Let’s not sugarcoat it: the Titans’ offensive line and quarterback situation is a disaster. After their 30-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday, I’m starting to get the feeling the Titans are the worst team in the league. To make matters worse, Malik Willis, who the Titans cut loose earlier this season, walked into Nissan Stadium as the Packers’ starter and handed Tennessee its third straight loss. Yeah, not great.
Willis didn’t exactly light it up, but he did enough to win, finishing 17-of-28 for 210 yards and a touchdown, and more importantly, kept the Titans’ defense on its heels with his mobility. To add some extra salt in the wound, the Packers’ head coach is Matt LaFleur, who was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator back in 2018. Having your old OC and third string QB come into Nashville and embarrass you in the shadow of the $2 billion stadium being built in the parking lot isn’t exactly the way to win over the fans.
Look, we knew the Titans’ offensive line was going to be an issue coming into this season. The cracks were there in 2023, and in the offseason, we heard all the right things—we improved the line through the drafting of JC Latham, Bill Callahan is the best offensive line coach in the NFL, etc. After three games, it’s pretty obvious that this offensive line is a turnstile.
JC Latham, the Titans 2024 first round pick and starting left tackle, has actually proven to be solid. He graded out at an 81.1 pass-pro grade per PFF and only allowed 1 pressure. Here are the rest of the pass pro PFF grades for the Titans o-line:
- Skoronski: 52.9 – 4 pressures (2 sacks)
- Cushenberry: 39.5 – 2 pressures
- Radunz: 75.1 – 1 pressure
- NPF: 48.3 – 2 pressures (1 sack)
- Duncan: 36.9 – 2 pressures (1 sack)
- (Other 4 sacks not attributed)
It’s hard to completely blame Levis for the team’s 0-3 start (yep, they’re the only 0-3 team in the league—how fun) when he spends most of the game picking himself off the ground or ducking out of the way of oncoming defenders. But he does deserve a good amount of criticism with his proclivity to give the other team the ball.
Here’s the real problem: how are we supposed to evaluate Will Levis when he’s playing behind an offensive line that couldn’t protect anyone you put back there? Again, he’s made a lot of mistakes—his turnovers have been awful—but we can’t overlook the fact that no QB can thrive under this kind of pressure. When you’re getting hit as soon as you drop back, it’s only a matter of time before bad decisions start to happen.
Levis threw two interceptions on Sunday, including another pick-six. That’s five interceptions in three games. But how much of that is on Levis, and how much is just the result of a young quarterback playing behind a line that’s giving him no help? It is probably a good combination of both which is a recipe for disaster. We are seeing that play out on Sundays.
Is There Hope?
Shorter answer: no.
The offensive line problem is not going to get fixed overnight. And putting in Mason Rudolph, who is less mobile than Levis, likely won’t help. He may turn the ball over less, but he also has less physical ability to make plays behind this line.
Could Will Levis prove to be the guy behind a veteran offensive line? I have serious doubts. He has the physical tools, but you have to take care of the ball and master the art of smart decision-making. Of the bottom 16 QBs in EPA (Expected Points Added) per drop back since 2022, only Levis and Deshaun Watson of the Browns are current starters.
Here is my hot take of the day: the Titans will most likely have a top five draft pick in the 2025 NFL draft. Do you take a gamble on Ewers, Ward, or Sanders? (Please god, no). Or do you trade back to acquire some capital and address the issues at OT/EDGE/WR?
My non-professional opinion would be the latter. This does not appear to be a particularly strong QB class. Fix what you can on the rest of the team. If we suck again next year, then maybe we will get a choice of Iamaleava, Manning, or Sellers at QB. Hopefully by then, we have a team that can set one of those QBs up for success.
As of now, the Titans/Levis experiment looks to have failed.