The Tennessee Titans are who we feared they were.
When the Titans spent a good part of the offseason putting bandages over holes in the offensive line and parts of the defense, it was done with the intention of keeping this team a contender in the relatively weak AFC South.
After all, even with all the troubles of a seven-game collapse that ended the 2022 season, they were three minutes and a questionable fumble call from winning the division and hosting a playoff game.
Those moves to sign enough mostly bargain guys to keep the team afloat until it could be completely upgraded were made with good intentions. But that experiment has failed six weeks in.
The Titans are 2-4 with a bye week coming up. The offensive line reboot has not stopped the glitching that remains in protecting the quarterback.
And quite predictably, quarterback Ryan Tannehill is back at the same place he ended last year – on the shelf with a right ankle injury that could sideline him for at least the short term.
Coach Mike Vrabel said Monday Tannehill’s ankle injury was similar to the injury he initially suffered last year. When Tannehill hurt the ankle last year in Week Six against the Colts, he missed the next two games, returned against the Denver Broncos in Week Nine and then was lost for the season when he reinjured it against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 12.
“It’s similar to where they were last year. We’ll see how it goes. We’ve got some time here before our next game. Ryan will get treatment and this will be a big week to see how he progresses,” Vrabel says. “We’ll make a decision on his availability next week and what we do then.”
If, as Vrabel says, the injury from last year is any indication, Tannehill could likely miss the Oct. 29 home game against the Atlanta Falcons and perhaps the trip to Pittsburgh that comes four days later for Thursday Night Football.
In the meantime, the Titans are faced with a question, one that they put off in the offseason, trying to remain a pseudo-contender: Is it time for a rebuild? And when I say a rebuild, I mean, is it time now to see what they have in Will Levis?
Malik Willis came off the bench Sunday for Tannehill, and while his final numbers (4 of 5 for 74 yards) looked decent, a 48-yard chunk of that came on a screen pass in which rookie running back Tyjae Spears did the bulk of the work.
Willis also was sacked four times and failed to get out of bounds or throw the ball away with the clock ticking down in the final quarter.
The readout on Willis is still this: He has improved, but has he improved enough that the Titans should anoint him as the quarterback of the future? The likely answer there is “not right now.” Even though Willis presents the only “experienced” backup the Titans have, they have some indication of what he is and what his ceiling might be.
Which brings us to Levis, who I wrote about just last week concerning the trials and tribulations of learning to be an NFL quarterback with little to no live reps. Both Vrabel and Levis talked about how hard it is to develop a young quarterback behind the scenes when all the offensive practice reps go to the starter and his readying for the next opponent.
Now, with Tannehill’s unfortunate re-injury of his ankle, and the Titans having a bye week before they face the Falcons, everything is lining up that this should be the time for Levis to get his on-the-job training and for Vrabel and Ran Carthon to start the evaluation process in earnest.
The question is, will they? Vrabel insisted in his Monday press conference that both Levis and Willis will get time with the first-team offense during the bye week practices.
“I don’t know who that would be yet. We’ll see how they continue to practice and get them some work this week with some guys that they haven’t necessarily worked with,” Vrabel says. “They’ve been working on the show team during the season. So I’m excited to get both those guys some reps with the offensive guys and see how they handle that.”
As it is, the Titans are already behind the Texans – and perhaps the Colts – in the race to rebuild in the AFC South. The early returns on Houston’s C.J. Stroud indicate he is a keeper. In Indianapolis, Anthony Richardson’s rookie season was derailed by a shoulder injury against the Titans that could be season-ending.
Now, with Tannehill’s return to action unclear, is the time for the Titans to unwrap Levis and let him learn. Just like they did with Willis, they will have to live with his rookie mistakes and let him see if he can learn from them and not repeat them.
It won’t be an easy process; it seldom is with a rookie quarterback. But with the rebuild now appearing inevitable, the Titans have to salvage something from the 2023 season – like knowing what the quarterback situation looks like heading into next year.