform on offense.”

McCreary and Brownlee can run and know how to tackle. NWI earned his stripes on special teams coverage and is reliable. Clearly the Titans think it’s too big an ask and they’d get diminishing returns on defense and offense.

Brian Callahan said there will be a change or two. Those won’t be them.

Justin Hardee is getting called up from the practice squad to be a gunner. We will see what else.

But that's pretty much the extent of what can be done now

Will Levis by a ton. They wanted him to be a franchise QB and it looks like there is a miniscule chance of that.

Bill Callahan has a long resume of being a good offensive line coach. That he’s not worked magic with Nicholas Petit-Frere, Jaelyn Duncan or Leroy Watson doesn’t put some massive stain on that.

Peter Skoronski’s improvement has been slow, but he’s getting better. Will he ever be a guy who was worth the 11th pick? Probably not, but Bill Callahan didn’t draft him. We’ve not been bitching about Dillon Radunz on a regular basis. Lloyd Cushenberry has been a disappointment but my thinking at this point is he’s unfortunately a slow adjuster to Callahan’s teachings. JC Latham looks pretty good.

They are the youngest line in the league. 

It's disappointing that things haven't gotten better quicker. It's nowhere near Levis' disappointing.

They signed a veteran backup, one who played three terrific games at the end of the 2023 season as opposed to one who’s turning 40 in January. I know Flacco did well for the Browns last eyar, but it’s hardly unreasonable for the Titans to have wanted to go younger. It’s very easy to look at results now and say they should have gone with Flacco.

Were you clamoring for him in March? I had a list of guys I preferred in the spring. He certainly wasn’t high on it.