Titans Establishing An Identity And Blueprint For Future

The Titans like to pound people and be a physical team and that is exactly what HC Mike Mularkey/GM Jon Robinson want a physical,tough,team first minded group.

Tennessee finished the year with the NFL’s third-best rushing offense and its second-best rushing defense.

Rookie Jack Conklin finished the season graded PFF's highest rated right tackle and the line has been one of the best in the NFL.

Demarco Murray the AFC's leading rusher and rookie Derrick Henry running the backfield the way they have has helped establish that identity.

QB Marcus Mariota just finished his second season and his 26 TD were best in Titans history and his 95.6 passer rating was the second best.

Mariota has 33 career touchdown passes in the red zone without an interception and his 114.6 passer rating in the red zone from 2015–2016 leads the NFL.

The team did great in free agency picking up not only Murray but WR Rishard Matthews and his first year here he led the team with 65 catches for 9TD's.

The team is mostly set offensively they just need a number one WR but have yet to find that player.

Defensively they have done good stopping the run with Jurrell Casey,DaQuan Jones,Al Woods with linebackers Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo racking up plenty of sacks.

The problem is the secondary the team has Da'Norris Searcy and Kevin Byard at safety but where i am mainly concerned is at cornerback.

Jason McCourty is now a liability. Brice McCain is an aging nine year vet. Antwon Blake and LeShaun Sims are young and played decent but i'd love to get some better talent at the CB position.

AJ Bouye is who i'd bring in free agency followed by at least one more corner. Then i'd draft one as well.

This team has had trouble beating Andrew Luck and Indy and the main reason they keep coming up short is a bad secondary which gets exploited.

If they can get that fixed and make a few adjustments on defense the Titans will be a force on both sides of the ball as well as being hard to beat.

That being said the team is definitely in a better position now than they were a couple years prior.

From 1999 through 2011 Tennessee had seven winning seasons,six playoff berths,three division titles,two times league best record and one Super Bowl appearance.

But from 2012 through 2015 due to a bad GM and QB bust the team went 18-46 during that span.

Sometimes it takes a team hitting rock bottom to shake everything up and get things back on the right.

In 2014 and 2015 the Titans had the NFL's worst record both years. The last three teams that had the worst record in NFL back to back seasons and drafted a QB all started winning and played for championships.



In 1978/1979 San Francisco were 2-14 both years and were worst team in back to back years but then drafted QB Joe Montana in 1979 and from the start of the 80's through 1998 they had 18 postseasons of 10 wins or more and won 5 Super Bowls.

In 1988/1989 Dallas were 3-13 and 1-15 and were worst team in back to back years but then drafted QB Troy Aikman in 1989 and through the whole decade of the 1990's had multiple playoff berths and won 3 Super Bowls.

In 1997/1998 Indianapolis who were 3-13 both years and worst team back to back years were able to draft QB Peyton Manning plus get a new GM Bill Polian and the next 11 out of 12 years had multiple winning seasons,playoff berths and played in 2 Super Bowls winning one.

The Titans took a similar approach to Indy drafting a franchise QB Marcus Mariota as well as bringing in a new GM Jon Robinson. Tennessee benefited just like Indy and have already bounced back achieving a winning season in their first year together.

The 49ers,Cowboys,Colts all were worst teams in back to back years drafted franchise QB's and were able to build teams that won titles. The Titans were the worst team in back to back years and drafted their franchise QB so time will tell if they can win titles....

Robinson was only on the job a few weeks before making a blockbuster draft trade with the Rams for the Titans top pick.

After trading the Rams the top pick Titans had 6 picks out of the first 76 in the draft which was the most of anyone in the draft since the 1991 Dallas Cowboys who had 7 in 70 and got 5 SB starters in that draft.

The last three teams with at least 6 picks among first 76 picks all reached Super Bowl within 5 years: 91 Boys, 82 Pats, 75 Rams.

Could the Titans be like the Rams,Pats and Cowboys and reach the SB within 5 years?



Mariota/Robinson/Mularkey first year together the team is 9-7,posting a winning record,tied for first place in the division but barely missing the postseason.

They beat the defending SB champs Denver as well as Detroit,Green Bay,Oakland,Miami and Houston all 2016 playoff teams.

Since the Titans started in 1999 they have an overall record of 146-142.

Some seasons have been better than others but overall i think we've had a better team than many others during that span.

There are franchises that seem like they are stuck in a rut like the Cleveland Browns,Buffalo Bills,Jacksonville Jaguars,San Francisco 49ers,Los Angeles Rams,N.Y. Jets,San Diego Chargers,New Orleans Saints,etc. at least we are on the right track.