2012 NFL Draft: 5 Areas the Tennessee Titans Need to Address

For most NFL teams, now is the time to start looking ahead to April's 2012 NFL draft.

It's certainly not the most talent-enriched draft classes we've seen, but there's still plenty of great prospects out there that could really help the Tennessee Titans get over the hump next season.

The Titans improved in a lot of areas this season, like wide receiver and quarterback. However, there are other areas that the Titans have been traditionally strong in that they now need help in.

Running Back

There's no question that Chris Johnson is the long-term starting running back for the Tennessee Titans organization, but there's also no denying that Johnson dropped off this season.

Johnson barely broke the 1,000-yard mark, which is no longer considered that big of an accomplishment. That has to leave the organization a little unsettled at this position.

Lining up behind a regressing Johnson are two unproven running backs in Javon Ringer and Jamie Harper.

Now this area is nowhere close to being the most important area to address, but the Titans will need to address it at some point in the mid- to late rounds.

Even with Johnson the Titans were little to no threat at running the ball. What happens if Johnson suffers another setback, or he's lost for the season due to injury? You would suddenly be looking at a team that has next to nothing at the position.

The Titans have to protect their future interests at the position and have a backup plan if Johnson continues to decline. Right now the Titans have a very thin backup plan if that happens.

Maybe a Jeff Demps out of Florida is a possibility later in the draft. Demps would bring a new dimension to this growing offense immediately.

Strong Safety

We don't know how much gas Chris Hope has left in the tank, but my guess is he's pretty much running on fumes at this point.

The last two seasons the Titans have struggled to stop opposing tight ends, which falls largely under the responsibility of the strong safety.

After Chris Hope you have Jordan Babineaux as the only other listed strong safety on the Titans roster. Babineaux is also on the back end of his career even though he did have a solid 2011 campaign.

Common logic says that if you're aging at a particular position then you need to go out and get a good prospect to rebuild. The Titans are clearly aged at this position.

The Titans could very well consider going for a strong safety early in the draft to get a guy like Alabama's Mark Barron or South Carolina's Antonio Allen.

Offensive Line

The offensive line deserves at least some of the blame to why the running game struggled so much this season. With the exceptions of a couple games, the Titans could virtually never rely on the running game to win games for them.

With that said, the Titans offensive line actually did a very good job at protecting an immobile quarterback all season. They gave up just 24 sacks, which was just one sack more than the NFL's best.

It still wouldn't hurt for the Titans to start grooming another offensive lineman to take the reins in a few seasons from veterans Jake Scott or Michael Roos. The Titans are pretty thin at offensive line once you get past those two.

Reloading is something the great teams do, and the Titans need to start reloading at the offensive line to protect Jake Locker in the future.

Defensive End

The defensive end position has become a glaring weakness for the Titans. They only managed 7.5 sacks combined at the position, with Dave Ball having four of them.

That's simply not going to cut it if the Titans want to get back to being one of the NFL's most respected defenses. They need to start building a more balanced defensive line, particularly at this defensive end.

It wouldn't be a bad idea for the Titans to consider going for a defensive end with their 20th overall pick in the first round.

Melvin Ingram from South Carolina could be a strong possibility as the Titans' first pick of this 2012 NFL draft. Ingram had an impressive 2011 campaign with 10 sacks and 48 total tackles.

Outside Linebacker

Even though the Titans heavily addressed the linebacker position during the last draft, it still wouldn't hurt for the Titans to add one more to start grooming behind Will Witherspoon.

Witherspoon is getting up their in age and had his worst statistical season of his career. He played 16 games but managed just 56 tackles.

The Titans also have Gerald McRath waiting in the wings, and he could very well end up filling in as the third starter of the future. However, the Titans still need to add a little more depth to the position.

The Barrett Ruud experiment didn't really work out, and the Titans defense actually performed better with rookies Colin McCarthy and Akeem Ayers on the field.

This would be a position the Titans could afford to address in the later rounds of the draft. It's not a position that they need a starter for next season, but in three or four years they'll need a guy ready to step in.