With the Tennessee Titans in need of offensive line help after a dreadful year for the group in 2023, one player who has been named as a potential fit for the Titans in free agency is Cincinnati Bengals pending free agent and offensive tackle, Jonah Williams.
In an article predicting one free-agent signing for each team, Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson links Williams to Tennessee.
This one almost seems too easy. The Titans hired former Bengals OC Brian Callahan as their head coach this offseason and desperately need offensive line reinforcements. Jonah Williams has never been a Pro Bowler, but he’s a former first-round pick who can play a reliable left or right tackle.
Maybe Callahan doesn’t think Tennessee needs to bring in offensive line help because he added his father — Bill Callahan, arguably the NFL’s best OL coach — to the Titans’ staff. If the Callahans believe they can develop front-five talent, Tennesee could use its $65 million in cap space elsewhere.
On the surface, Williams makes sense for the Titans for a few reasons.
For starters, new Titans head coach Brian Callahan is very familiar with the former first-round pick after he served as Cincy’s offensive coordinator for five seasons.
Adding to that, Williams has the ability to play on either side of the line, so he could be a solution at right tackle while also being a fallback bridge option on the left side if the Titans don’t land a Day 1 left tackle in this year’s draft.
The concern is that Williams may not be much better (if at all) than what the Titans already have.
Williams played 1,086 snaps at right tackle for the Bengals last season and gave up eight sacks, 41 pressures and committed five penalties. He posted PFF grades of 57.9 and 54.0 in pass-blocking and run-blocking, respectively.
Tennessee’s 2024 in-house favorite for right tackle, Dillon Radunz, gave up five sacks and 36 pressures and committed 11 penalties while also posting PFF grades of 59.7 in pass protection and 78.7 in run-blocking in 504 total snaps at right tackle.
Bear in mind, Radunz was coming back from a torn ACL and got off to a slow start before finishing strong, with the former second-round pick allowing just one sack and seven pressures over his final five games.
In terms of a left tackle, Williams would be an upgrade over Andre Dillard and Jaelyn Duncan, but so would just about anyone with a pulse.
When he was the Bengals’ left tackle in 2022, Williams surrendered 12 sacks and 43 pressures in 1,101 regular-season snaps. The sacks were tied for the most in the NFL with Titans legend Dennis Daley.
Dillard gave up 12 sacks and 41 pressures in 2023, but also played half the snaps. Duncan allowed nine sacks and 36 pressures in 364 total snaps.
Unless the Titans think they can get more out of Williams with Bill Callahan, he isn’t a big enough upgrade at left tackle to be considered for that role, and I’d argue he’d be comparable, at best, to Radunz at right tackle, so signing him to start at that position wouldn’t make much sense.
Even if the Titans simply wanted to sign him as a swing tackle, I’d rather they spend the money elsewhere and just roll with Nicholas Petit-Frere and Jaelyn Duncan as options for that job.
