Tennessee Titans

Head Coach: Mike Mularkey (1st year)
Offensive Coordinator: Terry Robiskie (1st year)
Defensive Coordinator: Dick LeBeau (2nd year)

Depth Chart

Quarterback: Marcus Mariota, Matt Cassel
Running Back: Demarco Murray, Derrick Henry (r), Dexter McCluster, David Cobb, Antonio Andrews
Wide Receiver: Kendall Wright, Rishard Matthews, Dorial Green-Beckham, Tajae Sharpe (r), Harry Douglas, Justin Hunter
Tight End: Delanie Walker
Kicker: Ryan Succop
Defense/Spec Teams: 2015-Finished 12th in total yards against and 27th in total points against. Finished 12th in sacks and 21st in interceptions.

Coaching Philosophy

Mike Mularkey takes over as head coach of the Titans after spending the last two years as the tight end coach, and when asked what type of coaching philosophy he wanted to implement in Tennessee, Mularkey responded that he wanted to run an, “Exotic Smashmouth” offense. He wants to model it on the offense he ran with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the early 2,000’s where he had Kordell Stewart and Jerome Bettis creating havoc. With Marcus Mariota, Demarco Murray and rookie running back, Derrick Henry, he has the personnel to do that. I expect a heavy dose of running this season, but not enough where Mariota can’t continue to develop as a quarterback. Unfortunately, that may mean he develops as a better “NFL quarterback” rather than a “Fantasy quarterback”.

In an article in The Tennessean (which you can find here), Mularkey states he wants to run “a faster, simpler offense”. He says it isn’t a Chip Kelly type, speed offense, but they should be able to get in and out of the huddle faster, and hopefully that means more plays and more fantasy production this year. The Titans finished 27th in plays from scrimmage in 2015, so it would definitely help fantasy production if they could run more plays this season.

Titans Quarterbacks

Marcus Mariota showed that he can do more than just run the ball last season.

Marcus Mariota enters his second season in the NFL and looks to improve on his very productive, rookie year. Despite missing four (almost five) games to injury, Mariota still finished as the QB22 in fantasy leagues last year and threw for almost 3,000 yards. He also chipped in 19 passing and two rushing touchdowns and showed he could be next in line to follow in the steps of Russell Wilson as a dual threat, passing/rushing fantasy quarterback. One thing I like about Mariota is that he seems like he is willing to do whatever it takes to win games. For example, he’s stated that he’s willing to “Hand the ball off 40 times a game’ if that’s what it takes for the Titans to win games. I don’t think he will have to do that, but with the addition of Demarco Murray and rookie, Derrick Henry, I think the Titans and Mike Mularkey’s “Exotic Smashmouth” offense, may make Mariota’s fantasy outlook this season a little less appealing.  I think he still has a legitimate shot to throw for 3,500 yards this year with 25 or touchdowns, and if you add in another 350-400 yards rushing, he can still be a very safe QB2 this season. I think that with the personnel they have on the offense, as well as the style I project them to play, limits his fantasy ceiling this year making him a little less desirable to me but still worth drafting as a relatively safe backup.

Titans Runningbacks

For those of you that spent an early pick last year on Demarco Murray in your fantasy football league, I hope you’ve gotten over the disappointment. Murray ran for over 1,800 in 2014 for the Cowboys and many thought he would be a fantasy juggernaut in Chip Kelly’s offense in Philly last year. Well, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. He rushed the ball almost 200 times less in 2015 as he did in 2014, only rushed for a little over 700 yards and couldn’t appear to get out of Chip Kelly’s doghouse all year. Murray is now on his third different team in the last three seasons and at 28 years old, he still has some time to rejuvenate his career.  After having almost 400 rushing attempts in 2014, it’s no surprise that he wasn’t that productive last year, so maybe the light workload last year allows him to come back fresh this season.

Rookie Derrick Henry is a MAN, and although I don’t think he has a huge load this year, he will be a stud for years to come.

The big question is whether the Titans will ask Murray to carry the load in the rushing attack by himself or will rookie Derrick Henry form a, “Dreaded” running back by committee situation in Tennessee? Being that running backs coach, Sylvester Croom has stated that Murray is a, “Coach’s Dream” and has been blown away with his work ethic and leadership, I think Murray gets earns the nod for more carries. Coaches tend to go with the more proven commodity than the unknown one, so while I still think Henry gets his share to keep Murray fresh, I feel that the vet will see substantially more work than the rookie. Last season the Titans ran the ball 371 times, which was 27th in the NFL in team rushing attempts. That’s what happens when you have Antonio Andrews, Dexter McCluster and David Cobb leading your rushing attack. I feel a substantial increase to around 425 attempts is very realistic in 2016 and you take out the 75 or so attempts for the quarterback and other backs, I think we see about 325 carries for the combination of Murray and Henry. I’m going to prognosticate that Murray sees about 200 of those and Henry makes up the other 125. Murray should be active in the passing game as well, so I think 900 rushing yards with 35-40 receptions and six to eight touchdowns puts him in the conversation of RB2. Personally, I feel that he has a lower floor than some of the other RB2’s and would feel more comfortable having him as my third back. Henry could be one of the best handcuffs in fantasy football this year and while he likely won’t hold a ton of value on a weekly basis in season long leagues, if Murray goes down Henry could immediately become a high end, fantasy option. You can safely stay away from Andrews, McCluster and Cobb this season.

Titans Wide Receivers

Dorial Green-Beckham was supposed to be the future number one wide receiver for the Titans, but he’s currently battling a rookie for the number two spot. A red flag has appeared…

When it comes to the Titans’ wide receivers, the best word I can think of is, “Meh”. Nothing really stands out for me as far as major fantasy relevance in redraft leagues. Rishard Matthews looked good last year as he scored double digit fantasy points in seven of the ten games he played in (PPR) for the Dolphins. He has good hands, is good at the short and intermediate routes and should be playing the “Z” wide receiver position in Mularkey’s offense. I think he has a shot at 600 yards with six or seven touchdowns and is a WR5 with WR4 upside for fantasy purposes this season. So far he and rookie Tajae Sharpe have been running with the first team in OTA’s this offseason. I’m not sold that Sharpe will overtake Dorial Green-Beckham for the spot however, so it’s a situation to monitor in training camp this August. I think Green-Beckham will ultimately get more snaps than Sharpe and since he is arguably the best red zone threat the Titans have, he is a nice choice for a later round flier. However, he’s currently being drafted in the ninth or tenth round and although I like his upside, that’s a little to too high of a price for someone who is battling for a starting job. Kendall Wright should be the slot receiver but it’s tough for me to project him with more than 50 catches as he battles Matthews, DGB, Sharpe and tight end Delanie Walker for catches in a run first offense.

Titans Tight Ends

Delanie Walker solidified himself as a top, fantasy tight end last season as he caught 94 balls for 1,088 yards with six touchdowns, and finished as the number two fantasy scoring, tight end. The thing I love about Walker is his consistency as he had at least six receptions in 11 of the 15 weeks he played in and had double digit fantasy points in all but two weeks in PPR leagues. He has become the favorite target of young, quarterback Marcus Mariota and I expect another good season in 2016. I think a small regression is coming, but not enough to drop him out of the top five for fantasy tight ends, and he will be a nice anchor tight end for your fantasy team this season.

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