Titans’ biggest disappointments from 2022 season
The Tennessee Titans had a disappointing season in every possible way.
In one year, they went from being a bona fide Super Bowl contender that had home-field advantage in the playoffs, to a team that couldn’t even sneak into the tournament as part of the worst division in football.
The Titans dropped their last seven games to end the year and finished with the first losing record of the Mike Vrabel era
Injuries played a major part in all this, but even that’s a disappointment in its own right considering they never found a solution to a problem that has plagued them for two years in a row.
Truthfully, this Titans season will largely be a forgettable one for a variety of reasons. Let’s go ahead and discuss some of those reasons as we go over five of the biggest disappointments of the 2022 campaign.
This is probably the easiest decision on the list. To say the entire offensive line was a disaster in 2022 would be a massive understatement.
Things started roughly in Week 2 when they lost their starting left tackle, Taylor Lewan for the year — and it only got worse as the weeks passed.
By the end of the year, the Titans were down their starting left tackle, center, and right guard.
Meanwhile, as far as the other two remaining starters are concerned, one was an undersized guard, while the other was a third-round rookie offensive tackle, and both struggled.
This group especially struggled with pass protection, largely due to them having a liability protecting the quarterback’s blindside. Dennis Daley was tied for the league lead in sacks allowed with 12 on the year. In total, the Titans allowed 49 sacks, 26 percent of which came from Daley alone.
If there’s one positive to take away from that group in 2022, it’s the fact that things probably can’t get much worse than what happened last year.
You can’t talk about the 2022 Titans’ disappointments and not mention the entire wide receiver group. As you probably know by now, this nightmare began on draft night following the trade of A.J. Brown.
Skepticism immediately surrounded the position group, and unfortunately, it did not pan out thanks to underwhelming results all year long.
Part of the reason was the inconsistency at quarterback, considering the team used three different signal-callers this season. Nonetheless, it’s still fair to say this group left a lot on the table in its own right.
Rookie Treylon Burks showed flashes of stardom at times, but he essentially missed half the season with two different injuries and was limited to just 444 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Their top receiver was their eight-figure wideout in Robert Woods, who accounted for a just 527 yards. However, to be fair, he was coming off an ACL injury and he was one of the few players who at least played in every game this season. That said, that doesn’t explain his issues with drops.
As far as the rest of the group goes, it was significantly underwhelming by every metric possible.
To put their struggles into better perspective, it was the Titans’ backup running back, Dontrell Hilliard, who led the team in touchdown receptions (four) despite missing five games.
Expect this group to be completely revamped by the time next season rolls around.
This is a difficult one to include because Amani Hooker has been a fantastic player for this team whenever he’s on the field.
Unfortunately, that was a major part of the problem this season. Hooker had just signed a $33 million extension in the offseason, but he was unable to live up to those heightened expectations in Year 1.
The Titans safety only played in nine games this season, tallying 46 tackles, three pass break-ups, and one interception.
At one point in time, Caleb Farley had a ton of hype surrounding him as a prospect. Chris Simms even went as far as calling the Virginia Tech product a “generational talent” at the cornerback position during the pre-draft process.
Sadly, that hype has now completely vanished and turned into universal skepticism.
Farley’s biggest knock coming out was his undeniable health concerns with his knee and back. Fast forward a few years later and those two areas of concern have now prematurely ended the first two years of his career.
Adding to that, even when Farley has been able to get on the field he has looked lost, leading to his being an afterthought in the defense prior to his season-ending injury.
We’ve now reached the point where Farley will legitimately have to earn his spot on the roster in 2023.
New Titans general manager Ran Carthon has no ties to that selection, so it shouldn’t be hard for him to cut ties if things don’t drastically improve this offseason.
Fortunately, Tennessee’s first-round cornerback has been optimistic that his doctors finally solved the issues at hand with his back. Farley even claimed that his once explosive speed had returned after his latest operation.
Only time will tell how true that is, but this team could reap massive benefits in the near future if the former Hokie is truly healthy and can right the ship.
Last season, the talented linebacker was claimed off waivers by a Titans team that desperately needed help in the middle of its defense. Zach Cunningham instantly provided a positive impact on the unit, ultimately earning himself another stint in Tennessee this past season.
Things didn’t work out nearly as well this time around, though. Cunningham missed several games with injuries and was often struggling whenever he was on the field.
His inconsistent presence often forced players into the lineup that simply weren’t competent enough to be out there (Dylan Cole, Joe Schobert).
Because of that, it’s probably a safe assumption that the Vanderbilt product has likely played his last down in Tennessee.
Leave a Reply