After experiencing their second straight losing season in 2023, the Tennessee Titans fired head coach Mike Vrabel and replaced him with up-and-coming offensive guru Brian Callahan, who’s worked throughout the offseason to help general manager Ran Carthon to help build a competitive roster.
With that in mind, here are three more moves the Titans should make this offseason to get back to contending for a playoff spot.
Sign free-agent safety Justin Simmons
After trading All-Pro safety Kevin Byard last season, a hole opened up in the Titans secondary — one that still hasn’t been filled. The Titans could move former third-round pick Elijah Molden from cornerback to safety to fill it, or they could just sign a proven playmaker who still happens to be looking for a new team.
Simmons is only 30 and is a four-time second-team All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler. He’s a ballhawk who’s recorded multiple interceptions in every one of his eight seasons, including logging three or more picks in each of his last six years. Simmons could fill that defensive field general role that Byard occupied for so long and help bolster a secondary that ranked 18th against the pass and allowed the sixth-highest passer rating last season.
Sign free-agent defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah
After losing leading sacker Denico Autry (11.5) in free agency and two more defensive tackles, it was surprising the Titans didn’t sign any of the available pass-rushers in free agency or take one until the final round of the 2024 draft.
As of right now, T.K. McClendon is the only defensive end on Tennessee’s roster. The Titans could use another player coming off the edge next to defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat, which is exactly why they should make a run at the 6-foot-4, 278-pound Ogbah.
He’s recorded five or more sacks in five of his eight seasons, and he averages nearly 40 pressures and almost 25 hurries per season. Adding Ogbah to a pass-rushing until that also includes Simmons, Sweat, Harold Landry and Arden Key looks much better than what the Titans have right now.
Sign free-agent offensive tackle Cameron Erving
Right tackle was a mess for the Titans last season. Dillon Radunz (36 pressures, 26 hurries, five sacks, 504 offensive snaps) and Chris Hubbard (18 pressures, 10 hurries, four sacks, 472 offensive snaps) struggled to stop opposing rushers from getting to the QB, and the Titans could use some reinforcements on that side.
Erving played 252 snaps at right tackle last season, allowing just one sack and four pressures, per Pro Football Focus. Most of his NFL experience has come on the left side, where he’s seen 1,514 offensive snaps at left tackle, surrendering only nine sacks, and left guard, where he played 1,156 snaps and surrendered six sacks.
Erving would be the perfect player to give Nicholas Petit-Frere some competition for the starting RT job and create an intriguing position battle to watch during training camp.
