The 2022 NFL Draft starts on Thursday, April 28. As a lead-up to the draft, we’ll be giving a team-by-team breakdown for positional needs. For each team, we’ll give an overview of the current depth chart and how big of a need each position is in the upcoming draft. You can find the rest of the team needs (as they’re updated) and the rest of our draft content in the 2022 NFL Draft hub.
What Picks do the Tennessee Titans have in 2022
The Tennessee Titans have seven picks.
Round 1 (26)
Round 3 (90)
Round 4 (131)
Round 4 (143)
Round 5 (169)
Round 6 (204)
Round 6 (219)
Tennessee Titans Top POSITIONS OF NEED
- RT
- OG
- WR
- TE
- LB
Tennessee Titans Strength of Schedule, 2022
The Tennessee Titans have the 14th hardest NFL strength of schedule for the 2022 NFL season.
Tennessee Titans Offense
By Rich Hribar
QUARTERBACK
Ryan Tannehill
Kevin Hogan
Logan Woodside
After a hyper-efficient run to open his time with the Titans, Ryan Tannehill ran into a roadblock in 2021. His 4.0% touchdown rate was well below the 7.7% and 6.9% rates he had in 2019-2020 while his 2.6% interception rate was higher than the 2.1% and 1.5% rates in those seasons and his 7.0 yards per pass attempt were below the 9.6 Y/A and 7.9 Y/A marks.
While Tannehill is unlikely to ever match his 2019 efficiency metrics, a large part of his dip in performance a year ago can be credited to the number of injuries the Titans sustained among their skill players.
Just 10.9% of Tannehill’s dropbacks in the regular season came with all of Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, and Julio Jones on the field. On those dropbacks, he averaged 9.4 Y/A.
24.6% of his dropbacks came with all three of those players off the field, averaging 5.2 Y/A on those plays.
Tannehill carried -26.6 expected points added on plays with both Brown and Julio off the field while he carried a +17.4 EPA with both on the field.
Tannehill has two years left on his contract before void years hit, carrying dead cap hits of $57.4 million in 2022 and $18.8 million in 2023.
Behind Tannehill, this is one of the worst backup situations in the league while neither Kevin Hogan nor Logan Woodside is signed beyond this upcoming season.
RUNNING BACK
Derrick Henry
Dontrell Hilliard
Trenton Cannon
Jordan Wilkins
Tory Carter (FB)
Derrick Henry missed the final nine games of the 2021 season due to a Jones Fracture, but prior to injury was averaging a career-high 29.6 touches per game.
Henry used volume to elevate a career-low 4.6 yards per touch despite averaging a career-high 2.3 receptions per game.
Henry had been a tank up until that foot injury, but he is approaching the age apex range at his position as one of the “oldest” starting running backs in the league at 28 years old.
Behind Henry, there could be better insurance if he were to miss time moving forward over the last two years of his contract, and there have already been rumblings that Tennessee could explore adding more to the position.
WIDE RECEIVER
A.J. Brown
Robert Woods
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
Dez Fitzpatrick
Josh Malone
Cody Hollister
Racey McMath
Mason Kinsey
As touched upon in the open with Ryan Tannehill, the Titans were an efficient passing offense when they were at full strength. The problem was that was a rarity in 2021.
A.J. Brown played just 69% of the offensive snaps while Julio Jones played just 58%. The team released Jones this offseason.
Brown is entering the final year of his rookie deal with no fifth-year option available since he was a second-rounder. Brown teased us once again with the upside he hold but missed another significant stretch of snaps.
He was fourth among all wide receivers in the league in target rate per route run (29.1%). Brown gave us moments that reminded us of his upside when healthy with games of 10-155-1, 8-133-1, 11-145-1, and a 5-142-1 in the playoffs, but he also had another seven full games played with fewer than 50 yards receiving.
The team added Robert Woods via trade after the release of Jones. Schematically, Woods is one of the best run blocking wide receivers in the NFL, if not the best, which was surely appealing to the Titans as a fit in their offense. But he also comes with some red flags.
Woods will turn 30 years old this April, coming off suffering an ACL injury in November after appearing in nine games. Woods only managed to top 70 yards in two of his nine games.
That raises the question of his dependence on being in the Rams’ passing game and leaving for Tennessee. The Rams have thrown 361 more passes than the Titans over the past three seasons.
Woods has been a player that has made a career of outproducing expectations, but hitting age 30, coming off a major injury, and trading a great passing game for a limited one where he will clearly be behind Brown, the Titans still need to add more to this position to avoid being in a similar place as a year ago since there is still fragility at the top of their depth chart.
TIGHT END
Austin Hooper
Geoff Swaim
Ryan Izzo
Tommy Hudson
Briley Moore
Austin Fort
Tennessee tight ends combined to catch 82-of-104 targets for 677 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021. They were a sum of parts unit, with Anthony Firkser leading the group in receptions (34) and yardage (291 yards), while Geoff Swaim led the position with three touchdowns.
The Titans have added veteran Austin Hooper to the offense on a one-year deal.
Hooper’s yards per reception have dropped from the previous season in each of the past two years while he averaged just 2.4 receptions per game in 2021. That was his lowest mark since his rookie season, but he is the best player here in terms of career resume by a wide margin.
The only tight ends here signed beyond this season are Briley Moore and Austin Fort.
OFFENSIVE LINE
LT: Taylor Lewan/Christian DiLauro
LG: Aaron Brewer/Jamarco Jones
C: Ben Jones/Daniel Munyer
RG: Nate Davis/Jordan Roos
RT: Dillon Radunz/Derwin Gray
The Tennessee offensive line was a below average unit in 2021, ranking 24th in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate (56%) and 24th in their run block win rate metric (69%). At Pro Football Focus, they ranked 27th in collective pass blocking grade, but were 12th in run blocking grade.
The team moved on from both David Quessenberry and Rodger Saffold this offseason.
Long-time staple Taylor Lewan is still signed through 2023, although he carries no dead cap after this upcoming season. The 31-year-old missed another four games in 2021, having not played a full season since 2017. When on the field, Lewan was still sold, allowing a 4.8% pressure rate, 30th among 95 qualifying tackles.
Ben Jones is locked in as the starting center and 10th among all centers in grade at Pro Football Focus. He is signed through 2023.
Both guard positions could use help and will surely have competition this summer.
Right guard Nate Davis is in the final season of his contract. Davis ranked 75th out of 94 guards in 2021 in pressure rate allowed (7.0%), but the 20th graded guard at Pro Football Focus in run blocking.
Aaron Brewer logged a career-high 507 snaps in 2021 due to injuries, but was the 57th graded guard, allowing the most sacks (six) of the remaining offensive lineman from a year ago.
Free agent signee Jamarco Jones has started just seven games over three years in the league.
Right tackle is also a huge question mark, but there is a low bar to clear for improvement over Quessenberry, who allowed 11 sacks (most among all tackles in 2021) and a 7.4% pressure rate, 71st among tackles.
The team has last year’s second-round pick, Dillon Radunz, as an option to take over. Radunz logged just 124 snaps as a rookie, playing some left tackle and both guard spots. He allowed a gaudy 14.3% pressure rate on his 56 pass blocking snaps with two sacks.
Tennessee Titans Defense
By Dan Pizzuta
Interior Defensive Line
Jeffrey Simmons
Denico Autry
Teair Tart
Larrell Murchison
Naquon Jones
Da’Shawn Hand
Kevin Strong
Jeffrey Simmons finally broke through as a passer rusher, thanks to 8.5 sacks, though he only had two more quarterback hits (16) than he did in 2020 when he had just three sacks. Either way, Simmons has been a disruptor inside and ranked 18th among interior defenders in pressure rate, per SIS. Simmons will have his fifth-year option picked up for 2023.
Denico Autry was an underrated free agent addition with versatility across the defensive line. He did his best inside and had a higher pressure rate than Simmons when lined up as a 3- for 5-technique. Autry had 10 sacks and 18 quarterback hits on the season.
Tennessee has pulled in young and useful depth at nose tackle with undrafted free agents Teair Tart (2020) and Naquon Jones (2021), who each played around 30% of the defensive snaps last season.
EDGE
Harold Landry
Bud Dupree
Rashad Weaver
Ola Adeniyi
Tuzar Skipper
Justin Lawler
Kobe Jones
Harold Landry was 17th among edge rushers in pressure rate during the 2021 season while he put up a career-high 12 sacks. Landry signed a five-year deal with the Titans, though all of the guaranteed salary is done after the first two seasons.
Bud Dupree played just 36% of the defensive snaps after being Tennessee’s big free agent signing last offseason with his five-year deal. Dupree missed separate stretches of time with a knee injury and that impacted his play when he was on the field. Dupree only ranked 75th among edge rushers in pressure rate last season. The hope is a full offseason will help with his play for 2022.
Ola Adeniyi played well when he filled in on the edge (11.1% pressure rate) but more depth could be in play here since the Titans only ranked 21st as a team in ESPN’s Pass Rush Win Rate.
Off-ball Linebacker
Zach Cunningham
David Long
Dylan Cole
Monty Rice
Nate Hall
Joe Jones
The Titans claimed Zach Cunningham off waivers and in March restructured his contract to lower his 2022 cap hit. Still, that’s a significant investment in Cunningham, who is now slated to be the team’s top off-ball linebacker for the 2022 season. Cunningham can make some tackles in the run game, but between the Texans and Titans last year, he ranked 75th among 85 qualified linebackers in yards allowed per coverage snap.
David Long played 57% of the team’s defensive snaps and was mostly fine in coverage (35th in yards allowed per coverage snap). The 2019 sixth-round pick should get even more run in the final year of his rookie contract.
Cornerback
Kristian Fulton
Caleb Farley
Elijah Molden
Buster Skrine
Chris Jackson
Shyheim Cater
Chris Williamson
2020 second-round pick Kristian Fulton had an impressive Year 2. He ranked 20th among 93 qualified cornerbacks in Adjusted Yards allowed per coverage snap, which accounts for touchdowns and interceptions. Fulton should step in as the team’s No. 1 corner in Year 3.
Elijah Molden, Tennessee’s 2021 third-round pick, played well as a rookie. He ranked 38th among corners in Adjusted Yards allowed per coverage snap as he handled the slot. With Molden and Fulton, the Titans are set with youth at two starting spots.
Caleb Farley will hopefully be the other starting outside corner, but the 2021 first-round pick only managed to play 5% of the snaps in his rookie season. Farley’s availability has been much more of a question than his ability over the past few seasons.
Safety
Kevin Byard
Amani Hooker
Jamal Carter
A.J. Moore
Rodney Clemons
With Kevin Byard and Amani Hooker, the Titans are in the running among the best safety duos in the league Tennessee showed a two-high shell on the sixth-highest rate of snaps, but ran actual two-high coverages on the eighth-lowest rate per SIS.
Byard and Hooker had a fair amount of interchangeability in the defense. Byard played 29.5% of his snaps in the box, 14.3% in the slot, and 53.7% deep, per PFF. Hooker played 25.9% of his snaps in the box, 11.4% in the slot, and 60.8% deep.
Byard is signed through 2024 while Hooker is in the final year of his rookie deal.