In a recent article from ESPN Staff Writer Bill Barnwell, Barnwell did his annual rankings of every NFL team's offseason and ordered them from worst to first.

Surprisingly, Barnwell listed the Tennessee Titans at number 32, writing that they had the worst offseason of any team because they lack direction, remain deficient at a few key positions, and got less competitive in 2023.

While the Titans offseason was far from perfect, I believe Barnwell completely missed the mark on Tennessee's overall vision and the state of the roster. Many of his comments in the article did not match up with the Titans' roster construction and future goals. Let's dive into the article.

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Where Barnwell Was Right

Barnwell does accurately clock a few of the biggest failures of the Titans' offseason. In his "left to do" section of the article, Barnwell appropriately writes that Tennessee still needs to add to the WR room. 

What's left to do: Add a receiver. Burks flashed at times during his rookie season, but he's going to be asked to be the focal point of the passing attack in 2023, which is a big lift for a player who had 444 receiving yards. Chigoziem Okonkwo was a pleasant surprise as a rookie third-rounder, but he's the only tight end of note on the roster. Would a reunion with Anthony Firkser make sense?

Unfortunately, Anthony Firkser agreed to terms on a contract with the New England Patriots on Thursday, but the point still tracks. The Titans are relying heavily on many of their young, inexperienced wide receivers to take massive steps forward in 2023 in order to have a competitive passing game. 

For Treylon Burks and Chig Okonkwo, a breakout season may not be too much to ask for. But are Kyle Philips, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and Racey McMath capable of elevating their game to the next level?

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Where Barnwell Was Wrong

Let's take a look at what Barnwell believed "went wrong" with the Titans' offseason ad why I feel like his ranking is completely off base.

What went wrong: I'm not sure whether the Titans are rebuilding. The two moves hanging over the organization's head all offseason still haven't been resolved, as Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry are still on the roster. Both are entering the final year of their respective deals and have declined over the past two seasons. Tannehill is 34 and Henry is 29; are they really going to be pushing this team forward next season, let alone in 2024 and beyond? Kevin Byard was asked to take a pay cut, but after he called Tennessee's bluff, the team kept its starting safety on the roster.

Holding on to those three players compromised the moves Carthon could have made as he rebuilt the roster. The Titans needed a new left tackle after cutting Lewan, but the addition of Andre Dillard saw Carthon pay $10 million for a 2019 first-round pick who didn't develop into a starter under standout offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland in Philadelphia. Is Dillard really likely to be better in Tennessee? A secondary that has missed on draft picks and free agent signings added only Sean Murphy-Bunting on a one-year deal.

At the league's most critical positions — quarterback, offensive tackle, wide receiver, edge rusher and cornerback — the Titans are deficient. In past years, they were able to make up for that with what they had elsewhere, including with Henry, Byard, Jeffery Simmons and Denico Autry and an excellent interior offensive line. Simmons is a superstar, but Tennessee desperately needs Dillard, Harold Landry III and Treylon Burks to join him at that level in 2023.

For starters, the Titans have been very forthcoming about their goals in 2023 and their stance on entering a "rebuild" at this time. Sure, there may have been rumors about moving on from Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and Kevin Byard this offseason, but we have been given no reason to believe that the Titans do not currently plan on having all three of those players in uniform for Week 1.

The objective of the Titans offseason is clear. Tannehill and Henry are entering the final season of their contracts and the team is trying to set up their roster for the next era of Titans football without completely rebuilding and being out of contention. Mike Vrabel wants to win and the Titans knows that the AFC South is still within reach. Tennessee came one game shy of winning a third consecutive AFC South title despite everything going wrong and losing the final seven games of the 2022 season.

In an ideal world, the Titans can stay competitive and once again reach the playoffs in 2023 to keep the fanbase bought in. Meanwhile, Will Levis, Tyjae Spears, Treylon Burks, Chig Okonkwo, and Roger McCreary will develop into a solid talent core alongside Jeffery Simmons and Harold Landry III.

This time next year, the Titans are projected to have around $100 million in cap space and some more top draft picks for their GM to add to that group (per OverTheCap.com).

Barnwell also wrote about how the Titans releasing Taylor Lewan, Bud Dupree, Robert Woods and Zach Cunningham are moves that would make them less competitive in 2023. But honestly, there's no guarantee that Lewan, Dupree, Woods or Cunningham would help the Titans win more than their replacements for this season. Lewan and Dupree haven't been able to stay on the field, and quite frankly, Woods and Cunningham are both over the hill and were not playing good football last fall.

The questions raised about Andre Dillard's qualifications to take over at left tackle are valid, but you could make a compelling argument that the Titans upgraded at both inside linebacker (Azeez Al-Shaair, Monty Rice) and outside linebacker (Arden Key) this offseason while getting both healthier and cheaper.

Finally, we get to the most egregious statement in the entire article. Barnwell referenced how the Titans are "deficient" at a number of key positions and proceeds to list quarterback, offensive tackle, wide receiver, edge rusher, and cornerback as position groups that are lacking.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, the knocks on the wide receiver room are completely fair. The Titans' group might be the worst around the league, and this is an offense that desperately needs to get more unpredictable and dynamic. The depth at tackle is a concern, with Andre Dillard being one of the most important players on the team. But quarterback, cornerback, and edge rusher? I'd have a hard time calling any of those groups deficient.

Ryan Tannehill is by no means a QB to write home about, but he has been more than serviceable during his Titans career given his surrounding cast. You won't win because of him, but the Titans have proved in recent seasons that you can win with him under center. Besides, Tennessee already drafted Will Levis in an effort to elevate the quarterback play in future seasons and address the problem.

Tennessee's secondary has dealt with a lot of injuries over the last few years, forcing the back end of the roster to really get tested. The Caleb Farley pick didn't work out, and there's no hiding that, but if this group can stay on the field, they will be much improved. Going into a season with Sean Murphy-Bunting, Roger McCreary, Kristian Fulton, Elijah Molden, and Tre Avery is hardly a "deficient" position group. I'm also a big fan of Chris Harris, Tennessee's new secondary coach who has seemingly brought a lot of new ideas and energy to the defense.

As for the edge rushers? The Titans front four is quite possibly the most solid position group on the roster, and the depth off the edge is a big reason why.

Denico Autry and Rashad Weaver are joined in 2023 by the uber-athletic Arden Key and Pro Bowler Harold Landry III, who had 12 sacks in 2021 before missing 2022 with an ACL injury. The Titans are at least four deep at the position with impact players and when you add Jeffery Simmons and Teair Tart to that defensive line, the Titans group up front is scary. Saying they are deficient on the edge is just not accurate by any stretch of the imagination.

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Look, the Titans roster has it's fair share of flaws and there are plenty of reasons to criticize Tennessee's offseason. As Barnwell pointed out in the article, the Titans not making a major addition at wide receiver is a massive failure after how badly the group struggled a year ago. Any Titans fan and media member would agree with that sentiment.

That being said, it's hard to sell me on the idea that the Titans had the worst offseason in the league. I mean…did he not see what the Raiders were up to? Then again, in Barnwell's 2022 version of this article, he labeled the Seattle Seahawks as having the worst offseason because five draft picks, including two first-rounders, and three players was "not enough" for Russell Wilson. He also ripped the addition of Kenneth Walker III (the runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year) and called Seattle a "disaster" before they made the playoffs behind a Pro Bowl season from Geno Smith.

At the end of the day, Ran Carthon's track record at talent evaluation earns him the benefit of the doubt in my book. Over the course of the next few seasons there will be some difficult choices to be made in the Music City, but for now, the 2023 offseason was (for the most part) a step in the right direction. 

In San Francisco, Carthon's bread and butter was the value he found in the later rounds of the draft and the impact players he identified as good fits on cheap deals in free agency. If a good number of his free agent signings hit, the Titans are going to have money to spend, a talented roster, and be in a prime position to continue their reign in the AFC South.