Biggest remaining needs for each AFC South team

Tennessee Titans – A gameplan to feature Marcus Mariota’s strengths

These Titans might not have a boatload of stars quite yet, but looking at this roster – they have as complete a team as there is. There was no single position I could have pointed out where they would really need an upgrade and at most of them, they have pretty good depth as well.

The Titans have a strong offensive line, a bruising runner in Derrick Henry, sophomore receiver Corey Davis looks like a future star and defensively they added key pieces on the edge (Boston College rookie Harold Landry), at inside linebacker (Alabama rookie Rashaan Evans) and in the secondary (free agent cornerback Malcolm Butler). What is truly missing when I watch them on tape, is a plan for how to utilize their dual-threat QB Marcus Mariota in the right fashion.

Tennessee is built to push defenses around in the run game and give their receivers one-on-one matchups off play-action. However, when I put on the tape, I see way too many true drop-back plays and they never really made the young signal-caller comfortable at reading the field. Think of Cam Newton when he came out of Auburn’s spread-system. The coaching staff only asked him to read half the field and get comfortable in the pocket, before wanting him to scan the entire field.

While one of my biggest critiques of Cam’s mental game has been his tendency to keep tunnel vision, I believe the Titans put way too much on Mariota’s plate once they drafted him second overall. He was thrown into the fire immediately and even though he handled it pretty well, I still believe they should let him operate in a fashion, that makes him more comfortable. New office coordinator Matt LaFleur seems to be a perfect match with the young signal-caller. He brings in a lot of Shanahan influences, when it comes to running zone and heavy boot action off of it.