Tennessee Titans' Key Positional Battles: Tight End

Welcome back, everyone! Today we will take a look at the tight ends.

Dating all the way back to the Frank Wycheck days, the Titans have given their tight ends quite a workout on the field.

Back in 2005, Erron Kinney, Ben Troupe, and Bo Scaife combined for 147 catches. Though that number has dropped since then, this is still one of the most important positions on the field for the Tennessee offense.

In my opinion, I think the starting job has been locked up by Bo Scaife, but with one year remaining on his contract, you can't count out the possibility of a trade.

Bo has proven to be a top five tight end and may hold great value in the trade market. Unless they want to work out a long-term deal with Scaife, I think it would be a mistake not to trade him away.

If a trade were to occur, that would leave the Titans with veteran Algae Crumpler, Craig Stephens, Mathew Mulligan, and rookie Jared Cook.

Now, here's where I see Tennessee having a problem.

Don't get me wrong. Crumpler is a great player and role model, but he's getting old and isn't playing like the same guy we saw back in Atlanta.

Maybe I'm just not over his fumble on the one-yard line in the Ravens playoff game, but I just can't see him as our No. 1 guy.

As for Stephens and Mulligan, they haven't been given a real shot to succeed in this league, but there are reasons for that. 

Even though the Titans are great at making second- and third-string guys into starters (i.e Justin Gage and Kyle Vanden Bosch), I just can't see them doing it with these guys.

Jared Cook was drafted as a tight end in this year's draft, but unsure about his ability to block, the Titans have been trying him out at receiver in half the practices so far.

At 6'5", 246 pounds, if he can master his blocking, I see the spitting image of Antonio Gates (same 40 time), and I can see him being the No. 1 guy.

Again, this is all if we see a trade go down. If a trade doesn't occur, this is what I see happening.

1. Bo Scaife

2. Jared Cook

3. Craig Stephens

Practice Squad: Mathew Mulligan

Cut: Algae Crumpler (He signed a two-year, $5 million contract in 2008. I don't think he's worth the money.)