Tennessee Titans Are Stuck in Limbo Thanks to Betting on Tools

The Tennessee Titans are stuck. Since winning 13 games in 2008 behind the last successful example of Jeff Fisher's ground-and-pound run game, the franchise hasn't won more than nine games in a season.

It won just six games in 2012, seven in 2013 and is on pace to finish right around that mark in 2014 despite a head coaching change.

The one consistent truth the Titans have faced since letting Fisher go following the 2010 season is a slavish devotion to measurable physical talent. This pops up in every draft they've had since.

Betting on tools is not the "wrong" way to do things. Rather, where the Titans have failed is by ignoring the very real warning signs on each player they drafted. There's a difference between betting on tools and letting tools overtake your evaluation of a player.

The reason the Titans are where they are right now is because they've burned too many premium draft picks on players who weren't good bets to pan out.

Name	Position	Pick	Total Snaps	AV	PFF Rating
Jake Locker	QB	1-11	1348	13	-7.2
Akeem Ayers	LB	2-39	2452	20	+11.9
Jurrell Casey	DT	3-77	2675	21	+47.9

Jake Locker is the obvious poster boy for this exercise. Locker is still a scout's dream: a player with a cannon arm, amazing mobility and all the physical tools you could hope for from a quarterback.

Unfortunately, Locker also completed just 53.9 percent of his college passes, which was an enormous red flag. The Titans have been able to hide some of his problems through route combinations—making Tennessee the home of the comeback route.

But there's only so much you can do to dress up such a glaring flaw, and only the injuries Locker has suffered from his kamikaze playing style have kept him from being completely written off.

It's hard to write off someone who practically never plays.

Akeem Ayers was another tools-laden player who offered some potential to rush the passer. However, as Doug Farrar noted on Shutdown Corner, he had issues in coverage, tackling and against play action. Under Ken Whisenhunt, Ayers has mostly been a healthy inactive even though the players in front of him have been disappointing.

Of course, Jurrell Casey has turned out to be excellent once the Titans allowed him to one-gap. He wasn't as much of a tools pick.

Name	Position	Pick	Total Snaps	AV	PFF Rating
Kendall Wright	WR	1-20	1708	14	+0.7
Zach Brown	LB	2-52	1531	14	+0.8
Mike Martin	DT	3-82	794	4	+10.7

Kendall Wright was not a physically intimidating player at all. He ran a 4.61-second 40-yard-dash at the NFL Scouting Combine and also looked chunky. He's been a very solid receiver at the NFL level—especially on underneath routes, where he can win with his elusiveness in space.

Wright will never be a true No. 1 receiver, but he's enough of a mismatch problem to run an offense around.

However, Zach Brown definitely fits our tools dichotomy. Like Ayers, Brown was touted for his secondary ability to rush the passer. Like Ayers, Brown was more about speed and size than pure technique.

Brown went down for the season with a torn pectoral muscle but was hardly playing well before that.

Mike Martin was seen as undersized at 6'1", but ran a 4.88-second 40-yard dash at 306 pounds at the combine. He's been fine when he's actually reached the field, but the Titans have compiled so much depth on the defensive line that Martin hasn't been more than a rotation piece so far.

Name	Position	Pick	Total Snaps	AV	PFF Rating
Chance Warmack	G	1-10	1469	8	-7.2
Justin Hunter	WR	2-34	649	3	-1.4
Blidi Wreh-Wilson	CB	3-70	441	1	-7.1
Zaviar Gooden	LB	3-94	212	1	-4.2

The Titans started this draft off with the least toolsy player of all. Chance Warmack was seen by many—including ESPN's Todd McShay, according to Jeff Schudel of The Morning Journal—as the NFL-readiest player in the draft, and since it was a rather weak draft, the Titans selected him at No. 10 overall.

Warmack hasn't been a star, but he's done better than a lot of his top-10 brethren in this class.

The team followed it up with the ultimate tools pick, trading up to secure Tennessee's Justin Hunter. Hunter has Randy Moss' physical abilities and Greg Little's integrated technique.

So far, Hunter hasn't been able to catch more than half the balls thrown at him in a season. After a loud preseason, he's continued to show us more of his rookie-year form.

Tennessee double-dipped in the third round. Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson was handed the starting job following Alterraun Verner's defection for Tampa Bay but has yet to show the Titans that their faith was justified. Wreh-Wilson ran a 4.53-second 40-yard-dash at 6'1" but hasn't translated those tools into skills yet.

Zaviar Gooden, their other third-round pick, only played 10 games during his senior season. However, he dominated the combine so thoroughly that the Titans decided to roll the dice on his tools.

Gooden is now looking up at Avery Williamson on the depth chart.

Name	Position	Pick	Total Snaps	AV	PFF Rating
Taylor Lewan	OT	1-11	91	n/a	+4.9
Bishop Sankey	RB	2-54	118	n/a	+1.2

Obviously, it's way too early to begin writing the book on these players. So far, Taylor Lewan has been a bit of a steal. He'll be guiding Tennessee's offensive line through Michael Roos' injury.

Bishop Sankey has looked pretty poor whenever he's been outside of the shotgun/draw personnel Whisenhunt has drawn up for him early. That doesn't mean he's a bust. It does mean he's still got a ways to go.

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

The Titans have done a fine job of bringing in free agents to supplement their core. Delanie Walker has been a very solid tight end. Bernard Pollard has been a decent box safety. Nate Washington was a nice find off the scrapheap. Andy Levitre was overpaid but has generally been okay at guard.

The problem Tennessee has is that it's hard to build a football team when you're getting this little return on your premium picks.

The Titans have found some good players, but a team can't let its top free-agent talent walk and flub draft choices and then expect to be more than the melange of average the Titans have embodied since Fisher walked away.

One idea that Titans management may want to keep in mind: If you're betting on a tools player, you better see some actual technique on the film, too.

Combine information courtesy of NFL.com.

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.