Why a Lack of Speed Is a Problem for the Tennessee Titans

Mike Vrabel has said that he wants a faster football team moving forward.

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The benefit of hindsight is the clarity that it provides to a once murky situation. In the case of the 2022 Tennessee Titans, it’s easy to look back and point our fingers at all of the things that went wrong from how we see it now that the season’s over. The team couldn’t stay healthy. The offensive line was trash. Receivers couldn’t separate. The secondary allowed too many big plays. So on and so forth. But, one aspect of the football team that I admittedly hadn’t really slowed down to think about was team speed. Maybe it was because there was so much else going on that it was lost in the shuffle, but I perked up after hearing Mike Vrabel talk about it during last week’s post-mortem press conference.

He’s right. And, here’s where that wonderful hindsight helps us. You can look back at when the Super Bowl window for this iteration of the Titans opened in 2019, and look at where the team is now. Examining most of the free agent signings and draft picks that former general manager Jon Robinson made – from the 10,000 foot view – where do we see speed as a priority in the scouting process? Furthermore, look at the product on the field. With the identity being so heavily invested in running the ball and being the more physical team every Sunday, they rarely played fast, and they certainly didn’t look fast. It’s an element of the game that exposed the gap between the Titans and other teams – you need look no further back than the season-ending loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. In a day and age when success in the NFL is predicated on being multiple and complete, you want to check as many boxes as you can. The Titans just couldn’t check the speed box.

I think “getting faster” applies to both sides of the ball, mind you. On offense, I’d say the biggest contributing factor to the dud season the passing game had was the offensive line failing to consistently pass protect. That tends to have a trickle down effect on the rest of the team. But, in watching the tape, there were several instances when even if the protection was good, no one was open. Outside of the promising Treylon Burks, the Titans have a slew of guys who are above average run blockers, and adequate options as 3rd-5th wide receivers. Even with Burks, he’s not necessarily a burner…but more of the slippery, nifty athlete who knows the importance of nuanced acceleration. So, one of the major issues is that inability to separate for this group. The Titans just didn’t have a guy who could get open off of the first step, and they didn’t have a guy who was a threat to consistently beat guys deep in 1:1 situations. Out of curiosity, I looked at this receiving corps’ 40 times:

  • Burks: 4.55
  • Robert Woods: 4.51
  • Nick Westbrook-Ikhine: “low 4.5s” (no recorded 40)
  • Kyle Philips: 4.58
  • Racey McMath: 4.3

The average 40-yard dash time for a wide receiver is 4.53 seconds. Let’s say that nugget is still accurate – after all, this is just a loose illustration and not meant to imply any sort of statistical certainty. That Titans group is sitting right around 4.5. That’s average – and man, is that not the perfect word to describe the pure speed of this group?

McMath’s number is pulling that average down, too. But, I bring him up because his drafting is an interesting reflection into how Robinson might have viewed speed at the receiver position. It seemed like his approach to adding speed to the receiving corps was to just take a fast guy with the physical traits and hope he irons out the rest of what it takes to play receiver in the NFL. Now, I like McMath. I’d like to see some more of McMath when he can stay healthy and contribute regularly. But, his drafting has not satisfied the need for speed on this offense. At a certain point, you have to truly invest in a wide receiver that can separate from the snap and run away from dudes.

In the secondary, it’s the flip side of that. When technique, communication, and savvy broke down, we saw defensive backs fall victim to wide receivers who could separate. It’s a double-edged sword, sure, because the system in place and the coaching staff’s ability to teach it and prepare guys to play is what led to guys like Tre Avery and Terrance Mitchell having success this season. You need guys like that to play well – it’s a long season! But, you’d also alleviate a lot of pressure on your defense if you could find corners who could just flat out run with guys in 1:1 situations.

Robinson seemed to place more of an emphasis on polish and versatility during his time with the Titans than flat out traits. Now, that’s not to say he didn’t try to get speed in the secondary. He did spend first round selections on Adoree Jackson in 2017 and on Caleb Farley in 2021. The latter plays into a different criticism of Robinson in that he didn’t shy away from taking a player with an injury history – but that’s another thousand words on another day. But, from a consistency standpoint, he wasn’t routinely drafting players like Farley and Jackson. It was a lot more Chris Jackson and Theo Jackson types.

Tariq Woolen is a great example of what you can do with a physical specimen with tantalizing speed and traits. If this coaching staff is so good at getting guys up to snuff that fans are talking about expanded roles for Avery and Mitchell, imagine what it could do getting a guy like Woolen ready for the NFL?!?! I’m so fascinated by Robinson’s approach to team speed after hearing Vrabel’s comments and really looking back at the last seven seasons and thinking about it.

An element of speed gives you a raw advantage when things break down in the NFL, as they often do. It’s something the Titans haven’t had, and it’s part of the reason analysts have been saying for years that if you stop Henry, you stop the Titans. It allows you to be multiple and use players in a variety of ways, and the Titans just haven’t been very multiple without it! That’s a problem. It is one of a myriad of issues plaguing the team this offseason, but it’s one that’s easily rectifiable. You really only need a handful of players to give the Titans some juice in that regard – maybe a receiver and a couple of corners. I think we’re in store for a youth movement this spring, as the window on this team as it’s currently constructed appears to have been closed.

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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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