Super Bowl trend proves the Titans are fighting a battle they’ll never win
The Tennessee Titans are defined by their run first mentality on offense. Tennessee's offense revolves around Derrick Henry, controlling the clock, and taking care of the football. That is a mentality that Mike Vrabel believes in wholeheartedly and remains committed to through the offensive adversity of 2022. While running the ball with success is always […]
The Tennessee Titans are defined by their run first mentality on offense. Tennessee's offense revolves around Derrick Henry, controlling the clock, and taking care of the football.
That is a mentality that Mike Vrabel believes in wholeheartedly and remains committed to through the offensive adversity of 2022.
While running the ball with success is always important, and a strong ground game can carry a team to a Super Bowl title, the last decade of Super Bowls would suggest that the Titans are in over their head in their run first approach.
Over the last 14 Super Bowls, the median salary of the leading rusher on the Super bowl champion team is $1,074,685.
Henry will carry a cap hit of $16.36 million in 2023. An appropriate number for the generational talent that he is in the backfield, but is it too much to invest at that position in the modern-day NFL?
Today's league is driven by the quarterback. It takes an elite QB to win in January, and the truly special ones are few and far between. Unless you are picking at the top of the NFL Draft or prepared to trade a king's ransom in draft picks, they don't come around very often. The same cannot be said about today's running backs.
Kansas City's Isiah Pacheco, a seventh-round draft pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is the latest example of a running back being surrounded by a talented quarterback and strong offensive line having success in the postseason.
Pacheco had 830 rushing yards in the 2022-23 season and 15 carries for 76 yards in the Chiefs' 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. The Chiefs simply would not have won the game without him.
This is not to say the Titans need to get rid of Derrick Henry, but the Super Bowl trend would suggest that investing less in the running game and committing more money to the rest of the roster will better equip a franchise to win a Super Bowl. Even runners drafted in the seventh-round have a history of success in the right offense and situation.
Paying a running back top dollar continues to be the uphill battle that the Titans will never win. The team is long overdue for a change in mentality.
Image via Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
