Have the Titans Done Enough to Support Will Levis?
Most of the offseason is now complete after free agency and the draft. Although there may be a few pieces that may matriculate throughout the spring and into summer, now is a good time to reflect and answer “have the Titans done enough to help Will Levis?”
Many media experts are still substantially low on the Titans and a lot of that stems from their perception of Will Levis. It’s understandable to be weary of crowning Levis. However, much of the media has glossed over the fact that last year the Titans OL ranked last in the NFL as well as the Titans having an oft-injured and depleted WR room. The Titans best pass catcher, DeAndre Hopkins, had over 500+ yards more than the next nearest receiver — TE Chig Okonkwo.
Ultimately this season will come down to how Will Levis plays in 2024. In 2023 he wasn’t given the job until Vrabel was forced to give it to him after Tannehill was injured with a high ankle sprain. Even then it was unclear if Vrabel really felt that Levis was the team’s future in season. At times it appeared Vrabel held a soft spot for Tannehill and the underperforming offense, and that probably led him to where he is now.
Analyzing the environment that Levis is in currently in juxtaposition to the 2023 Titans offense will help show whether the Titans have done enough for Will Levis to succeed this season.
Interior Offensive Line:
The first signing for the 2024 Titans came in the form of replacing Aaron Brewer with Loyd Cushenberry. Cushenberry signed a 4 year $50 million contract to open up free agency. Cushenberry is well regarded in league circles. According to PFF he has a 72.4 (14th best) run blocking grade and a 76.4 (3rd best) pass blocking grade and ranked 10th best for all centers. Meanwhile, Last year Brewer had a 78.7 (6th best) run blocking grade and a 52.5 pass blocking grade (ranked 43/50 qualifying centers). This is a net positive over last year and how the center position played out. Those stats are downright awful. Not only that but Brewer consistently had off target shotgun snaps which led to ill-timed turnovers. Which is something Cushenberry will improve upon from last year. As a whole Cushenberry should come in and immediately help this offense become proficient in the run and pass game.
Peter Skoronski also will be a huge benefactor of the Bill Callahan experience. Not only will Skoronski learn from Callahan, but he’s also now a seasoned vet who has experience. Any rookie would have struggled coming into the season sandwhiched by Dillard at LT and Brewer at C. In addition, Skoronski had to have an emergency appendectomy early in the year and that’s not a formula for success. Skoronski ranked 29th out of 79 qualifying guards according to PFF. That’s certainly not great given how high Skoronski was picked — 11th overall — However, there probably aren’t many rookie guards who could have come in day 1 and dealt with everything he had to go through and be successful.
Both Daniel Brunskill and Dillion Radunz should have a camp battle occuring if Radunz isn’t already trying to vie for the starting RT spot as well. Daniel Brunskill ranked 21st out of 79 guards. He ranked 19th in pass blocking and 27th in run blocking. That’s serviceable and hopefully only improves with better coaching. Radunz didn’t have enough snaps at any one spot to qualify effectively. Although, Radunz was a jack of all trades filling in for Skoronski after his appendectomy, then filling it for Brunskill at times, and lastly Petit-Frere. Radunz this past season had a run blocking grade of 59.7 to a pass blocking rating of 78.7. His high pass blocking grade is why he might be better suited to take the right tackle position in training camp over an NPF or Watson than compete for RG with Brunskill.
Verdict:
The Titans should see massive improvement along the interior OL due in part because of a second year of Skoronski, the addition of Lloyd Cushenberry, and Bill Callahan taking the reins of the offensive line. Expect the interior OL to take a massive step forward and be the best part of the OL early on to keep Levis upright.
Tackle:
The Titans recently drafted JC Latham to be their future left tackle. He was a stalwart at Alabama and was part of one of the best offensive lines in college football. Last year the Titans went through a hog posh of left tackles and were ultimately left with no answer on the left tackle position going into the offseason. The Titans decided to cut Andre Dillard and not sign a veteran free agent LT. In hindsight it seems obvious that the Titans were always going to select a tackle at 7 overall. The Titans also traded for Leroy Watson from Cleveland to bolster their tackle depth. Here’s a look at the potential tackle starters: JC Latham, Nick Petit-Frere, Leroy Watson, Dillion Radunz, and Jaelyn Duncan. ,The tackle group should get a huge boost working under the tutelage of Bill Callahan. Although many Titans fans thought that the 2023 OL couldn’t be any worse than the 2022 year I don’t see a repeat happening this year. There are too many factors that push the Titans over the low bar set forth by the tackle position the past two seasons.
Verdict:
The Titans will be moderately better than last year at tackle. I say moderately only because there’s a rookie slated to start and I’m hesitant to say he’ll be head and shoulders above anyone the Titans had last year. However, it’s imperative that Latham and whoever starts at RT will be better than the tackles fielded last year. I believe that’ll be the case by the end of the year but there may be some bumps and bruises in the first quarter of the season. Levis will undoubtedly have better protection by Latham and whoever starts opposite of him versus Dillard/Duncan and NPF/Radunz of 2023.
Running Back:
The Titans decided to let long time fan favorite Derrick Henry walk in free agency. Meanwhile, Titans brass saw Tyjae Spears get better throughout the year. He did an admirable job earning over 800 total yards from scrimmage mostly playing on 3rd down. In addition, the Titans also signed veteran RB Tony Pollard. Pollard has been a serviceable starting running back the past two years with the Cowboys totaling 1005 yards on 252 carries with 6 TD’s in 2023. In contrast, Henry totaled 1167 yards on 280 carries with 12 TD’s. Whereas, Henry ranked as the 8th best RB in football according to PFF, Pollard was close behind at 12th overall. Offensive Coordinator Nick Holz shot down the idea of a single starter at RB this year and instead referred to the duo as “1A, 1B.” Pollard offers himself as a dual threat running back, similar to Tyjae in the regard. However, Pollard is tad larger, has more experience, and will probably be brought in more on goal line situations.
Verdict:
The Titans lost one of the greatest, if not the greatest, running back in franchise history. However, I expect Spears and Pollard to have a larger effect on the game overall than Derrick Henry. Too often defenses keyed in on Henry coming into the game and went all out to stop him. This year no one should expect that to be the case. The offense will be much more disguised whether Pollard or Spears are in. The Titans may even have them both on the field at the same time similar to a few plays last year — with Henry and Spears — to keep the defense on their toes. The drop off in talent between Henry— a year older — and Pollard + 2nd year Spears is too large a gap to overcome for a singular —albeit giant — loss of one King Henry. The Titans RB group as a whole is better than it was last year and will work to make it easier for Will Levis to distribute the football as defenses will be kept guessing and gassed by two really good running backs.
Tight End:
N/A: There were no notable additions or subtractions. Expect more of the same but with competent play calling.
Wide Receiver
The Titans pulled off perhaps one of the greatest sleight of hands in Titans history. As Ran said, “real G’s move in silence like lasagna” borrowing a bar from rapper Lil’ Wayne. Stealing Calvin Ridley from the Jaguars was a great move by Ran. It weakened a division rival and made the Titans better instantly. Ridley ranked 46th out of all WR’s last year according to PFF. Ridley did his best work on deep routes (20+ yards downfield). He scored 4 TD’s on 13 receptions for 388 yards. His next best work came from 10-19 yards downfield as he accumulated 2TD’s on 27 receptions for 395 yards. Outside of Ridley the biggest addition that the Titans will have going forward will be Nick Holz. Holz was the Offensive Passing Game Coordinator for the Jaguars last season where they ranked 9th in the NFL. Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins should be able to be a formidable duo this season. Hopkins will be 32 in June and Ridley will be 30 by December. The Titans starting WR corps isn’t young. Unfortunately, where youth lies on the WR corps so too does the lack of talent. Treylon Burks and Kyle Philips have produced nearly nothing in the past two seasons. They’re consistently injured or just severely underperforming. Whether that’s dropping punts, dropping balls, or just not on the same page with the QB. The Titans are still missing a solid slot WR as mentioned by Brian Callahan recently. It’s no wonder that the Titans recently brought in Tyler Boyd for an in person visit. We’ll see if anything manifests in that regard. A third competent WR behind Ridley and DHop would be a luxury to have and would really round out a WR corps that can go from above average to solidly good. The Titans have drafted poorly at WR post AJ Brown — Treylon Burks (2022), Kyle Philips (2022), and Colton Dowell (2023). However, for this year there are reasons to pin hope on Ridley and Hopkins.
Verdict:
The Titans added Calvin Ridley and they didn’t adequately address the WR position in the draft. With the vast number of holes, the Titans had entering the draft it was only a matter of time before WR would be the last girl picked at the dance, enter Jha’Qan Jackson who may see most of his time on special teams only. Overall, Titans upgraded their WR corps drastically by adding Calvin Ridley and another X-factor that I’ll get into next.
Coaching:
The Titans exited the 2023 season with uncertainty at the Head Coach position. Many fans and media members alike scoffed at the idea that Mike Vrabel would be fired post season — not even Ran Carthon was part of that process as reported by The Athletic. Mike Vrabel wasn’t a bad coach at all. He inspired and led the team when at times they had no business winning, a la the 2019 post season run. However, that was 2019, four years ago and a lifetime in football terms. Vrabel ran out of his magic after the past two years the offense and the team as a whole didn’t meet expectations, whether that be with consistent injuries, offensive and defensive failures, and puzzling at best play calls. All of which culminated in his ultimate demise.
Enter Brian Callahan. Callahan has spent the past 5 years as the Offensive Coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals. Since Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase the Bengals have consistently had a high ranked offense when both are healthy. Even when Burrow was injured near midway through the year the Bengals still had a higher PPG than the Titans in any year since 2022 — 17.5/17.9 ppg to 21.5 ppg. Callahan has nearly 15 years of NFL experience working with Peyton Manning, Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford, and Joe Burrow. He knows what a QB looks, sounds, and acts like. Callahan also has plenty of experience with WR’s, especially those in Cincinnati the past 5 years. He’s maximized Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd in their offense the past 3-4 years. The Bengals WR’s seemed to always have a knack for getting open which comes from a feel of the game from a play calling perspective and/or technical route running.
Verdict:
Expect Brian Callahan to get everything out of Will Levis and certainly more than Mike Vrabel could have done on the offensive side of the ball. Callahan has all the experience to help Levis grow into a proficient QB and the expectation from the Titans is that he’ll help elevate Levis and this offense as a whole. Will Levis’ sophomore season is crucial. If things don’t pan out it will be obvious that the Titans will look to the draft once again for a future signal caller. The Titans have done enough across the board to set up Levis for immediate success if he’s able learn under Callahan and perform well on Sundays. No one should expect Levis to light up the scoreboard like the Bengals, Lions, or Dolphins do at will on Sundays. However, Titans fans should expect the offense to put the fun back in functional. For two years Titans fans have had to endure a struggling offense comparable to an ‘04 F-150 churn down a gravel road. In contrast, Callahan should have the offense running like a ‘24 Z06 on fresh asphalt. The offense this year will look much better than it has in the past two years — something Titans fans should take relief in. This season will all come down to Will Levis who has the tools and now the weapons and coaching to be successful in 2024.
