BOLD Predictions

[Mariota615TN]

First bold prediction:

It was reported by many (and credible) sources that the Titans made Derrick Henry available for trade the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. Now, with Derrick playing so well, it might be difficult to consider the possibility of trading him. However, especially if we miss the playoffs, I absolutely believe we make him available for trade and do trade him to potentially the Eagles or Raiders. With his stock going way up as of late, I believe we would be able to net a 3rd round pick for him this year or future 2nd to 3rd rounder the next year.  

Second bold prediction: 

With JROB now being with the team for a few years and feeling the heat a bit (especially if we miss the playoffs), I think he makes a very aggressive run at Le’Veon Bell AND we end up signing him. JROB is obviously aware that in order to be able to compete with the Texans and Colts within our division (for years to come), we are going to have to put up more points if we are to potentially win our division. Currently, we are ranked 27th in the league in “Points For” BUT we are the 2nd ranked team in “Points Against” — absolutely mind blowing stat (and last year this was the same trend for us). I believe the quickest way to improve our “Points For” is to sign a Todd Gurley level RB like Le’Veon Bell. I believe we sign him to a 4 year 50 million dollar contract with around 35 million guaranteed. I see incentives being built in as well where he could make up to 55 million total. I believe we will front load the contract where he makes the 35 million in his first two years of the contract, which will enable JROB to jump ship with little to no dead money if he wants as Bell goes into the 3rd year of his contract going on age 30.

The fact is, Mariota is our franchise QB and JROB is well aware that his success is going to be tied to Mariota. Marcus is a great teammate and Marcus is clutch, but Marcus is not a QB that will ever be able to take over a game with his own abilities like a Deshaun Watson or Andrew Luck. He is going to require a talented supporting cast around him for the rest of his career. We have got to put as much talent around him as we can. If JROB wants to ensure he has a job with the organization for the next 3-4 years, signing Bell would cement this time period for him as GM and give the Titans the best chance to be highly competitive within our division for years to come. 

Ohhh... and with the draft being in Nashville this year, this is yet another bonus as to why a Bell signing makes a bunch of sense.

 

 

But until this potentially comes to fruition, beat the REDSKINS AND COLTS and let’s go to the playoffs!

[dtait93]

Isn’t Bell another joint away from another big suspension?

[ttitansfan4life]

I don’t want anything to do with Bell. He won’t have the OL he’s had in Pittsburgh either.

[Titansfan_13]

I would 100% rather see us invest FA money in interior OL upgrades and keep Henry/Lewis. Draft a mid-late round back to develop or hope turns out to be a steal. I want no part of Bell. Especially with already having Lewis here as a FA back addition.

With better OL play, Delanie back, and a 2nd year in the same system I firmly believe the offense will be much improved next year.

[TitanSS]

Didn't Leveon Bell turn down like 14 million a year? He aint coming here. Steelers offense is better in just about every category without him anyway.

[Mariota615TN]

On 12/18/2018 at 11:44 AM, Titansfan_13 said:

I would 100% rather see us invest FA money in interior OL upgrades and keep Henry/Lewis. Draft a mid-late round back to develop or hope turns out to be a steal. I want no part of Bell. Especially with already having Lewis here as a FA back addition.

With better OL play, Delanie back, and a 2nd year in the same system I firmly believe the offense will be much improved next year.

As much as I want us to cut Ben Jones, I don’t believe it’s going to happen. Also, with Kline having a 4 million dollar dead cap next season, I don’t see us cutting him either. So, that leaves us with one spot to invest in, which is LG. Looking at potential free agents, there are literally ZERO guys who I would want to sign over Quentin Spain, and I do not even want to keep Spain. Also, looking at the draft, there are ZERO Offensive Guards worthy of drafting in the first round. Heck, there isn’t a Guard worth drafting until the 3rd round. 

So, I don’t see us even being able to “invest” in the interior offensive line because there truly is no player (free agent or draft) that is worth of “investing” in. Unless Kelechi Osemele becomes available via release, we are going to struggle to find a Spain upgrade. This is why I believe we have to find a RB who can create holes on their on and make players miss. Leveon Bell can not only do that, but he is a competent WR. We have the cap space to sign him and have the need to sign a player like him. Having Dion Lewis here won’t scare JROB away from signing a player who is 100 times better than Lewis. 

We have got to put points on the board and we have struggled to do this for two consecutive years. Something has to change, and we know the change is not going to be Mariota turning into Tom Brady. I truly believe Mariota is very close to hitting his ceiling as an NFL player — and if we are going to have any chance of competing within our division, it’s crucial we find a proven dynamic RB to help lessen the burden on Mariota and to contribute significantly to putting up points.

[Kookie23]

He's not going to be worth his asking price and I'm not even sure if we'd have the cap space anyway.  Mariota's going to need to be re-signed soon and other names like Byard will be coming up.  It's just not realistic.

[ragevsuall17]

We have the cap space... For Bell, Mariota, Byard, etc. 

But do we want to use that kinda cap on a RB? I definitely don't. 

And while yes, he technically turned down a contract that avaraged 14m/year, we have to stop looking at contracts that way. The reason he rejected it was that only 10M of that 70M was guaranteed. That guarantee was less than his tag amount. David Johnson just got 30M guaranteed. That's why he didn't sign that ridiculous contract offer. 

Now, he was dumb for not reporting this year. If this was truly about money, he just lost out on 14M he'll never get back. He'll get a nice contract out of someone (Colts?)... Guarantees in the 30M plus that el pay him at least 30M his first 2 years. That's just how NFL contracts work. 

We could afford that if we wanted, but we need to upgrade pieces at wr and olb much more than rb. Rb is also easier to find later in the draft. 

[VY]

On 12/18/2018 at 9:44 AM, Titansfan_13 said:

I would 100% rather see us invest FA money in interior OL upgrades and keep Henry/Lewis. Draft a mid-late round back to develop or hope turns out to be a steal. I want no part of Bell. Especially with already having Lewis here as a FA back addition.

With better OL play, Delanie back, and a 2nd year in the same system I firmly believe the offense will be much improved next year.

Back up the dump truck (or high draft pick) for a guard. Normally I've felt we've burned a lot of capital on the line, but the past two seasons we've seen inconsistent play plague us. More steady performance - especially in the interior line - and we probably have another win or two this season. I still think Conklin moving to OG may be worth a look with how well Kelly has showed at RT. 

My bold prediction would be J-Rob making a splash at WR. With Delanie and then Jonnu going down, the passing game has fallen off a cliff. Davis is the only guy a defense needs to worry about, and the rest of our crew is too inexperienced or lacks something to step up more than one-offs. Free agency looks a bit weak, so will have to try something creative to upgrade there.

[TitanSS]

Really no one in FA to splash on this year outside of the EDGE guys. Not a strong year.

[ttitansfan4life]

29 minutes ago, TitanSS said:

Really no one in FA to splash on this year outside of the EDGE guys. Not a strong year.

Yep pretty weak FA class. Then again I expect the edge guys to get tagged/resigned anyways. Otherwise, we should going all out for Lawrence.

 

[TitanSS]

Just now, ttitansfan4life said:

Yep pretty weak FA class. Then again I expect the edge guys to get tagged/resigned anyways. Otherwise, we should going all out for Lawrence.

 

I'm sure he's tagged or signed too. Even if he isn't, Sportrac has him projected to get 21 million a year. If that's true, I just don't think we would do it with the other holes we have and the contracts ending in 2020. We could make it work, but we would have to make some moves and may not end up able to resign Logan Ryan.

He would change this defense though. Everything we need to be up there with the Bears.

[Titansfan_13]

51 minutes ago, VY said:

Back up the dump truck (or high draft pick) for a guard. Normally I've felt we've burned a lot of capital on the line, but the past two seasons we've seen inconsistent play plague us. More steady performance - especially in the interior line - and we probably have another win or two this season. I still think Conklin moving to OG may be worth a look with how well Kelly has showed at RT. 

My bold prediction would be J-Rob making a splash at WR. With Delanie and then Jonnu going down, the passing game has fallen off a cliff. Davis is the only guy a defense needs to worry about, and the rest of our crew is too inexperienced or lacks something to step up more than one-offs. Free agency looks a bit weak, so will have to try something creative to upgrade there.

Would not mind trying Conklin at OG if Kelly holds up these next 2+ games. However if we do that, I would want to still invest in quality depth. Kelly has been huge playing that depth role because we know we don't have to worry if one of our tackles goes down.

[TitanSS]

Kelly's a good backup, but he's a backup. Conklin will and should be the starting RT for 2019.

I went back and watched him vs Ohio State in 2015 the other day. It's just hard to believe it was the same person we saw this year. He absolutely dominated Tyquan Lewis, who is starting at DE for the Colts now. Something wasn't right with him after the injury.

If he fails again in 2019 we can try him at G, but I think he will be back in shape. Footwork was his biggest issue coming out of the draft, and I think he really struggled with it missing the entire off-season.

[Titansfan_13]

27 minutes ago, TitanSS said:

Kelly's a good backup, but he's a backup. Conklin will and should be the starting RT for 2019.

I went back and watched him vs Ohio State in 2015 the other day. It's just hard to believe it was the same person we saw this year. He absolutely dominated Tyquan Lewis, who is starting at DE for the Colts now. Something wasn't right with him after the injury.

If he fails again in 2019 we can try him at G, but I think he will be back in shape. Footwork was his biggest issue coming out of the draft, and I think he really struggled with it missing the entire off-season.

I'm sure he rushed back, if you look at the timeline between the injury and his return I believe it was fairly aggressive. I know they say ACLs are healing quicker these days, but each one is different anyway. And missing the offseason definitely didn't do him any favors either. Especially as we were transitioning schemes.