Tennessee Titans Strategy and Personnel
Fans can expect moves virtually everywhere except at tight end where veteran Erron Kinney is a reliable player who is a lead-by-example type and Ben Troupe still carries loads of promise. Bo Scaife will head into his second season having performed as consistently well as any of the teams 2005 rookies and at 6-foot-8, 255 pounds Gregg Guenther is an interesting project as the fourth in the group, who played in five games as an undrafted rookie.
TEAM NEEDS/OFFSEASON STRATEGY
The Titans have a lot of contract decisions to make, many of which are based on how much they are willing to pay out as roster bonuses. Odds are they won’t reveal any decisions until after they return to Nashville from the combine.
QB Steve McNair is slated to earn $10 million in 2006. His agent Bus Cook said he doesn’t see why McNair should be willing to take a cut for less, at least without an extension that brings up-front bonus money. GM Floyd Reese has said the Titans are budgeted to handle McNair’s numbers, but it seems hard to imagine them spending that much on McNair in his 12th season.
Players with pending financial issues also include left tackle Brad Hopkins (due $1.5M roster bonus and a $4.25M base), guard Benji Olson (due a $2 M roster bonus and a $2.5M base), guard Zach Piller (due a $250,000 roster bonus and a $1.5M base), linebacker Peter Sirmon (due a $2.4 M base) and safety Lamont Thompson (due a $2.5M secondary signing bonus).
1. Receiver: No matter who’s playing quarterback, the Titans need a reliable threat for him that can give Norm Chow some room to use his best material. The kind of help they need can’t come in the draft. They are likely to scour the free agent market for an affordable veteran they think can lead and produce.
2. Linebacker: Looking to upgrade speed and willing to move on without Brad Kassell and perhaps Peter Sirmon, the Titans need at least one athletic linebacker to work with Keith Bulluck. The Tigers need strength inside to stop the run, tie up blockers and help the ends in the pass rush.
3. Safety: Tank Williams is a UFA who was poor in his first season back from a knee injury, and if the Titans still like Lamont Thompson, they’ve got to do more to explain why. Quarterback could be third as well, as it’s time for them to find McNair’s eventual successor and at No. 3 in the draft they will certainly have a chance at a quality QB.
FRANCHISE PLAYER: None.
TRANSITION PLAYER: None.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: CB Tony Beckham; LB Rocky Boiman; C Justin Hartwig; LB Brad Kassell; S Tank Williams.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: S Donnie Nickey; LS Jon Dorenbos.
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS: RB Jarrett Payton; LB Cody Spencer. PLAYERS RE-SIGNED
–DE Kyle Vanden Bosch: Potential UFA; $22M/4 yrs, $14.5M guaranteed/$4.75M SB).
MEDICAL WATCH: The Titans haven’t offered any recent updates, but outside of WR Brandon Jones (knee) they expect all their injured players to be ready for their offseason work.
Combine to get most Extensive Coverage Ever
Coming off record Rose Bowl and Super Bowl ratings, interest in the sport of football continues to reach unprecedented levels.
The NFL Scouting Combine, the annual job interview for potential NFL players, is no exception.
More than 330 NFL hopefuls converge on the RCA Dome in Indianapolis from Feb. 23-28 for the 2006 NFL Scouting Combine, consisting of on-field drills, medical testing, exams and interviews with team personnel and the media.
The 2006 NFL Scouting Combine on NFL Network Presented by Reebok will provide exclusive live television coverage of the annual event beginning Thursday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. CT and continuing through Wednesday, March 1.
"We view the NFL Scouting Combine as one of the hidden gems still left in the NFL," said Charles Coplin, NFL Network’s vice president of programming. "This is an event NFL Network believes in and will look to grow to NFL Draft-like status."
NFL Network will air three hours of live workouts daily from Saturday through Tuesday, beginning at 10 a.m. CT and featuring future NFL players participating in a variety of drills, including the famed 40-yard-dash. The live midday Scouting Combine workouts re-air on NFL Network each night from 7 p.m. CT to 9 p.m. CT.
NFL Network draft expert Mike Mayock and host Paul Burmeister will serve as NFL Network’s on-air team for the live workouts and provide daily player reports on the prospects participating.
In addition, NFL Network’s signature show, NFL Total Access, will be on location from the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis with news, analysis and interviews featuring host Rich Eisen alongside former NFL and college head coach and current NFL Network analyst Butch Davis. NFLTA will air five consecutive nights of shows from Feb. 23-Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. CT.
NFL Network will carry player, coach and general manager press conferences from the NFL Scouting Combine with analysts Adam Scehfter and former Colts and Saints coach Jim Mora, Sr.
With extensive access to daily workouts, head coaches, front-office personnel and players, 2006 NFL Scouting Combine on NFL Network Presented by Reebok will give fans an exclusive opportunity to see how teams are preparing for the upcoming NFL draft April 29-30.
NFL Network’s 2006 NFL Scouting Combine coverage also will examine how the combine’s drills, tests and interviews are used by NFL teams to make decisions about the NFL draft.
The following is NFL Network’s day-by-day telecast plans:
Thursday, Feb. 23
1 p.m. CT — NFL Scouting Combine press conferences (LIVE)
6 p.m. CT — NFL Total Access from the Scouting Combine
Friday, Feb. 24
1 p.m. CT — NFL Scouting Combine press conferences (LIVE)
6 p.m. CT — NFL Total Access from the Scouting Combine
Saturday, Feb. 25
10 a.m. CT — Workouts: Offensive linemen and running backs (LIVE) (re-airs 7 PM CT)
1 p.m. CT — NFL Scouting Combine press conferences (LIVE)
6 p.m. CT — NFL Total Access from the Scouting Combine
Sunday, Feb. 26
10 a.m. — Workouts: Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs (LIVE) (re-airs 8 PM ET/PT)
1 p.m. CT — NFL Scouting Combine press conferences (LIVE)
6 p.m. CT — NFL Total Access from the Scouting Combine
Monday, Feb. 27
10 a.m. CT — Workouts: Tight ends, defensive lineman (LIVE) (re-airs 8 PM ET/PT)
6 p.m. CT — NFL Total Access from the Scouting Combine
Tuesday, Feb. 28
10 a.m. CT — Workouts: Linebackers, defensive backs (LIVE) (re-airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT)
Wednesday, Mar. 1
7 p.m. CT — 2006 NFL Scouting Combine wrapup show
McNair wins Nashville’s Community Spirit Award
Less than 24 hours after competing in Sunday’s Pro Bowl, Titans quarterback Steve McNair was accepting the Community Spirit Award at the 8th Annual O’Charley’s Dinner of Champions Monday at Gaylord Opryland Resort.
After nearly leading the AFC to a victory in Sunday’s Pro Bowl, McNair was on a red-eye flight from Honolulu back to Nashville. He was honored as one of the best in Middle Tennessee sports for his Hurricane Katrina relief efforts last September.
"It means a lot," McNair said upon receiving the award. "My foundation is all about helping those less fortunate. Our goal is to make sure that every individual has an equal opportunity to be successful in life. That was our goal in terms of Katrina relief, going into boys and girls clubs and the different organizations that needed help."
Moved by the hurricane’s devastation in his home state of Mississippi, McNair coordinated a massive relief effort at the Coliseum, loading more than 30 trucks full of donated items ranging from food, clothing and other supplies to send to hurricane victims along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.
"When things happen in life, you always think back to what should have or could have," McNair said. "And when mother nature did damage to Mississippi, Alabama and Lousiana, it meant a lot to help out and provide people with some of the basics that they didn’t have. Things like clothes. food and water."
McNair, who was later named the “Philanthropist of the Year” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for the various community projects he supports through the Steve McNair Foundation, was especially appreciative of the outpouring of support from those who donated time, money and resources througout Nashville and the state of Tennessee.
"Thanks to the state of Tennessee and the city of Nashville, the people that donated items to families that they didn’t even know," McNair said. "That was a great inspiration to me to see people come out and empty their trunks, their bags and pour their hearts out to those three states. That was amazing to me."
McNair has been MVP of the NFL, made three Pro Bowls and even led his team to a Super Bowl, but nothing, he said, compares to the award he received last night.
"This is better than any of those individual awards because this one goes not only to me, but to my family, my foundation, my agent, and all of the people that helped out to make this possible."
McNair was one of many honored at the event, which was attended by more than 800 people.
“This event continues to celebrate incredible achievements in sports,” said Carter Todd, Nashville Sports Council Chairman.
Titans Show Respect, Keep Vanden Bosch
The Tennessee Titans showed Kyle Vanden Bosch respect, and that kept him from testing a free-agent market that could have made him much richer.
"Honestly, it really wasn’t that much of a temptation," Vanden Bosch said Friday at a news conference. "I don’t know what else would’ve been out there. I feel this organization … was more than fair with me."
A year ago, Vanden Bosch was a free agent with only four teams interested in talking to a defensive end who had torn both ACLs in his first four NFL seasons in Arizona. The Titans signed him to a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum of $540,000.
He responded with a career-best 12 1/2 sacks _ more than doubling his previous high of five _ and had 100 tackles that ranked second among the Titans. Tennessee went 4-12, but Vanden Bosch played in the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.
Now the man who had the most sacks for the Titans since Jevon Kearse’s 14 1/2 in 1999 will receive nearly $15 million in guaranteed money over the first three years of his new four-year deal.
"We were thrilled to death to have an opportunity to get him back," general manager Floyd Reese said. "So it worked out well. It’s a plus-plus, and we’re awful happy."
This signing is a big step for the rebuilding franchise that spent the past few years letting free agents like Kearse leave for big paydays elsewhere or releasing veterans like defensive end Kevin Carter to get under the salary cap.
"If you could draw up your image of the first free agent you were going to sign … short of a franchise quarterback who’s 22 years old, you probably end up with somebody like Kyle," Reese said.
Vanden Bosch, 27, brings some much-needed experience to a defensive line that included five Titans in their second NFL seasons in 2005.
Vanden Bosch noted that the Titans will still be a young team next season, and he needs to be one of the more experienced players who steps in when problems develop.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Titans brought back defensive line coach Jim Washburn, whom Vanden Bosch took with him to the Pro Bowl. Washburn showed Vanden Bosch tapes of sack leaders like Patrick Kearney from 2004 and helped identify his best pass rush moves.
"He had a lot of confidence in me. He told me in the summer, ‘I expect you to get double-digit sacks this year.’ I never would’ve even though that would be possible," Vanden Bosch said.
Washburn appeared ecstatic with the prospect of finally getting to keep a veteran. He’s a big reason why the Titans have 289 sacks since he was hired in 1999, which ranks seventh in the NFL in that stretch.
"If there’s anybody on this team _ coaches or players _ that doesn’t learn from this story, then they’ve missed a great opportunity," Washburn said.
