The Tennessee Titans are in for a big offseason of roster renovation. It won’t look like the big blowout spending that went on this time last year, as Ran Carthon and company spent more money in free agency than any other team in the league. New leadership headed up by Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker have already made that part clear: they believe free agency is a time to supplement the roster, not to go on a sugar rush spending spree.
But while Tennessee may not be as involved in the biggest and sexiest names on the market this time around, they’re going to have to be heavily involved from a volume standpoint. They need dudes, because this roster requires some real rebuilding in key spots. And which positions need the most TLC are largely understood by anybody who follows the team.
At the top of the list, of course, is quarterback. This issue is so big, it feels divorced from the rest of the work that needs to be done. Below that, you have the trenches: specifically RT and EDGE. If the Titans find a way to be at least league-average at those three positions in 2025, I think they’re a dramatically better team already.
But ask most people what the next biggest position of need is, and most would say WR is the other glaring hole on this team. There’s no doubt that they need help at receiver. An aging Calvin Ridley isn’t going to cut it on his own. But this is where I think the majority of folks are completely missing two positions of even greater need. I’d even go as far as saying the Titans success on defense next year might rely entirely on rebuilding these two position groups. Let’s talk about why.
Linebacker and Safety
After QB, RT and EDGE, I believe the next two flashing red lights on the Titans dashboard are LB and S. Both of these positions are in desperate need of at least one quality starter, and some serious depth on the back end.
Think back to before the 2024 season. All throughout training camp and the preseason, the discussion about the Titans defense was the same: they’ve poured resources into cornerback and the interior line, but there are real concerns up the spine of this unit! Running backs, tight ends and slot receivers might be able to terrorize this defense up the middle, because we have real doubts about the LB and S groups.
And then in the first half of the season, those concerns were put to rest by two players: LB Ernest Jones and S Quandre Diggs. Both were acquired by the Titans pretty late in the offseason, and they came in and made massive impacts right away. They were Tennessee’s “fixers”. They regularly made the defense right on tape. The run was fit properly, or else they made a leadership play. Coverage busts were minimal. Diggs and Jones were the MVPs of their side of the ball while they were here.
And then, in the middle of the season, the Titans lost both of them. Jones was shipped off to Seattle in a trade that was too good to pass up. Tennessee wasn’t sure he’d re-sign with them after the season, and had the chance to flip his acquisition for a better pick than they paid for him just months earlier. So they took it. But make no mistake; the defensive coaching staff wasn’t pleased with that decision. Not one bit. They understood the business of it all, and the fact that the Titans weren’t in a position to compete at that point solidified the move. But they knew it was going to hurt them dearly on the field.
That trade happened before Week 8. In Week 9, Diggs went down with a Lisfranc injury. He was done for the year.
Things went downhill for the Titans defense in a big way from this point in the season. What was originally the strength of the team became a major liability a number of times down the stretch. There were other injuries and circumstances that led to their downfall as well, but for my money, none were more impactful than the loss of their two “fixers”. All they did was fly around and make critical plays, and the Titans didn’t have depth players who could step in and keep that up.
The remaining starters at each position are the type of players who thrive with help, but aren’t really equipped to take over and babysit. LB Kenneth Murray is best deployed as a heat-seeking missile. But that only works when his parter can worry more about coverage and everyone fitting the run. S Amani Hooker is an above-average starter, but he also struggles when he's having to quarterback the entire secondary.
The good news is that there are high-quality LB and S options available in free agency and in the draft this year. The concerning news is that the Titans only have so many resources to spend, and they have many needs to juggle. If they want to restore their defense as a strength of the team, they can't overlook finding a pair of starters and improved depth up the spine of the unit.
