By Tuesday afternoon, the Tennessee Titans will have finalized their 53-man roster. After that, general manager Ran Carthon can start looking for back-end roster support on the waiver wire. Before joining a practice squad, almost all released NFL players must clear waivers, which gives rival teams the chance to claim them and bring them straight to their active roster.
Only about 20–25 players are claimed year, so it wouldn’t be strange if the Titans selected one or two of those individuals. Carthon and head coach Brian Callahan are still working to improve a team that is still thinly populated at several spots. In light of this, we’ve pinpointed three areas of vulnerability that the Titans may choose to focus on.
OFFENSIVE TACKLE
In Sunday’s preseason finale victory over the New Orleans Saints, starters JC Latham and Nicholas Petit-Frere displayed excellent play, but once the second and third stringers entered the game, Tennessee’s offensive line performance collapsed. During the preseason, players including Leroy Watson, Geron Christian, John Ojukwu, and Jaelyn Duncan had difficulty. The Titans, in their current configuration, are required to keep two or more of these players.
The two favorites are Ojukwu, Christian, and Duncan. In three exhibition games, they all performed poorly, giving up pressures and sacks and getting flagged for penalties. It’s hard to find strong offensive line depth on the waiver wire, but Carthon needs to try to find a better backup tackle.
CORNERBACK
The Titans have a lot of top cornerbacks. Jarvis Brownlee Jr., a rookie, is the best choice after Roger McCreary, L’Jarius Sneed, and Chido Awuzie. Is there a fifth or sixth cornerback that the Titans should hold onto?
Caleb Farley, a former first-round pick, has returned to full health, but he most likely missed too much time due to injury to make the squad. On a coverage bust on Sunday, special teams member Anthony Kendall gave up a long gain. Though Eric Garror was effective both defensively and as a punt returner, the Titans could already have too many small-built nickel corners.
And we’ve definitely outgrown Tre Avery, don’t we? More upside in a few corners than Avery and Gabe Jeudy-Lally ought to strike the fence.
EDGE
Tennessee’s edge issues have been well documented, though they’re less front-facing now that Arden Key has presumably had his pending six-game suspension reversed. Still, the Titans are pretty light at outside linebacker behind Key and Harold Landry.
Seventh-round rookie Jaylen Harrell was outstanding throughout the preseason, showing legitimate three-down potential. Rashad Weaver has struggled and shouldn’t be considered a surefire option. The likes of Caleb Murphy, Thomas Rush, Shane Ray, and Khalid Duke probably aren’t going to make the roster.
The Titans can do better than Weaver, or they may find themselves overly reliant on a Day Three rookie.
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