With the Tennessee Titans signing LT Dan Moore to a four-year, $82 million contract that includes $50 million guaranteed, the team's offensive line is getting a big shake up.
Moore has 66 games over his four NFL seasons and played 1,110 snaps...All of them have been at left tackle. Versatility is one trait that he does not bring to the table, and as a result, the Titans are going to move JC Latham back to right tackle for the 2025 season.
Latham was a right tackle in college at Alabama, but made the switch for his rookie season to the left side to maximize his value. After all, he was selected with the 7th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and protecting a quarterback's blindside is always paramount.
Moving Latham is not a failure
While moving Latham back to right tackle can feel like a failure on the surface and point to the Titans being wrong about their draft evaluation of him, I think it has less to do with Latham than you'd think. Moving Latham back to his natural position is not reflective of his ability or NFL future, but it says a lot about Tennessee's roster building process and the NFL free agent market.
One thing I was told by multiple people within the Titans organization is that they were going to sign the best tackle possible, regardless of positioning on the right or left side. Moore was one of the Top 5 names on the market during this cycle and Tennessee ended up overpaying him to convert. But it didn't matter to the Titans whether they made an addition at left tackle or right tackle because they believed in JC Latham's ability to do both.
This kills two birds with stones. It provides a significant upgrade to two positions on the offensive line while only signing one player...That's perfect for an organization that is choosing to be "more selective in free agency" under the new regime and has plenty of issues.
The Titans are just as confident in JC Latham and his future as they were when they first drafted him. He is on a great trajectory to be a "whatever you need" type of tackle and let's be honest, the gap in value between a left tackle and right tackle in the modern NFL is slim. If he's elite on the right side at his natural position and Moore provides Tennessee with average play on the left side, the Titans' offensive line will be just fine.
Chalking up the Dan Moore signing as an indicator of failure for Latham is a pretty narrow-minded way of thinking.
