The Tennessee Titans won their first preseason game, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 19-13. Despite the victory, the general reaction from the fanbase has been one of concern. Quarterback Cam Ward struggled, completing less than 50% of his passes.
One positive was the performance of the starting offensive line. Ward was rarely under duress. Rookie Fernando Carmona has surprisingly emerged as the favorite to win the starting right guard job. Once the depth linemen entered the game, the Titans’ weaknesses
were exposed.
We’ve especially been beating the drum about the swing offensive tackle spots behind starters Dan Moore Jr. and JC Latham. Austin Deculus played second-string left tackle and was downright abysmal. Pro Football Focus credited him with allowing two sacks and slapped him with a score of 19.0 in pass protection.
If there was a positive, it was that sophomore UDFA Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson was pretty steady at right tackle. Are the Titans going to trust Crenshaw-Dickson to play behind both Moore and Latham though? General manager Mike Borgonzi needs to strongly consider finding a creative way to get better at the No. 3 tackle spot.
Carmona has emerged as the likely starting right guard partially because the initial contenders have disappointed. Veteran Cordell Volson entered the game and struggled both in pass protection and as a run blocker. Jackson Slater played exclusively at left guard, where he’s listed on the depth chart as Peter Skoronski’s backup. Slater was also tagged with allowing a sack by PFF.
If Carmona wasn’t trending in an interesting decision, the Titans would probably be forced to make a move at guard (Kevin Zeitler?). Elsewhere, they should absolutely consider a transaction at swing tackle, where Deculus is already predictably falling on his face.
The first week of the preseason proved the Titans have the offensive line issues we knew they did.
