Tennessee Titans: The Defense's Biggest Advantage Entering the 2022 Season
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard has played a lot of football, but he's never played on a defense that retained 10 of 11 starters and the coordinator from the previous season, at least from what he can recall. "I don’t think so, if I can remember," Byard said. "I don’t remember that." […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard has played a lot of football, but he's never played on a defense that retained 10 of 11 starters and the coordinator from the previous season, at least from what he can recall.
"I don’t think so, if I can remember," Byard said. "I don’t remember that."
That will change for Byard in 2022, though.
Outside of cornerback Janoris Jenkins, every single defensive starter from the Titans' lone 2021 playoff game will take the field for the team's 2022 season opener.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who broke out in 2021 and figures to be a head-coaching candidate with another quality season, is back too.
That continuity will be a significant advantage for Tennessee's defense.
"We have a lot of pieces back, so there’s not going to be very much we have to get someone caught up on," linebacker David Long said. "The front seven is the same, [Caleb] Farley’s coming back from injury, we’ve got some good pieces. The draft, however that goes, they’ll come in and buy into whatever we’ve been taught. I feel like we can keep growing together."
Roster and coaching turnover is common and inevitable in the ever-changing NFL, but that doesn't make it any less of a strain on the players who have to endure it.
"You’re getting to know a whole new coach, you have to build trust and communication between the coaching staff and players," Byard said. "Obviously, learn the defense, new terminology."
It's especially tough on young players, whose brains get metaphorically stuck in a blender as they try to replace their knowledge of a playbook they probably barely understood in the first place with knowledge of a completely new one.
The 2022 Titans' defense, with practically zero turnover, won't face either of those obstacles.
Instead of having to develop trust and communication with a new coach, Tennessee's veterans can focus on improving and taking the next step. That's a scary thought for NFL offenses, since the Titans were so strong defensively in 2021.
"Try to be the top defense in the NFL—that’s the goal," Byard said.
Instead of drinking out of a firehose, the Titans' young players can focus on solidifying and building on their existing knowledge base. That's something second-year cornerback Elijah Molden has already started to do.
"Going into year two, you know the defense," Molden said. "Like, I was watching film of my past games and I was like, ‘dude, what are you doing?’ Now, I know."
And it's not like the Titans' only projected new starter, CB Caleb Farley, is a stranger.
Farley was Tennessee's first-round pick in 2021, and he participated in almost all of Training Camp and the preseason. He also saw action in three regular-season games before tearing his ACL and winding up on injured reserve.
He's far from a stranger who will need to assimilate.
"We know each other well," said Molden, who figures to line up next to Farley often in 2022. "We spent a lot of time together. Since he couldn’t play last year, he did what he could rehabbing and watching film."
The Titans' offense faces a lot of question marks entering 2022, but the defense figures to pick up right where it left off in 2021.
Cover image: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today
