What is the Current State of the Titans?
The Tennessee Titans are one of my favorite teams and I hate to see what is happening to them. They have a great coach in Mike Vrabel and a tough team, but they do not have a large enough nucleus of young talented players to build around.
Nashville is ready to go all in on their team, but this version of the Titans reached their peak between 2019 and 2021. During that period they won the AFC South twice and were 2nd one year and each year they made the playoffs. They even made the Conference Championship in 2019.
Unfortunately last year they limped to a record of 7 – 10 and failed to make the playoffs. The peak of this team has passed and instead of toiling in mediocrity for years, it is time to embrace a rebuild. Rebuilds can be painful, but the longer you wait, the more painful and long they usually are.
Why Would the Titans Rebuild Now?
The Titans have an older team nucleus, especially on offense where Ryan Tannehill, DeAndre Hopkins, and Derrick Henry are all past their prime. Although they have a lot of talent and some time in the NFL left, these three would be most helpful to a team that is ready to compete now, not one toiling in mediocrity.
By the time the Titans could add pieces around him, Jeffrey Simmons would be too costly or possibly even past his prime to help them contend. He is a star level player that could bring back assets and would help any team looking to contend in the near future. They have other front seven players such as Denico Autry, Harold Landry III, and Arden Key that could bring back some assets as well.
The secondary has a young nucleus and even though they could bring back assets as well, it would be nice to keep some or most of them as they can help turn around the team in a quicker manner.
The Titans have started out the season with one win and two losses, but it looks even worse than the record indicates if you have watched the games. The Titans are in a weak conference at the moment, but their competition within the conference all have young QBs to build around:
- Jacksonville Jaguars – They have a young star QB named Trevor Lawrence who is only in his third year. They are building around their QB and will be a force in the division for years to come.
- Houston Texans – The Texans embraced a rebuild. This past draft they not only drafted the future QB (CJ Stroud) in the first round with pick number 2, they also drafted their defensive player to build around in DE Will Anderson in the first round with pick number 3.
- Indianapolis Colts – They drafted their QB of the future in the first round of this year’s draft with pick number 4 when they chose Florida QB Anthony Richardson. The Colts also have a fairly strong nucleus to build around besides their new QB.
As Titans fans can see, the writing is on the wall. Tennessee is trying to compete with older stars and they are still not able to be competitive, while their competition for the division has gotten younger and has a brighter future.
What Could A Rebuild Look Like?
Now is the time Tennessee! This needs to be a fire sale to get back any value they can with their current players that will not be part of the team in 3 – 4 years and they need to use their first round draft pick on a QB in this deep upcoming draft.
If the Titans play their cards right and bring in a blue chip prospect at QB, keep building their offensive line (Peter Skoronski is a great start), get some playmakers around their new QB (Treylon Burks is a good young player, but he needs help) and start to re-invest in their Defensive Line they will be back to being a contender within a few years.
Imagine this scenario, the Titans have a top 3 pick after trading away their veteran players and starting a rebuild. They have a chance to draft blue prospect QBs Caleb Williams or Drake Maye.
Additionally with the draft capital gained from trading Jeffrey Simmons, Derrick Henry, DeAndre Hopkins, Ryan Tannehill, Harold Landry III, etc, the Titans gain another first or second round pick and additional late round picks to round out the roster.
In the first three rounds they take Caleb Williams, then in the second round pick up another Offensive lineman and a Defensive Lineman and then in the third round they take a WR or RB before rounding out the roster with the other picks.
In 2025, they can now focus on adding playmakers as well as adding to the Offensive Line and Defensive Line and before we know it the Titans are becoming a contender again!
Now things don’t always go that smoothly, but the point is that it is past time to rebuild so it needs to start now.
I hope for Titans fans everywhere that Tennessee will face the hard truth that the time has come to rebuild and get in on this upcoming draft class of talented QBs. Go Titans!
