Tennessee Titans' Focus on Offensive Line Hasn't Paid Dividends
Tennessee Titans general manager Ruston Webster apparently read The Blind Side and took its lessons to heart.
That's the only logical explanation for how much the Titans have focused on the offensive line in both the draft and free agency (as well as the only explanation for believing that tackle Michael Oher was still worth investing in).
The Titans entered this year with just one player on the starting offensive line without a cap number above $3 million or who was not a first-round pick—and backup tackle Taylor Lewan was a first-rounder, to boot!
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| Taylor Lewan | Four years, $11.4 million (all guaranteed) | 4 | 1st round, 11th overall, 2014 draft |
| Chance Warmack | Four years, $12.1 million (all guaranteed) | 3 | 1st round, 10th overall, 2013 draft |
| Andy Levitre | Six years, $46.8 million, $13 million guaranteed | 4 | FA |
| Michael Oher | Four years, $20 million, $6 million guaranteed | 4 | FA |
| Michael Roos | Six years, $43 million, $12.8 million guaranteed | 1 | 2nd round, 2005 draft |
| Brian Schwenke | Four years, $2.6 million, 400k guaranteed | 3 | 4th round, 2013 draft |
At first, Tennessee's focus on the offensive line seemed like a desperation play to turn back the clock on running back Chris Johnson's career. But now, even after Johnson has gone, the Titans have continued to pour resources into the line.
After drafting Lewan, Webster spoke with reporters about his fondness for winning at the line of scrimmage: "It is something that has been important to us and to me, that we stay strong there. I think the game starts at the line of scrimmage. That's something we invested in last year. I think it is important that we keep that going."
And that's certainly...a theory about how winning football teams are built. Probably not the correct theory to the extent that the Titans have prioritized it, but a theory.
The problem is that the theory has utterly failed on both a micro and macro level.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Titans have gotten solid line play at times from this unit, though more in 2013 than in 2014. But you don't invest the level of resources that the Titans have invested and expect "solid." You expect "great," and this unit is so far from it that even owner Tommy Smith, as hands-off an owner in the NFL as you can get, has talked down about the unit in the press.
"We spent a fortune to build this line," said Smith. "I am committed, I've told the coach, I don't care when someone was drafted or what they're paid, if they're not getting the job done, to get somebody else."
It's much too early to really crystallize an opinion of Lewan, who didn't start until Week 6. Lewan has played through injuries early in his career and has been up-and-down because of it. He does seem a worthy successor to the injured Michael Roos, if not a superstar in the Joe Thomas mold.
Every other player Webster brought in for this line has underperformed in relation to what was expected of him at the time they were signed or selected.
| Michael Roos | +11.8 | -0.9 | +15.2 | +3.4 | +2.5 | +4.6 |
| Taylor Lewan | n/a | n/a | n/a | +5.2 | -0.3 | +2.2 |
| Chance Warmack | +1.0 | -8.1 | -3.2 | -0.6 | -3.5 | -5.1 |
| Brian Schwenke | +1.3 | -11.0 | -9.9 | -1.3 | -10.0 | -13.2 |
| Andy Levitre | +12.9 | +1.4 | +13.7 | +1.0 | -8.0 | -10.0 |
| Michael Oher | -13.1 | -5.6 | -17.1 | -11.4 | -8.9 | -20.2 |
Anyone with eyes could have foretold that Oher would be a bust in Tennessee. He's a stopgap measure at best at this point in his career, and he's played worse than that most of this season. In other words: Oher is playing like the kind of right tackle a team plugs in as an undrafted free agent and hopes it doesn't kill the offense too much.
Oher is Austin Pastzor with a four-year contract that's going to throw $3 million in dead money on the cap in 2015 in a best-case scenario (the best-case scenario being that the Titans aren't loyal to him).
First-round guard Chance Warmack was picked early in a weak 2013 draft because he was regarded as one of the most NFL-ready players in the entire pool. In retrospect, Warmack isn't actually that bad of a pick, because most of the rest of the first round of that draft looks awful.
However, Warmack has been an average-at-best guard, certainly not the kind of transcendent talent you hope you're getting when you pick an interior offensive lineman with the 10th overall pick.
| 2013 | 3.82 (19) | 55% (29) | 20% (19) | 2.8% (13) |
| 2014 | 3.95 (18) | 69% (12) | 15% (1) | -5.5% (16) |
Opposite Warmack at left guard is highly paid free-agent signee Andy Levitre, who has regressed strongly this season. Levitre struggles with power rushers, and while it's commendable that he's willing to play hurt as he did down the stretch in 2013, the ends don't justify the means.
Cutting Levitre before the 2015 season would only bring $2.3 million in cap relief, but he's been so bad that the Titans may have to consider that a win at this point.
Finally, center Brian Schwenke was selected with a fourth-round pick in the 2013 draft. Schwenke is a graceful, if not powerful, run-blocker. The problem is that he has been routinely destroyed by pass-rushers. And since Warmack and Levitre aren't great picking up stunts, it only accentuates Schwenke's lack of skill (which is exactly what you don't want when you are starting Zach Mettenberger, a total statue, in the pocket).
It's possible that the Titans could release or make bench players out of half of this line next offseason. If I were running the show, Oher would be gone for sure. Levitre is a possible cap casualty. Schwenke hasn't done enough to make me feel like his starting job next season should be guaranteed.
The Titans will have decisions to make on all those players as their flop this season forces a rebuild. But the real question will be how Webster reacts to the failure of his plan.
Will we see the Titans stubbornly go back to the well and attempt to invest in the best offensive line they can, in a world where contending teams like the Seahawks and Patriots routinely thrust UDFA or low-round players in as starting offensive linemen?
Or will we see Webster learn from his mistakes and spend his cap space and draft picks on the players who actually control the way most NFL teams win and lose, like quarterbacks and edge-rushers?
Webster has gotten the go-ahead from Smith for now, according to ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky, but the pressure will build as the Titans try to figure out their path back to relevance. The answer to the above questions could very well guide whether that path is straight or winding.
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