The Tennessee Titans had a pretty good swing tackle last season in Oli Udoh. Udoh played 341 snaps either as a sixth blocker in jumbo packages, or in relief of JC Latham and/or Dan Moore Jr. at left and right tackle. He performed very admirably as far as backup tackles go, allowing three sacks and 19 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
Despite Udoh being a steady hand, the Titans have seemingly made the decision to move on. He’s currently an unrestricted free agent and the Titans have not
re-signed him. Alternatively, they recently signed free-agent offensive tackle Austin Deculus, who appears to be the new No. 3 tackle behind Latham and Moore.
It feels like a massive downgrade. Deculus was a downright disaster for the Los Angeles Chargers last season. Did you watch Justin Herbert consistently running for his life? Deculus was a big reason why. PFF credited him with forfeiting seven sacks and 37 pressures en route to a 33.1 pass-blocking grade. He was their second-worst graded tackle in protection.
Good players get sacrificed when new coaching staff regimes come in. The Titans have let some decent rotational players go, like Corey Levin, Sebastian Joseph-Day and Darrell Baker Jr. They’ve replaced them with players the staff and front office is more familiar with, like Austin Schlottmann, Solomon Thomas, Jordan Elliott, and Joshua Williams.
We’d guess something similar is happening with Deculus. He was on the New York Jets in 2023 when Robert Saleh was the head coach. Deculus was also on the New Orleans Saints for a brief period in 2024 when current Titans assistant general manager Dave Ziegler was with the team.
Perhaps offensive coordinator Brian Daboll sees Deculus as a better fit for his scheme. We’d question how such a lackluster pass protector fits any scheme better than Udoh. Most of the Titans’ roster decisions have been upgrades, or at least equal to in terms of talent they’re replacing (Schlottmann vs. Levin, Josh Williams vs. Baker Jr. etc). but this one feels like a confusing downgrade.
The Titans better hope Moore and Latham stay incredibly healthy throughout 2026.
