2021 Tennessee Titans Fantasy Workers Outlook: Derrick Henry & A.J. Brown Can not Possess It Alone
Coaching
After going 9-7 every season from 2016 to 2019, the Titans pushed their file to 11-5 with an AFC South title. Mike Vrabel went 29-14 in his first three years as head coach while reaching the postseason in abet-to-abet seasons. All seven years of his instructing skills within the NFL came on the protection aspect of the ball. Vrabel played within the league for 14 seasons at linebacker. His ties to New England and three Big Bowl titles occupy been a huge fragment of his path to a head instructing job.
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Tennessee jumped to fourth in aspects scored (491) and second in yards gained. They scored 89 more aspects than in 2019. It used to be a leap forward season offensively. The Titans finished with their handiest production for the reason that early 1990s, abet when Warren Moon used to be leading the negate.
Todd Downing takes over as the offensive coordinator after working as Tennessee’s tight live coach in 2019 and 2020. He’s been a coach within the NFL since 2005. He led the Raiders’ offense for one season in 2017.
The Titans promoted Shane Bowen to bustle the protection, which came a three hundred and sixty five days after no longer having a defensive coordinator. Over the final three seasons, he worked as a linebacker coach for Tennessee. Bowen has 5 seasons of instructing skills within the consultants on the age of 34.
The defensive aspect of the ball declined for the second straight season. The Titans allowed the ninth-absolute most sensible collection of aspects (439 – 108 larger than 2019) while ending 28th in yards allowed.
Free Agency
Tennessee misplaced two key gamers (WR Corey Davis and TE Jonnu Smith) off their offense and two starters (CB Desmond King and DE Jadeveon Clowney).
Davis showed more explosiveness and consistency final three hundred and sixty five days after struggling to meet his expected label after getting drafted within the first round in 2017. He plot profession highs in receiving yards (984) and touchdowns (5) while matching his 2018 season in catches (65). Davis posted four affect games (7/101, 8/128/1, 11/182/1, and 4/110/1). He overlooked two games with a COVID-19 field.
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Smith has improved upon his stats every season. He plot profession bests in catches (41), yards (448), and touchdowns (8) despite receiving handiest 65 targets. His season started with 18 catches for 221 and 5 touchdowns over four games, but Smith did now not rating over 12.00 delusion aspects over his final 12 games (along with the playoffs). He gained over 35 yards in a single contest over this span.
King added label to the bustle protection with some success blitzing the quarterback. When at his handiest over his first three seasons with the Chargers, King made 189 tackles with 6.5 sacks, 17 defended passes, and four interceptions.
Clowney continues to underachieve within the whisk bustle (32 sacks in 83 profession games) while making his fourth franchise alternate since 2018. Over the final two seasons, he overlooked 13 starts. His sport does play well in bustle toughen.
The Titans added DE Bud Dupree and WR Josh Reynolds within the offseason.
Dupree overlooked 5 games final season due to a torn ACL in his left knee. He delivered 19.5 sacks over his previous 27 games while being a authorized responsibility in most seasons in bustle toughen. He continues to fail to see too many tackles.
Reynolds worked as the third huge receiver for the Rams over the final four seasons. His have interaction price (50.8) over his first three seasons. Remaining three hundred and sixty five days, Los Angeles gave him more possibilities terminate to the toll road of scrimmage, leading to a bump in his overall production (52/618/2).
The handiest diversified participant of label misplaced used to be DT DaQuan Jones, who signed with the Panthers. His play worked well in opposition to the bustle over the final two seasons while offering minimal sacks (eight over his final 92 games).
Draft
CB Caleb Farley
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Farley brings a press coverage skill plot to the Titans with tempo to quilt his receivers over the long field. He’s a former quarterback with miniature skills taking part in at cornerback. His success at college came from his bodily talents, but Farley can’t push increased without improving his device and his feel for play construction in tight quarters. With first-round pedigree, he has a enhance or bust feel.
LB Monty Rice
Rice has a manufacture you job mentality with unprecedented timing and feel for his tasks in opposition to the bustle. His vision is a prime plus, which offset his lack of affect tempo. Rice needs to be a productive participant on the following level on early downs.
CB Elijah Molden
Molden has the root skill plot to be a high cornerback, but his handiest missing trait is his overall tempo. He plays with vision and unprecedented quilt abilities, and the flexibility to augment the bustle. Molden would per chance quiet excel over the short areas of the field and within the red zone. His lack of measurement (5’9” and 192 lbs.) is a distress, and high huge receivers with tempo will take a look at him in deep coverage.
T Dillon Radunz
His sport would per chance quiet bolster Tennessee’s rapid-hitting bustle sport the build his first step and energy play well. His vary appears to be like miniature, inserting him at possibility when facing whisk rushers outdoors his body. Radunz initiatives higher at guard than at sort out.
WR Dez Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick offers Tennessee a wideout who will take a look at a protection deep with jump ball capability within the tip zone, but his open and hands restrict his explosiveness. His lack of quickness and route-running present minimal label over the short areas of the field. Fitzpatrick gained’t cling within the commence field and manufacture honest reads on possibility routes.
WR Racey McMath
McMath needs to natty up his open and route running to engage advantage of his plus tempo. His hands and capability to engage in tight quarters see to be resources. He’ll fight with press coverage while proudly owning a miniature flight notion. McMath does project well on special groups.
DE Rashad Weaver
Weaver packs a winning punch, which is the handiest club in his rep that disrupts after the snap. He gained’t capture with tempo or quickness, and his willingness to fireplace can lead to errors in opposition to the bustle. His sport initiatives higher on early downs the build his energy will disrupt and cling sneaky label in sacks.
S Brady Drag
Drag plays well when attacking the toll road of scrimmage in opposition to the bustle, but he’ll short circuit if assembly huge our bodies. His quilt skill doesn’t project well, and tempo will likely be a distress on the following level. Drag plays with vision and a certainly ideally suited feel for play construction. In his rookie season, he would per chance must tag his buy within the coverage sport.
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Offensive Line
The Titans moved up a notch to second within the NFL in rushing yards (2,690) with 26 touchdowns and 20 runs over 20 yards. Their ball carriers gained 5.2 yards per bustle.
Tennessee slipped to 23rd in passing yards (3,826) with 33 passing touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Their quarterbacks gained handiest 7.9 yards per whisk attempt with handiest 44 completions over 20 yards. The Titans’ offensive line allowed 25 sacks.
LT Taylor Lewan
Lewan has been a high participant at his pronounce over his six seasons within the league. Remaining three hundred and sixty five days he overlooked 11 games with a staunch shoulder field and a torn ACL in his staunch knee. His handiest label is accessible in whisk safety while exhibiting energy in bustle blocking off in most of his years within the league. Lewan is a former first-round draft have interaction (2014).
LG Rodger Saffold
Saffold signed a four-three hundred and sixty five days $44 million contract with the Titans in 2019. His sport used to be elite from 2012 to 2014 as a whisk protector while increasing into an unprecedented balanced participant over his subsequent four seasons. Since arriving in Tennessee, Safford showed more possibility in whisk safety while having a excessive ground in bustle blocking off.
C Ben Jones
Jones now has seven straight years on his resume, the build he’s been a league-common participant or higher in all areas. Jones hasn’t overlooked a sport over his previous seven seasons after being drafted within the fourth round in 2012. In 2020, Jones allowed minimal stress and no sacks.
RG Nate Davis
The Titans added Davis within the third round in 2019. He finished as a authorized responsibility in his rookie season in all areas. His bustle blocking off improved final three hundred and sixty five days, the build it can now be idea of as higher than the league common. Davis quiet permits too mighty stress on the quarterback.
RT Dillon Radunz
Tennessee would per chance ease Radunz into action in his rookie season. They wasted a first-round different on T Isaiah Wilson in 2020, forcing the Titans to pronounce one other early draft bet on the offensive line this three hundred and sixty five days. Radunz has skills at sort out with more label in bustle blocking off early in his profession. I anticipate him to be a authorized responsibility if he does indeed initiate.
OL Snapshot
The left aspect of the Titans’ offensive line ranks attain the high of the league, with a participant of label on the middle pronounce. Defenses will assault the quarterback on the staunch aspect till Davis and Radunz negate development in whisk safety. General, the Titans would per chance quiet bustle the ball well again while seeing an amplify in sacks allowed.
Offense
Tennessee ran the ball 51.9 percent of the time in 2020 while offering explosiveness in scoring within the passing sport. Ideally, the Titans must play well defensively while running the ball when taking part in from the lead.
Quarterbacks
Ryan Tannehill
Over his 28 starts for the Titans, Tannehill has 18 wins and 10 losses with two trips to the postseason. Remaining three hundred and sixty five days he plot a profession-excessive in passing touchdowns (33) while offering his handiest production on the ground (43/266/7). Tannehill finished eighth in quarterback scoring (390.55 delusion aspects) in four-point passing landing leagues. He averaged 255 blended yards per sport despite Tennessee attempting the third-lowest collection of passing attempts (481).
Tannehill scored over 29.00 delusion aspects in six matchups (29.15, 31.95, 34.30, 32.45, 39.75, and 30.60), with 5 of these games coming at dwelling. Twenty-5 of his 40 rankings came at dwelling. He passed for over 300 yards three times.
Fantasy Outlook: His receiving core took a success within the offseason by dropping WR Corey Davis and TE Jonnu Smith, and the Titans proceed to lack depth and energy at every huge receiver and tight live. A.J. Brown has a excessive ceiling, but Tannehill will fight to procure commence receivers in many games. He ranks as the 14th quarterback drafted within the early draft season, which is simply too excessive in accordance with the Titans’ offensive structure. I anticipate a descend of 12 to 15 touchdowns with tiresome production in passing yards. At handiest, Tannehill is a bye-week quilt with backend QB2 label.
Loads of Choices: Logan Woodside, DeShone Kizer
Working Backs
The Titans barely feeble their running backs within the passing sport (36/219/2 on 56 targets). On the running aspect, Tennessee led the NFL in running abet rushing yards (2,414) due to a league-excessive in rushing attempts (472). They scored 17 touchdowns on the ground for the second straight three hundred and sixty five days.
Derrick Henry
In every three hundred and sixty five days within the NFL, Henry improved on his output in rushing yards, along with his rushing attempts. In 2020, he had the fifth-most rushing yards (2,027) in NFL historical previous for a single season on a league-excessive 378 attempts. Henry had 16 runs over 20 yards, and four of those carries reached the 40-yard imprint.
His handiest two games (22/264/2 with two catches and 34/250/2) came in opposition to the Texans. Henry had gained over 100 yards in seven diversified matchups while delivering over 200 yards in a single diversified sport (26/215/2 and two catches). He averaged a profession-excessive 5.4 yards per bustle.
Fantasy Outlook: Of the seven diversified running backs to bustle for over 2,000 yards, Barry Sanders had the smallest regression in rushing yards (562 – 2,053 in 1997 and 1,491 in 1998) the following season. Henry is horseback, with a short different within the passing sport. The dearth of skills at huge receiver would per chance quiet lead to fewer huge plays. He has the makings of a first-round bust in accordance with the direction of this offense.
Darrynton Evans
A hamstring harm label Evans 11 games in his rookie season. He finished with handiest 81 blended yards with a landing and two catches on 16 touches.
Fantasy Outlook: Evans brings plus tempo and alternate of tempo label. The Titans will fetch him on the field, but he initiatives more as an upside handcuff with a minimal different out of the gate.
Loads of Choices: Jeremy McNichols, Brian Hill, Mekhi Sargent
Huge Receivers
The massive receiver different for the Titans increased over the final two seasons. Their wideouts accounted for 69 percent of Tennessee’s passing yards, with about 59 percent of the group’s completions.
A.J. Brown
Over his first two seasons, Brown gained over 1,000 yards every three hundred and sixty five days (52/1,051 and 70/1,075) while scoring 19 touchdowns in 30 games. Within the offseason, he had surgical operation on every knees. Even with an explosive feel and an improving have interaction price (66), Brown doesn’t occupy the different to compare the elite huge receivers within the sport.
He gained over 100 yards in four contests (6/153/1, 4/101/1, 7/112/1, and 10/151/1) when he picked up 9 of his 13 catches over 20 yards. Brown had over 5 catches in 5 of his 14 starts.
He gained 17.4 yards per have interaction in his profession, with 13 of his 122 catches gaining 40 yards or more.
Fantasy Outlook: Brown finished 12th in huge receiver scoring (248.50 delusion aspects) in PPR leagues despite missing two games, 9 spots increased than 2019 (217.30 delusion aspects). With a dropdown at WR2 in Tennessee, his freedoms within the secondary will likely be less, but Brown would per chance quiet interrogate more targets by default. His early ADP (22) as the fifth wideout drafted aspects to an affect participant. His subsequent step needs to be 90 catches for 1,300 yards and a ground of 12 touchdowns.
Josh Reynolds
In his fourth season, Reynolds plot profession-highs in catches (52), receiving yards (618), and targets (81). He gained over 20 yards on 22 of his 102 catches over the final three years. His have interaction price (64.1) pushed increased, Reynolds saw a decline in his yards per have interaction (11.9 – 15.5 in 2019 and 13.9 in 2018).
This season, Reynolds replaced Corey Davis (65/984/5) in Tennessee’s initiating lineup. The third wideout for the Titans in 2020 handiest had 23 catches for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
Fantasy Outlook: The depth within the abet of Reynolds doesn’t project excessive, but I will’t anticipate him to fabricate a jump in a high-tier huge receiver. His natural progression aspects to 65-plus catches for 800 yards with 5 to seven touchdowns. His ADP (212) ranks him as the 73rd huge receiver drafted. Reynolds has a possibility to work as WR4 in PPR leagues.
Dez Fitzpatrick
Over four seasons at Louisville, Fitzpatrick caught 154 passes for 2,589 yards and 21 touchdowns. He gained 16.8 yards per have interaction while posting weakness in his have interaction price (57.2). His handiest three hundred and sixty five days came in his freshman three hundred and sixty five days (45/699/9), pointing to regression in his development.
Fantasy Outlook: Fitzpatrick would per chance provide flash label in some games if/when he hits on a long rating. His play will likely be up and down with minimal possibilities per week.
Racey McMath
McMath had a minimal different over the final two seasons at LSU. He caught 31 of 47 targets for 480 yards and four touchdowns. His sport needs so a lot of work, pointing to a bench role early in his profession.
Loads of Choices: Cameron Batson, Slice Westbrook-Ikhine, Chester Rogers
Tight Ends
The tight live pronounce used to be a certainly crucial fragment of the Titans’ passing sport final three hundred and sixty five days, especially on the map line. They finished with 94 catches for 967 yards and 12 touchdowns on 137 targets. Tennessee gained about 25 percent of their passing yards over the final three seasons from the tight ends while receiving terminate to 30 percent of their completions.
Anthony Firkser
As the second tight live for the Titans in 2020, Firkser caught 39 passes for 387 yards and one landing on 53 targets. He gained 9.9 yards per have interaction with energy in his have interaction price (73.6). His handiest sport of label came in Week 6 (8/113/1) in opposition to the Texans.
Fantasy Outlook: Tennessee will rotate in more than one tight ends this season, which makes Firkser worrying to time when to initiate him as a matchup play. The Titans have not any different but employ their tight ends within the passing sport with weakness on the WR3 pronounce and minimal usage within the passing sport out of the backfield. His subsequent step needs to be 50 catches for 500 yards with short label in touchdowns.
Loads of Choices: Geoff Swain, Jared Pinkney, Tommy Hudson, Briley Moore
Kicker
Tucker McCann
The kicking job is huge commence heading into the 2021 season for the Titans. Remaining three hundred and sixty five days, the Titans’ scored 62 touchdowns while setting up 28 field-map tries.
McCann made handiest 72.6 percent of his field map kicks over four seasons at Missouri. He additionally overlooked 12 of his 187 extra-point tries. I will’t interrogate him emerging as the Titans’ kicker.
Blake Haubeil
Over three seasons at Ohio Enlighten, Haubeil made all 146 of his extra aspects. He finished with 28 made field targets in his 35 possibilities (80 percent).
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Protection
The Titans fell to 19th in rushing yards allowed (1,933) in 2020 while allowing 18 touchdowns and 12 runs over 20 yards. Ball carriers gained 4.5 yards per bustle while averaging 26.6 rushing attempts per sport.
Tennessee dropped to 29th in passing yards allowed (4,439), with quarterbacks tossing 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Their protection created handiest 19 sacks.
DT Jeffery Simmons
Remaining three hundred and sixty five days he made 49 tackles with three sacks and 5 defended passes. Simmons played at a excessive level in opposition to the bustle.
DE Larrell Murchison
Remaining three hundred and sixty five days he saw minimal taking part in time due to a abet field.
DE Denico Autry
Over the final three seasons, Autry posted 102 blended targets with 20 sacks. His bustle protection continues to go with a excessive collection of overlooked tackles.
LB Bud Dupree
Dupree overlooked 5 games final three hundred and sixty five days with a knee harm. He has 19.5 sacks over the final 27 games with 99 blended tackles. His bustle protection is league common at handiest, but his disruptive whisk bustle is why he’s now in Tennessee.
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LB Jayon Brown
Brown plot a profession-excessive in tackles (105) in 2019 with some development in whisk coverage (one Int, eight defended passes, and one TD). Remaining season, he overlooked six games with a damaged elbow, leading 76 tackles and one sack. His bustle protection remains a weakness in his sport.
LB Rashaan Evans
Over the final two seasons, Evans had 207 blended tackles with three sacks and 5 defended passes. His bustle protection came in beneath expectation in 2020.
LB Harold Landry
In his third three hundred and sixty five days within the NFL, Landry picked up 5.5 sacks with a slight bump in tackles (69). His bustle protection slipped beneath the league common.
CB Janoris Jenkins
Jenkins moved into the initiating lineup after signing within the offseason. Over the final two seasons with the Giants and Saints, he made 109 blended tackles with seven interceptions and 26 defended passes.
CB Kristian Fulton
Fulton will push for initiating snaps in 2021.
S Kevin Byard
Byard has been a high participant at safety over the final four seasons. He remains to be an affect participant in bustle toughen (111 tackles) while making so a lot of plays in coverage (20 interceptions and 40 defended passes over the final four years).
S Amari Hooker
Hooker played well in his second three hundred and sixty five days and finished with 51 tackles, four interceptions, and eight defended passes. Remaining three hundred and sixty five days, Hooker made handiest three starts while exhibiting possibility in opposition to the bustle. His role would per chance quiet develop in 2021.
Fantasy Protection Snapshot
The Titans’ protection has significant considerations on the line of defense. Tennessee has to rebuild the cornerback pronounce while having a interrogate at strong safety. The linebacking core will plot the tone on the defensive aspect of the ball. The Titans’ protection will occupy more downs than usain 2021, and I don’t interrogate any initiating delusion label.
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