Tennessee Titans: The 4 Players with the Most to Gain During the Preseason
The Tennessee Titans will play their first of three preseason games against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday. As the preseason gets underway, these four players would gain the most from a quality performance. QB Matt Barkley Barkley joined the Titans on August 5 after the team released QB Deshone Kizer, who had struggled during the […]
The Tennessee Titans will play their first of three preseason games against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday.
As the preseason gets underway, these four players would gain the most from a quality performance.
QB Matt Barkley
Barkley joined the Titans on August 5 after the team released QB Deshone Kizer, who had struggled during the first week of Training Camp.
While the Titans have insisted that Barkley's job will be to compete with incumbent backup QB Logan Woodside for that job, it looks as though Woodside is firmly entrenched as the team's No. 2 signal-caller.
That's why Barkley would stand to benefit a lot from a strong preseason performance.
The Titans like Woodside because he has a firm grasp of the offense and can execute the system well, and he certainly does shine when it comes to cerebral components of the game.
Athletically, though, Woodside doesn't have much to offer.
He's improved as a thrower, but he still doesn't put very much torque on his throws. It's fair to wonder whether, in a game situation, he'd have the arm strength to complete passes that required a quick, hard throw.
If Barkley can prove that he can make tight-window throws that require above average arm strength in addition to having a quality conceptual understanding of the offense, he may actually start to push Woodside.
WR Mason Kinsey
Unfortunately for Kinsey, he's pretty deeply buried on the Titans' wide receiver depth chart. Players like Marcus Johnson, Chester Rogers, Racey McMath and perhaps even Cameron Batson are all preferable options at this point.
If Kinsey can produce a strong preseason, though, he could start to climb up that list.
He also could earn himself a spot on the Titans practice squad, something he failed to do in 2020. Or, if he's lucky, Kinsey could earn a spot on another team's active roster.
Because of the Titans' strong depth at receiver, Kinsey's NFL future will likely take him to another team. He does have some quality traits, though, and it would benefit him greatly to put them on display during the preseason.
OL Dillon Radunz
Training Camp has not gone well for Radunz, the Titans' second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
"It needs to be better," Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said of Radunz's performance in practice.
Once thought to be a potential neck-and-neck competitor for the Titans' starting right tackle job, Radunz has seemingly completely fallen out of that competition.
On the Titans' first "unofficial depth chart" of 2021, he wasn't even listed as a tackle, but as a guard.
As a product of an FCS school, growing pains were always going to be a part of Radunz's transition to the NFL, but there have been more growing pains for him so far than what the Titans probably would have liked.
A strong preseason would not only give Radunz a chance to improve his standing with the Titans' coaching staff and get him closer to a starting role, but it would also give him a much-needed confidence boost.
OLB Derick Roberson
Roberson is entering his third season with the Titans, and he needs to start producing before he finds himself on the waiver wire.
The speedy pass rusher showed a lot of potential as an undrafted rookie in 2019, sacking QB Drew Brees twice in a late-season game against the Saints. Since then, though, Roberson has basically done nothing.
Given a great opportunity to contribute in 2020 thanks to the demises of Vic Beasley and Jadeveon Clowney, Roberson failed to take advantage.
Now, Roberson needs to have a strong preseason if he even wants to remain on the Titans' roster.
Tennessee's top four outside linebackers seem locked in as Harold Landry, Bud Dupree, John Simon and Rashad Weaver. That leaves probably just one spot left at that position, and Roberson needs to make some plays if he wants to earn it.
Cover image: George Walker IV/The Tennessean
