2. Tennessee Titans
Courtesy of USA Today Sports: This will be a common sight for the Titans’ defense in 2015.
If healthy, Brian Orakpo will be a nice addition to to the team. He will line up opposite the newly re-signed Derrick Morgan to form a solid one-two punch at outside linebacker. However, that’s not really going to mask the issues throughout the rest of this team’s defense. Tennessee yielded the third-most points (27.4 per game), sixth-most total yards (373.0 per game) while ranking 31st in the NFL against the run last season. Even a slightly improved pass rush isn’t going to change those numbers too dramatically.
The larger issue here for Tennessee is in the secondary. While the team did add Perrish Cox from the San Francisco 49ers in free agency, it remains to be seen whether his first-half performance last season was a fluke. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Cox put up a positive 6.4 grade in San Francisco’s first seven games before tallying one of the worst coverage grades in the NFL in the second half of the year. Cox joins a Titans secondary that already boasts one of the worst coverage free safeties in the league in the form of Michael Griffin.
There are also tremendous question marks along the team’s defensive line. Unless the combination of Sammie Hill and Jurrell Casey can open up gaps for Morgan and Orakpo on the outside, Tennessee’s issues in coverage won’t be masked. Those two also need to do a better job stopping the run, as evidenced by the team’s aforementioned ranking in that category.