Titans Face Big Decisions After '09 Season

Hmmm...

LBs Keith Bulluck and Stephen Tulloch, DEs Kyle Vanden Bosch, Jevon Kearse and Dave Ball, DT Tony Brown and CB Nick Harper all have contracts at their end. Offensively, C Kevin Mawae, G Eugene Amano, TEs Alge Crumpler and Bo Scaife, LS Ken Amato and RB LenDale White have can also become free agents in 2010.

I would fully expect the Titans to extend Bulluck during the season. If he wants top dollar or wants to go into free agency, they will lock up Tulloch as insurance most likely. So one or both of them will be back. And even if they weren't, we still have Fowler to play LB. We can always sign a FA OLB (as there were plenty available this off-season) or draft someone....this year or next.

Where things get tricky is at DE. Is KVB wanna get 14-16mil a year and will he be coming off a monster season? If he's reasonable, he'll be back. If not, he's gone...of course he's past his prime athletic age anyway. Kearse is basically a run stopping DE at this point. JJ could slide out and play LDE. We have another season to see if Ford or Hayes can take over at RDE. We have the draft and FA to patch any holes. At the moment, we have 2 young DE's (Ford and Hayes) and 2 DT's (JJ and Haye). We have multiple players who can play DT or LDE. I think because of the uncapped year, Vickerson will remain a RFA? But he should be a cheap signing. So while there may be some trunover here...it won't be nearly as disruptive as the turnover losing AH.

I think a lot of the fans are expecting we'll draft a CB in rnd 1 or 2 for the purpose of replacing Harper after next season. Since Fuller is locked up, we won't worry about the nickel and we have Finny for a few more years. The Titans also may pickup an Eric Green and/or Jarrett Bush and see if either of them could step up into a starter role.

So worst case, if Bulluck, KVB, Brown went after the money, we'd likely have a base line of...

RDE Ford (could also platoon here with a vet, draft a player, get a FA)
DT Jason Jones (could use a big body run stuffer, but not bad shape)
DT Jovan Haye, Kevin Vickerson
LDE Hayes (JJ could play here if Vickerson could start, draft, fa)
ROLB Stephen Tulloch (could draft a LB, sign a FA, develop a backup)
MLB Ryan Fowler (Tulloch could be here with a FA, draft pick on outside)
LOLB David Thornton (can play either side so any good LB will do)
CB Courtland Finnegan
CB ? (draft a CB this year and have open comp between picks, free agents)
NB Vincent Fuller
FS Michael griffin
SS Chris Hope

The above is WORST case.

Likely...

RDE Ford/Hayes
DT KVickerson
DT Haye
LDE JJones
ROLB Bulluck
MLB Tulloch
LOLB Thornton
CB Finnegan
CB draft pick
NB Fuller
FS Griffin
SS Hope

And last time I checked, we have more than 1 draft pick so several of these spots will get more help - not to mention the backup players already on this team right now.

The sky isn't falling. How much a negative was Mawae when he came to our OL? It got better. What about Finnegan playing NB? Got better. The Titans have been adding players and improving the team. The ONLY guy I can think of who hurt the team was Lamant Thompson...mainly because he wasn't a good player.

On offense, did CJ's running get negatively affected by Mawae being replaced by Harris (and lined up against Ngata)? No. He ran BETTER. Expect Mawae to walk and Amano to be re-signed. If Amano wants big money, the Titans can draft a replacement this year or sign a solid OG next off-season like they did with Jake Scott.

I expect we'll re-sign LS since that is NOT a position you wanna mess with. White is replaceable...just as he got replaced this year by CJ. But we only need a nice #2 back. I expect the Titans to sign Scaife long term to partner with Stevens and let Crumpler go.

I'd guess our offense will be...

QB Collins
RB CJ, draft pick
FB Hall
WR Gage
WR Holt/Washington
TE Scaife/Stevens
LT Roos
LG Amano/draft pick
OC Harris
RB Scott
RT Stewart

If this still doesn't appease your freak out...how do colleges overhaul their entire team every few years? And they have no free agency. So while continuity is good and helpful, the team won't fall apart if one unit gets some new starters...and if JJones, Vickerson, Haye, Ford and Hayes get plenty of playing time...a lot of continuity will aready be there.

Gut

PS - Not signing AH had anything to do with which and how many guys we're gonna re-sign in 2010. It has everything to do with not wanting to overpay anyone and not breaking the bank. Afterall, they DID try to sign him and make him the highest paid DT in NFL history, right?

 

You know, I kind of think he might. I think he could always be used over the next few years as trade bait also.

Along these lines, I'm kind of interested in seeing if the Titans would give Chris Henry a chance to backup if LenDale did leave.

 

I'm just glad we're in a situation where we have the money and the option to bring back most of the core players following this season. I think the Titans front office is playing their cards perfect right now as far as not overspending in FA,plugging in players in areas that are needed giving themselves plenty of cushion to take care of next years free agents.

 

As I've tried to explain multiple times, I certainly don't think that the sky is falling. The main point I was trying to make is that having that many decisions to make about starters is significant (a big deal), and will be a big factor in shaping the team for a few years. The decisions that we make next offseason, particularly with regard to Bulluck, KVB, Tulloch, White, Scaife, and Brown, are pretty big. Even the decisions that I think will be relatively easy (dropping Harper and Mawae and replacing them with youth) are significant in terms of where the teams strengths and resources are focused.

Yes, it's part of the normal course of business. However, it's more people than normal, and more importantly, it's more starters than normal. Yes, you can lose an important piece and plug in another and get by a lot of the time. My main point is that the more pieces that change at once, the bigger issue you're going to have.

 

The Titans are very strategic when it comes to the draft. Chris Henry was SUPPOSED to be CJ. So we TRIED to get a speedy running back. Our Michael Griffin pick was GOLD and ensured that we didn't have to worry about the safety position for a good while. I don't think anyone saw the whole Cortland Finnegan thing working out as well as it has for us, but thank God that it did.

 

Well...

Perhaps I don't understand...so what if we have big decisions to make. We just decided on whether or not to re-sign the best player on the team and one of the best players in the NFL. And now we're moving on...

Why are these big decisions? The Titans already know where they'd like the strengths of the team to be...so in terms of how to decide where to put our strengths...those decisions were made awhile ago. However, things don't work in a vacuum so there is some flexibility. Why are you concerned bout it?

Actually, it's the more potential you have for it becoming an issue. It doesn't HAVE to be an issue...as Harris filling in for Mawae quite well. Since we have a lot of cap room, we'll be in good shape. Plus, we can always franchise Scaife again if necessary and let Crump walk. I'll be shocked if Bulluck makes it to free agency. And I think one of our starting DE's and or Brown will stay. I don't see a mass exodus. But even if that did happen, we have the resources, draft picks, backups and coaching to handle it.

The ONLY constant in life is CHANGE!

Gut

 

Yes, yes, and yes!

Your two posts are right on!

Some additional stuff...

Hopefully by now the Titans have an idea of what all of those potential free agents to be want, what they'd like right now for contract extensions, ect. So that may be something they really look at for the draft...however, it seems to make a little more sense to do that with free agency unless two players in the draft are equally graded. For example, Haye may have been signed because they already know Brown is a goner. I don't think Kearse would be hard to re-sign unless he all of a sudden has 10+ sacks. KVB may want to stay as well unless he has a monster year. Even if he did, he's at the wrong age to break the bank. I think the Titans will go best player at one of a handful of positions with perhaps the only exception being CB and possibly WR.

It will also be interesting to see if we get a Holt is they would still consider drafting a WR in rnd 1 if it's the highest graded player on their board.

Since MR has been a good job so far in anticpating the market and locking up valueable players in advance (Roos, Stewart, Finnegan), I expect more of that this off-season. Of course, it won't hurt performance for some players to be working for a new contract...cough<Lendale>cough...

Gut

Gut