After a 6-11 season, it’s hard to find the positives for the Tennessee Titans, who saw their fair share of struggles on both sides of the ball.
Things were definitely worse on offense, with Tennessee ranking 28th, 18th and 28th in passing, rushing and points, respectively.
However, it’s not like the defense was anything to write home about, with the Titans finishing 16th, 14th and 16th in pass defense, run defense and points allowed.
While none of those rankings are ideal, there were some positives to pick out when diving a bit deeper. Here’s a look at eight things that actually went right for Tennessee in 2023.
The top half of the draft class
The Titans appear to have three foundational pieces on offense after drafting quarterback Will Levis, running back Tyjae Spears and left guard Peter Skoronski in the 2023 NFL draft.
Despite a mess around him, Levis had some impressive performances and showed he can make all the throws, giving hope that the Titans have found their long-term solution at quarterback.
Skoronski hit a rough patch from Weeks 14-17 (four sacks, 20 pressures), but was good in the other 10 games he played (one sack, 12 pressures) and had a strong finish to the season with a dominant performance in Week 18.
Bear in mind, he was also surrounded by two poor pass protectors at left tackle and center, and he had to overcome a setback after needing an appendectomy during the season that sapped his weight and strength.
Spears was stuck behind Derrick Henry but more than passed the eye test and finished with 838 scrimmage yards, ranking 10th among all first-year players and fourth among rookie running backs.
The back-end of the draft class didn’t do anywhere near as much as the top half, but that’s how things normally go with late-round picks, especially in the first year.
Even still, tight end Josh Whyle showed some flashes in limited opportunities and offensive tackle Jaelyn Duncan gained valuable experience that will hopefully propel him to being a solid backup moving forward.
Trading Kevin Byard
Byard was having a rough season with the Titans, but things only got worse for him after being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, a deal that wasn’t too popular at the time because of the seemingly lackluster return that included safety Terrell Edmunds and draft picks in the fifth and sixth rounds.
Here’s a look at Byard’s numbers with Tennessee and Philly:
With Titans (six games):
Completion rate allowed: 72.7%
Passer rating allowed: 99.8
Touchdowns: 0
With Eagles (10 games):
Completion rate allowed: 75.6%
Passer rating allowed: 103.3
Touchdowns: 2
And to top it all off, there was a play like this in the Eagles’ wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday evening:
This is so bad it honestly looks fake. James Bradberry and Kevin Byard CMON smh.pic.twitter.com/UMWOyiJEk1 https://t.co/rnBShajhDY
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 16, 2024
When you consider where the Titans ultimately ended up this season, the fact they didn’t have fifth- and sixth-round picks and Byard’s decline, the trade looks like much more of a win than it did back in October.
Red-zone defense
With the Titans likely to have a fair amount of turnover on defense and a new coaching staff, this stat doesn’t do much in terms of future outlook, but it’s impressive, nonetheless.
Tennessee sported the best red-zone defense in the NFL in 2023, with their opponents finding pay dirt on just 37.7 percent of trips inside the 20. That percentage was also the third-best mark in the league since 2014.
Signing DeAndre Hopkins
The Titans have quite the history of signing or trading for aging elite wide receivers and seeing it not pan out, but Hopkins broke the mold in his first season in the two-tone blue.
Not only was Hopkins instrumental in the development of Levis, serving as his No. 1 target, he also broke the 1,000-yard mark for the first time since 2020 and showed he has plenty left in the tank.
Hopkins is under contract in 2024 and should absolutely be on this team as long as he wants to come back.
Bargain-bin signings
With the team strapped for cash, the Titans had to bet on upside with their free-agent signings last offseason and did a good job overall finding some impactful starters.
Yes, left tackle Andre Dillard was the definition of a failure, but guys like linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, right guard Daniel Brunskill and outside linebacker Arden Key all had good seasons.
SMB struggled with penalties, no doubt, but he showed he’s a capable No. 2 cornerback who could bridge the gap if re-signed. Al-Shaair, who is also a pending free agent, was a great leader and finished fifth in the NFL in tackles. He’s someone Tennessee should definitely bring back.
When healthy, Brunskill was Tennessee’s most consistent offensive lineman and made the case he should be considered for a starting role at guard or center in 2024.
Key totaled the second-most sacks in a single season in his career and is a good rotational piece who will factor into Tennessee’s plans next season.
The specialists
The Titans were staring down the barrel of yet another questionable situation at kicker in 2023 after rolling the dice on two inexperienced options in camp failed. However, trading for Folk changed everything.
The veteran kicker went on to post the second-best field goal success rate in the NFL (96.7 percent), was effective from 50-plus and he proved fears over his past kickoff numbers were much ado about nothing.
Granted, it wasn’t perfect, with Folk missing some key extra points in close games, but his addition was an overwhelming success overall and he should be re-signed in 2024.
On top of Folk, punter Ryan Stonehouse had another sensational season prior to his injury. The Colorado State product’s ability to flip the field was crucial with Tennessee’s offense struggling, and he once again led the NFL in gross average yards per punt and he improved his net average and percentage of punts that were downed inside the 20.
The edge rushers
The pass-rush wasn’t as consistent as we would’ve liked, but there’s no question it was the biggest strength for Tennessee on defense this season thanks to a talented trio of edge rushers..
Defensive lineman Denico Autry had a career year with 11.5 sacks, and both outside linebackers Harold Landry (10.5 sacks) and Arden Key (6.0) tallied the second-most sacks in a season in their respective careers.
Landry, who caught fire down the stretch, was especially impressive because he was coming off a torn ACL.
Autry will be a free agent in 2024 and normally a player turning 34 would be off limits for a rebuilding team like Tennessee. However, he more than made the case for the Titans to bring him back.
Moving Roger McCreary to the slot
After spending his entire rookie season on the boundary, the Titans moved the Auburn product to the slot, where he thrived.
McCreary did see his completion rate allowed go up (69.2 to 71.9), but his yards per reception (11.4 to 10.0), touchdowns (seven to zero), passer rating (113.8 to 87.3), pressures (two to seven), sacks (zero to two) and coverage grade (60.4 to 72.2) all improved, per PFF.
In addition, McCreary made PFF’s list of the top 32 cornerbacks in the NFL, coming in at No. 19 overall and No. 14 among AFC corners.
The Titans’ roster has a lot of question marks going into this offseason, but slot cornerback isn’t among them.
