Tennessee Titans to win with Young?

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Despite closing out their 13-3 2008 season with a divisional round loss to the Ravens, the Tennessee Titans seemed to be poised to return to the post season behind the arm of Kerry Collins and the legs of Chris Johnson. However, after an 0-6 start capped by an embarassing 59-0 loss to the Patriots, the Titans turned over the reigns to 2006 first round pick Vince Young who lead the team to a 8-8 finish.

As they enter 2010 the Tennessee Titans will look to get younger in a few positions, most notably at center where they have not pursued perennial Pro Bowler Kevin Mawae. Additionally, there may be a changing of the guard at linebacker as Keith Bulluck remains a free agent while he rehabs his ACL injury. Finally, Tennessee must believe the Young they saw in 2009 has matured into leader, as they paid him a $4.25 million roster bonus to continue his contract.

2009 Team Record: 8-8
First Round Pick: 16th Overall

Roster Analysis

2009 Active Roster Batting Average (NFL Average): 56.60% (44.69%)
2009 Draft Pick Retention: 81.8%*
Undrafted Players on 2009 Active Roster (NFL Average): 20.75% (27.89%)

2010 Free Agents

Unrestricted: 11
Restricted: 6
Notable: Keith Bullock, OLB (UFA); Kevin Mawae, C (UFA); LenDale White, RB (RFA)

Last Five First Rounds

2009 – Kenny Britt, WR, Rutgers (30th Overall)
2008 – Chris Johnson, RB, East Carolina (24th Overall)
2007 – Michael Griffin, FS, Texas (19th Overall)
2006 – Vince Young, QB, Texas (3rd Overall)
2005 – Pacman Jones, CB, West Virginia (6th Overall)

DNQBR

We did not calculate a DNQBR for the Tennessee Titans for the 2009 season as neither Vince Young or Kerry Collins started 13 or more games.^

Notes & Observations

• Nine of Tennessee’s 11 draft picks made the team’s active roster
• G Ryan Durand and S Nick Schommer, both 7th round selections, finished the year on the team’s practice squad
• Tennessee has been quiet so far in the early days of free agency losing DE Kyle Vanden Bosch to Detroit while signing LB Will Witherspoon who spent 2009 with the Eagles.

* we have not performed a complete analysis of teams’ 2009 draft selections versus their 2009 active rosters in order to calculate an NFL league average.

^ we will detail the breakdown of the DNQBR in a future post, however, the figure represents the approximate number of points per game that the team’s quarterback contributes. As a point of reference Saints QB Drew Brees lead the league with a DNQBR of 26.3, while Jets QB Mark Sanchez possessed the lowest at .7

Follow all the action with Draft Nugget’s Around the Draft series leading up to the 2010 NFL Draft.

Tagged as: Free agent, Keith Bulluck, Kevin Mawae, Kyle Vanden Bosch, National Football League, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Vince Young