Can DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry Help the Tennessee Titans Succeed in 2016?

The Tennessee Titans are a team that needs work. They took a big step in the right direction a year ago, drafting the player they hope is their franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota.

In 2016, the work has turned to improving the weapons around Mariota. And in the acquisition of DeMarco Murray and drafting of Alabama's Derrick Henry, the Titans have the ingredients for the sort of punishing ground game that could be a recipe for success in 2016.

One thing was sure entering the offseason: Much like the rest of the roster, the Titans' ground game was in dire need of an overhaul. Tennessee ranked a moribund 25th in the NFL in rushing last season at 92.8 yards per game. The team's leading rusher, Antonio Andrews, barely cleared 500 yards on the ground and averaged well under four yards per carry.

Player	Att.	Yards	Avg.	Long	TD
Antonio Andrews	143	520	3.6	38	3
Marcus Mariota	34	252	7.4	87	2
Dexter McCluster	55	247	4.5	44	1
Bishop Sankey	47	193	4.1	16	1
David Cobb	52	146	2.8	12	1

The team's second-leading rusher? Its rookie quarterback. That's what's known as a red flag, folks.

The Titans wasted no time getting to work to address the issue. The league year had barely started before they sent their fourth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for the Eagles' pick in that same round and Murray.

That all it took to get Murray was a 13-spot difference on the draft's third day is a testament to just how bad 2015 was for the 2014 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

After leading the league with 1,845 rushing yards and tying for a high of 13 rushing touchdowns two years ago, Murray signed a fat free-agent deal to be the centerpiece of Chip Kelly's offense in Philadelphia. Instead, he was the centerpiece of everything that went wrong for the Eagles last year.

Murray's production fell off a cliff. He finished with over 1,100 fewer rushing yards, over one yard less per carry and not even half as many touchdowns. By season's end, he was barely being used—to the tune of 30 total carries over the last month of the campaign.

Critics looked at Murray's immense workload with the Dallas Cowboys the year before and spoke of "The Curse of 370." Apologists bemoaned Murray's misuse by an Eagles team that both wouldn't let him find his groove and repeatedly asked a north-south runner to run stretches and sweeps.

Both were right to a point, but one thing couldn't be denied by anyone with eyes: Murray was awful.

Still, we are talking about a player who averaged nearly five yards a pop while helping carry the Cowboys to the playoffs two years ago. For a slight slide on Day 3, the Titans got a player who even during last year's faceplant would have been their best tailback.

The worst case scenario is that Murray's 2015 struggles were less aberration and more harbinger. The best case scenario is that a rejuvenated Murray returns to form and becomes one of the biggest steals of the offseason.

Murray certainly sounded rejuvenated while talking to Jim Wyatt of the team's official website after the trade:

"

Whatever they ask me to do I am willing to do it, whether it is carrying the ball 20 times, 30 times, whatever. I'm excited, and I am going to do my best to help this team out and do as much as I can.

It's a great opportunity to come here, work hard, and make some things happen. I feel like this truly is a team on the upswing, and I know I can help this team out in a lot of different ways.

"

With Murray on board, conventional wisdom held that the Titans were done investing heavily in their ground game in 2016. Yes, Tennessee was awash in draft picks after dealing the No. 1 overall selection to the Los Angeles Rams, but it was also awash in areas of need.

The conventional wisdom was wrong.

With the 45th pick, the Titans tabbed Henry, a 247-pound wrecking ball who rumbled for an eye-popping 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns en route to winning the Heisman Trophy in 2015.

Yes, that's right. The last two Heisman winners are the building blocks for the Titans as they try to get out of the AFC South cellar.

As tight end Delanie Walker told John Glennon of the Tennessean, it didn't take long for Henry to make an impression on his new teammates:

"

I've been sizing up Henry, man, and he's a big dude. I have to put him in his place early.

But he's a good dude. I'm just messing with him, giving him a hard time because I feel like he's going to be a monster for this team. I usually don't talk to the rookies until they make the team. But he's one of the guys that I think can help this team out.

"

Titans rookie Kevin Dodd, the 33rd overall pick, faced Henry in the College Football Playoff National Championship in January and was a bit more specific as to how Henry will help the Titans.

"He's a big back, and you had to wrap that man up by his legs and take him down," Dodd said. "He's a really good back, and I'm glad he's on my team."

It's fair to wonder how the selection of Henry sat with Murray, whose status as the unquestioned lead dog in the Tennessee backfield lasted all of seven weeks. However, head coach Mike Mularkey told Wyatt the veteran was on board with company in the backfield:

"

You don't do it for everybody, but there's certain circumstances that you feel like it is necessary to make sure you are clear on the motive and why you are doing things. Out of respect [for Murray] I wanted to do that.

He loved the pick. And he said, "He's going to make me better and I am going to do the same for him." He said, "I'm going to do whatever I can to make him a great player."

"

With the question of whether they'll get along apparently settled, the logical next query is how best to use the duo. This isn't a "thunder and lightning" backfield with a big bruiser and smaller scatback a la Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Henry is the bigger back (he's the bigger back compared to every guy this side of Bigfoot), but the pair shares a similar M.O. They are between-the-tackles, downhill backs who excel at wearing down defenses. Often, their 25th carry is more effective than their fifth.

With that said, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see the benefits of having two bruisers in the backfield.

Far too many times last year, the Titans offense was one-dimensional because of its inability to run the football. That put immense pressure on a young quarterback and young receivers to carry the offense. The results were as predictable as they were pedestrian.

As outside linebacker Brian Orakpo told the Tennessean's Jason Wolf, a successful running game will help the passing game:

"

It is a passing league, but these teams that say that have a solid running game, I believe, and that really helps open up the passing game, because it keeps the pass rushers at bay instead of them pinning their ears back and rushing and going after them from first all the way to fourth down. You really have to have an honest running game to open up a lot of things on the offensive side of the ball.

"

It isn't just a matter of keeping pass-rushers on their heels. Run the ball, and safeties begin to cheat closer to the line. Linebackers and defensive backs are more likely to take the bait on play fakes.

Setting up the pass with the run is old-school football. But it's also effective football.

It isn't just about offensive balance or picking up yardage, either. If the Titans can grind away on the ground, they can control the tempo of games. And the clock. They were 24th in time of possession last year. Not surprisingly, the eight teams that fared worse than Tennessee also missed the postseason.

Cornerback Jason McCourty told Wolf that a punishing ground game could have a profound effect on the Titans' 12th-ranked defense: "When you can control the ball and do a lot on offense, it gives your defense time to rest. ... As a defense, you stay fresh in three-and-outs. You get those guys the ball back, you know they're going to hold on to it."

It may sound old-fashioned, but it works. Run the ball well, and it will positively affect every aspect of a football team.

Tennessee also has a line that is better suited to opening holes for tailbacks than constantly being tasked with protecting Mariota. Sure, the Titans ranked 20th in run blocking in 2015, per Football Outsiders, but that's gangbusters compared to their ranking in pass protection: dead last.

Tennessee took steps to get better up front in the draft. Its first-round pick was Michigan State tackle Jack Conklin, a physical blocker with a mean streak who will fit in well with fellow first-round picks Chance Warmack (2013) and Taylor Lewan (2014).

This is a front built to punch people in the mouth. To open holes between the tackles—where their big backs like to eat.

Only three teams ran the ball 500 or more times a year ago. If all goes according to plan, the Titans won't just join them—they will lead the category by a substantial margin.

Is Tennessee's plan to pound its way into the playoffs a guaranteed winner? There are no guarantees in the NFL. Murray was not good last year. Henry carried the ball a staggering 395 times for the Crimson Tide in 2015. The NFL track record of Alabama running backs who carried the ball a lot in college is, um, Trent Richardson-esque.

Murray and Henry have to hold up their end of the deal. So does the offensive line. And Mularkey will have the unenviable task of divvying up carries between two ball-carriers who grind their way into a rhythm.

If it all comes together, it could be quite a sight to behold—a punishing throwback of a football team on the verge of future success because it embraced football's past.

In a league filled with lightning-strike offenses, the Titans unit's hopes in 2016 lie with, as safety Rashad Johnson told Wolf, "thunder and thunder."

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.