Dick LeBeau Will Be Hard-Pressed to Fully Rejuvenate Titans Defense

There may be no better defensive coordinator in the annals of history than new Titans assistant head coach Dick LeBeau.

LeBeau is credited with popularizing the zone blitz, an innovative way to get pressure safely, and has presided over a Steelers defense that has generally been excellent since the mid-1990s. 

But in choosing the Titans, LeBeau walks into a situation not unlike the one he saw in Pittsburgh the last few seasons, where the defense began to show its age. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who, according to The Tennessean's Jim Wyatt will cede control of the defense to LeBeau, is a longtime protege of LeBeau's who has already implemented most of his system—though he does coach a bit more aggressively than LeBeau has. 

What the Titans are essentially asking LeBeau to do is mask the weaknesses of a unit that declined drastically in 2014 as it transitioned from a 4-3 to a 3-4. 

But if there's one thing LeBeau has proved over the last few seasons, it's that he's no savior in that regard. 

The 2010s Steelers have tried to straddle the line between "experience" and "talent" for the past two seasons, giving sentimental contracts to older players like cornerback Ike Taylor, safety Troy Polamalu, linebacker James Harrison and defensive end Brett Keisel. The result has largely been a talent-thin roster: The older players get hurt or decline, and Pittsburgh hasn't been able to replace them fast enough to make LeBeau's job easy. 

Signing veteran players who know the system can help in some regards, but it's hard to make a competitive defensive roster with them as key cogs. For as poor as the Steelers were on defense last season, the Titans roster is just about as bereft of talent. Only defensive end Jurrell Casey and cornerback Jason McCourty have a history of recent stellar play. Here are the results LeBeau has produced over the last few seasons with the lack of talent Pittsburgh has had:

Year	Team	Defensive DVOA (Rk)	Adjusted Sack Rate (Rk)
2009	PIT	-4.6% (9)	8.2% (2)
2010	PIT	-20.7% (1)	8.3% (3)
2011	PIT	-9.4% (7)	6.8% (14)
2012	PIT	-2.9% (13)	6.7% (11)
2013	PIT	4.0% (19)	6.1% (27)
2014	PIT	11.3% (30)	6.4% (20)

It'd be one thing if LeBeau coming in was a major cultural change for the Titans—the kind of thing where he was tasked with a major shakeup. But given that Horton is staying on as defensive coordinator, this reeks of a "too many cooks" situation with a couple of guys who already have the same basic mindset. In other words: I don't expect LeBeau's defense to expansively change the Horton playbook. 

Instead, I think the success of Tennessee's defense will depend on how they plan to re-shape a defense that has a lot of holes. Given Bernard Pollard's recent request to be released, the Titans could potentially be looking to turn over five or six starting spots on defense, including both edge-rusher slots. Granted, Over The Cap's projection of nearly $41 million in available cap space should give them plenty of room to tinker.

Player	Position	2014 PFF Grade	Age
Jurrell Casey	DE	+21.2	26
Sammie Lee Hill	NT	-4.4	29
Ropati Pitoitua	DE	+7.2	30
Kamerion Wimbley	OLB	-12.1	32
Wesley Woodyard	ILB	-7.8	29
Avery Williamson	ILB	+2.3	23
???	OLB	n/a	??
Jason McCourty	CB	-2.4	28
Blidi Wreh-Wilson	CB	-16.2	26
Michael Griffin	S	-15.7	30
Marqueston Huff	S	-0.8	23

Safety Michael Griffin and outside linebacker Kamerion Wimbley are obvious targets for release. I'd say that tackle Sammie Lee Hill would be as well if Horton hadn't backed him all season. Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson showed no reason for optimism in his first season as a starter. Edge-rusher Derrick Morgan is a free agent. This situation is a mess right now. Is it a mess $40 million could solve? It's a good start, but the Titans won't be able to commit the entirety of their cap space to it or anything. 

Is LeBeau an ideal fit for Tennessee? In some ways, I think so. Nobody is doubting his credentials, and though he's extremely old for a coach—he'll be 78 in September—there's no doubt that his is still one of the sharpest minds in the game. Chris Brown wrote a great piece on the history of the zone blitz in 2012 for Grantland. LeBeau obviously plays a big part in it. At the end, Brown writes:

"Great coaches do not necessarily seek to fundamentally change the game, but instead are stewards for a time — for their players, for the ideas of the day, for football itself — merely doing their best to leave each better than they found it."

LeBeau is going to leave the Titans defense in a better position than he found it, by hook or crook. But this is a situation where his impact is blunted: The Titans were already likely to regress toward the mean a bit after a scheme change; LeBeau won't be changing a whole lot of what Horton was already doing. 

And unless the personnel is radically different, it's hard to imagine a significant turnaround given LeBeau's recent work in Pittsburgh. He's a great coordinator, but he can't spin straw into a steel curtain.

All DYAR and DVOA numbers cited are courtesy of Football Outsiders. Learn more about DVOA here.

 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.