[FREE] Lack of Urgency: Titans & Right Tackle
Have the Tennessee Titans been too waxed with their approach to the right tackle position?
Get 20% off forever by clicking the button below.
It seems the Titans have a problem on their hands.
But instead of me putting it into the open, I’ll invite you to play a little game with me instead. In this exercise, I’ll ask you readers to guess what the Titans’ problem is.
You have 10 seconds….now go and set your mind ablaze.
…
Finished yet? Alright, pencils down.
Now, if you guessed “the lack of depth defensively”, then you were wrong. Although that is a problem in itself, it isn’t the one we’ll be talking about today. If you guessed “the Titans’ offensive line”, you were close, but not close enough.
The problem we’ll be discussing today is related to the offensive line though.
Now, if you guessed “the Titans lax attitude about the right tackle spot”, then you’d be right on the money. Too hard of a question? I apologize, but we have to spice this up somehow right?
In all seriousness though, I think it’s time to have a bit of a talk about the Titans and their attitude towards the right tackle position.
Coming into the season, it was Nicholas Petit-Frere who was scheduled to handle the Titans’ right tackle spot. He’d been a starter there for most of the 2022 season, so there was really no way the Titans were going to find another option there.
Plus, he was a third round pick in 2022, and picks that high need on field investment before they’re discarded as useless.
However, the Titans’ right tackle plans were thrown into a sea of fire after news broke that Petit-Frere would be suspended the first six games of the 2023 regular season. Once that piece of news made waves, speculation set in.
Who would be the starter while Petit-Frere is out? Would the Titans go for an in-house option? Or someone on the free agent market?
We didn’t receive an answer until mid to late July, when the Titans brought in a few free agent options for workouts. George Fant and Chris Hubbard were the two names the Titans brought to the table, both representing themselves as replacements, but in different capacities.
Fant would be more of a plug in starter — a starter that’s just better than Petit-Frere at this point — while Hubbard would be more of a depth piece if need be. Obviously fans wanted the more reasonable starter in Fant, but the Titans went for the depth route, signing Hubbard instead.
This signaled that the Titans would be leaning towards more of an in-house approach, with 2022 free agent pickup Jamarco Jones, being the obvious favorite to take over the job until Petit-Frere returns from his suspension.
That’s totally fine and dandy.
But while the Titans might feel comfortable with Jones, sticking Jones in there feels like a bit of a lax move. That isn’t to say us on the outside know more than Ran Carthon, Mike Vrabel, and the rest of the Titans’ decision making group.
However, sticking with an unknown in Jones — or any of the other in-house candidates — feels more like a misstep than a shrewd move or a move that makes all of us nod our heads in agreement.
I might be rambling on a bit here, so let me just get into the extra details that’ll either make you agree with me, or cause you to throw tomatoes at my obnoxiously large head.
Are any of the in-house candidates really that….good?
This is the million dollar question.
When you consider in-house options for position replacements, you ideally want those options to be suitable enough to where you can confidently plug them in.
But if you look at the current in-house options mentioned by Vrabel himself, can you confidently plug any of those guys in without any worry?
Jamarco Jones has primarily been an interior option or a left sided tackle during his time in the league, with minimal time coming at right tackle. Not saying he can’t play at right tackle, but a guy with experience primarily inside isn’t a perfect ideal match.
Chirs Hubbard has loads of experience, but he’s more so on the downswing of his career. He might be fine as a depth option, but should he really be in the running to start along an offensive line that has enough question marks already?
The same can be said for the likes of Andrew Rupcich and Jaelyn Duncan. Both are young guys with limited experience, but it feels premature to line them up as starting first team options.
All of the potential candidates have a load of questions, particularly their ability to contribute as a first team option. And it isn’t just a hate session, it’s a conversation based around real concerns.
Vrabel has had issues with pinpointing offensive line depth before. Are we sure this isn’t another case?
Was passing over a better option the correct move?
What many were expecting — at least in terms of the Titans addressing their hole at right tackle — was for the team to bring in veteran tackle option George Fant.
Fant was the better of the two options between him and Hubbard, when both were brought in for a workout before the start of training camp. So with that in mind, you’d expect the Titans to bring in Fant right?
Well, no.
Instead, Fant went to a division rival, and has left the Titans in a bit of a bind at right tackle.
This isn’t some piece to say Fant is some supremely talented option that the Titans should’ve been fighting tooth and nail to sign. Fant was a free agent this late into the summer for a reason.
What this is though, is an informational bit of wording that suggests that maybe Fant should’ve been signed instead of Hubbard, therefore putting this weird situation in a better spot.
To put this into better perspective, just look over the numbers tied to Fant during his last healthy season in 2021. PFF credits him with a pass blocking grade of 75.1 and a run blocking grade of 59.9, both not supreme numbers, but feel like them when you compare those same numbers to Petit-Frere’s own in 2022 (50 PBG, 57 RBG).
So why opt to disregard Fant in favor of a depth piece like Hubbard?
The Titans will never tell us. We can guess that they believe in Jones to hold down the fort until Petit-Frere gets back, or they’d want to get more out of Petit-Frere rather than kick the bucket on him this early in his career — as mentioned previously due to his status as a third round pick.
Like I said, the Titans will never tell us their reasoning.
Whatever the case may be, it still feels like a bit of a waste to ignore the better option, while nonchalantly hoping your often injured in house favorite for the starting spot can do his job, while also hoping the rest of your offensive line can gel and keep your starting quarterback off the ground.
Seems like a lot to worry about, no?
Overview
Honestly, if the Titans want to get the most out of Petit-Frere, then that’s reasonable. He’s a former high(er) draft pick, still young, and can still develop into a firm starter up front.
The only way towards doing that, is by shoving his 2022 season into a dumpster fire, and praying it doesn’t reflect on who the player actually is. You can’t actually do that by signing a proven veteran that might be better than your younger option.
But that strategy has its risks, particularly moving forward when it comes to the outlook of the offensive line as a whole.
You don’t know what you’re going to get with this unit this season and beyond, so it’d be better to start filling long term holes wherever you can. If you’re still stuck with a hole at right tackle, then that’s another position you could’ve filled in the past.
And another position you’ll have to spend future assets on to fill.
The Titans certainly don’t want to run into that situation, right?
Don’t forget that if you’re not a paid subscriber, that you won’t have access coming up to the articles I put out Monday-Friday! So, click below to get started today!
You can also share Stacking The Inbox to anyone you may think will enjoy this comment! sharing is caring!