The Tennessee Titans are possibly one of the biggest question marks heading into the newest season of the National Football League. Quarterback drama, roster construction, injuries, and departures are the key storylines to follow heading into week one on Sept. 11.

Let’s start with the ever-so-prevalent quarterback drama. After last year’s collapse in the opening round of the 2021 playoffs, one in which starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill saw ghosts, throwing an interception on the first play of the game; throwing three total interceptions throughout the contest.

This year’s draft saw three star quarterbacks being portrayed as team saviors’: Kenny Pickett out of the University of Pittsburgh, Malik Willis; the Liberty Flames product, and Desmond Ridder; courtesy of the University of Cincinnati.

The storyline that shocked the football world was about the plummeting of the latter two QB prospects, Malik Willis and Desmond Ridder. Willis would fall all the way to the third round, as would Ridder. The Titans selected Willis with the 86th pick, in most general manager’s eyes Tennessee went with the best available pick left on the board. Willis; the 6-foot-1-inch 219-pound prospect courtesy of Liberty threw for 2,250 yards in 2020 with a touchdown to interception ratio of 20/6. Willis went for 2,857 yards in 2021 and made strides in the field general aspect of his game. While not having as good statistically of a season; in terms of sheer completion percentage and overall ball protection and efficiency.

Willis ended his college campaign his junior year throwing for or rushing for a total of 27 touchdowns while throwing 12 interceptions. Now the very obvious and looming question for Tennessee is: when will the changing of the guard take place in Music City? Ryan Tannehill is still squarely the day one starter, let’s make that very clear. Malik Willis still has glaring holes in his game, some which Coach Vrabel has opening acknowledged.

He [Vrabel] stated his reasoning for benching Willis after the Titans preseason outing against the Baltimore Ravens; a game that resulted in a 23-10 loss to the black birds. Media jumped at the opportunity to pester Vrabel about what seemed to be a coaching decision that signaled a lack of trust in the young signal-caller. Coach Vrabel reiterated his decision to bench Willis stating, “He needs to throw the ball when guys are open… Be more decisive, so we’ll evaluate that and see if there is a timing issue or whats going on. I wanted to get him out there and see how he [Malik] responded. He did OK” Willis has suited up for all the Titans’ preseason games. It is understood that Willis will be the backup to Tannehill unless the wheels fall off.

Another issue the Titans’ will look to bounce back from last year is the amount of injuries. Tennessee had used at least 70 players on last year’s roster. It’s safe to say the injury bug bit the Titans’ very hard last season. The obvious major injury was to superstar running back Derrick Henry, who broke his foot in Week 9 of the 2021 season.

Miraculously, the Titans’ scrounged out a 12-5 record without King Henry. Now that everyone is back healthy the Titans will certainly look to run it back this year after a bitter end last year at the hands of Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

The biggest and most impactful storyline out of Nashville was the trade of disgruntled superstar receiver A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles, after he and GM Jon Robinson couldn’t reach a new contract extension. With the departure of the Titans’ former number one wide-out, they turned to the Los Angeles Rams to inquire about trading for Robert Woods, which the Titans’ accomplished by trading a 6th round pick for him.

Woods is coming into the 2022 season off a torn ACL that  he suffered in practice before Week 10 against the 49ers’ last season. If Woods returns to form, he will definitely be WR1 for the two-tone blue. Also with Brown’s departure, the Titans turned to the draft and selected WR Treylon Burks out of Arkansas. The 6-foot-2 inch 225 pounds wide-out was an All-SEC first team selection in 2021. He scored 11 touchdowns in 12 starts; setting a school record with six 100- yard receiving efforts. He opted out of the Razorbacks’ bowl game to prepare for the Draft.

With the season opener looming, the Titans are trimming the roster down to 53 players. One of the most notable cut players: fan favorite veteran punter, Brett Kern. Kern, who has been with the team since 2009, was informed that Tennessee would be heading in a new direction this season.

Tennessee kicks off the season against the New York Giants in Nashville for the opener.  Kickoff along the Cumberland is set for 3:25 p.m. CT.

Tennessee Titans 2022 Active Roster

Ola Adeniyi

Ugo Amadi

Denico Autry

Tre Avery

Aaron Brewer

Randy Bullock

Treylon Burks

Kevin Byard

Chance Campbell

Trenton Cannon

Tony Carter

Julius Chestnut

Dylan Cole

Morgan Cox

Zach Cunningham

Nate Davis

Bud Dupree

Caleb Farley

Kristian Fulton

Da’Shawn Hand

Hassan Haskins

Derrick Henry

Dontrell Hilliard

Amani Hooker

Austin Hooper

Lonnie Johnson

Ben Jones

Jamarco Jones

Naquan Jones

Joshua Kalu

Harold Landry

Corey Levin

Taylor Lewan

David Long

Roger McCreary

Racey McMath

Elijah Molden

A.J. Moore

Chigoziem Okonkwo

Nicholas Petit-Frere

Kyle Philips

Dillon Radunz

Jeffrey Simmons

Ryan Stonehouse

Kevin Strong

Geoff Swaim

Ryan Tannehill

Teair Tart

DeMarcus Walker

Rashad Weaver

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

Malik Willis

Robert Woods

*roster courtesy NFL.com