Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Expect Snuggies In The Next CBA Edition

1. Fisher is on his way out. When a coach has as much power in the front office as Fisher did only to have it pared back, it is the beginning of the end, because the players, scouts, assistants etc. don’t look at you the same any more, and are more willing to defy you. That’s one of the reasons why Fisher is doing his best to surround himself with loyalists. But the truth is that only a big season – that includes a playoff win or two – can get Fisher back into a strong position, and even then Fisher would only survive until the next bad season.

2. Paul Kuharsky … well at least he is being consistent. Mawae was a Fisher loyalist, and Mawae was also a source for “off-the-record” quotes to Kuharsky and the Tennessee media mafia that Fisher used to get his opinion out there and make it appear that it was the opinion of the players and organization and not just Fisher himself. In return for his Fisher advocacy, the Titans made Mawae “team captain” and gave him much more money than any other team would have for an undersized interior OL that is almost 40 would have, kept him in the starting lineup ahead of younger, bigger more athletic OLs, and made him look good by playing him the other 4 guys on the OL plus great blocking FBs and TEs. It really speaks volumes that no one has offered Mawae a contract, and Mawae has tried to spin it by claiming that he is being blackballed due to his NFLPA advocacy (ridiculous because other NFLPA leaders have had no problem finding work). But now that Fisher is hanging by a thread, it makes sense that the folks in Nashville who want to keep their jobs after Fisher is gone (including Reinfeldt) are retaining the best players rather than keeping Fisher loyalists and moles around.

3. I have no issue with failing to root for Keith Bulluck being my problem. It is a problem that I am willing to have. I will certainly be rooting against Bulluck’s Giants in week 3. Look, if the San Francisco 49ers were willing to cut Joe Montana AND Jerry Rice AND Charles Haley AND Deion Sanders AND John Taylor AND Roger Craig loose, I don’t get the weeping and gnashing of teeth over the Titans’ allowing a guy who could only get a 1 year deal for virtually no guaranteed money to be a reserve MLB on one of the weaker LB corps in the NFL. The Titans are not obligated to retain Bulluck for as long as Bulluck wants to keep playing, and that is something that Titans’ fans have to realize.

4. If the Titans’ needed Derrick Morgan, he’d be on the field. The fact that he isn’t proves that the Titans are very confident that he can pick things up rather quickly and be ready when the time comes. Morgan played for a very complex read and react defense at Georgia Tech, one that was designed for those high IQ (but low size and ability) Navy players. If he was able to excel in that scheme, learning the Titans’ more instinctive defense that made stars out of more than a few guys who weren’t exactly Rhodes’ Scholars won’t be that big of a deal. Morgan’s biggest issue will be learning the new technique (i.e. lining up out wide) and being a guy who relies more on speed, strength and making quick moves either to the inside or outside rather than trying to read the offense. Morgan could miss a great deal of training camp and still be the 1st team DE on opening day.

4. Now Damian Williams’ missing time is an issue. Anyone who wants to see the guy challenge Lavelle Hawkins (whom Fisher is talking up in order to keep yet another of his draft day decisions from falling by the wayside) and get snaps on offense this season and push Justin Gage off the roster by next season can’t be happy with the fact that if this keeps up, Fisher will get to relegate him in the punt return role.

5. Claiming that Jared Cook’s success will come at the expense of Kenny Britt is absurd. My guess is that Jeff FIsher is leaking this because he supported drafting Cook but not Britt. That would explain why Fisher has been so much harder on Britt than he has on “his guys” like LenDale White and Albert Haynesworth. Fisher wouldn’t even play Britt last year despite Washington and Gage (guys that Fisher signed to long deals!) playing terribly until Gage got hurt, and now he is using every opportunity to humiliate Britt over an allegedly poor work ethic when Haynesworth and White never even tried to get into shape during the offseason. The truth is that of the few things that can be guaranteed about the 2011 roster, one of those is that Bo Scaife won’t be on it. Because of this, the Titans will give Cook every chance to see if he can replace Scaife next season.

And why Cook would take snaps from Britt, the most talented WR on the roster (and probably the most talented WR the Titans have ever had under Fisher, and yes that includes another Fisher mistake, Kevin Dyson, who was drafted over Randy Moss) and not the one-dimensional mentally fragile butter-fingers like (Fisher acquirees) Nate Washington and Justin Gage needs to be explained. It would make far more sense to run two-TE packages with Scaife and Cook than 3 WR packages involving ANY of the Titans’ WRs. Scaife, Cook, Britt and Washington should be the Titans’ third down offense. Period.

5. Adam Jones … sorry. The guy had an outstanding season in 2006, and was as much a part of the reason why the Titans’ nearly made the playoffs that season as was Travis Henry and Vince Young. Remember: 2006 was the year that Haynesworth really didn’t play much, and also didn’t do a whole lot when he WAS on the field. (Kyle Vanden Bosch didn’t do much either, only 6.5 sacks.) And the Titans’ secondary was horrible that season. Cortland Finnegan hadn’t emerged yet, Nick Harper didn’t come on board until the next season, and the safety play was atrocious. Look, the Titans should have never put themselves in that bad position by passing up all those great players to take Adam Jones so high. But the fact is that from what we saw of him in 2006, had he been willing or able to get his act together off the field, he would have been a perennial Pro Bowl player. He and Finnegan would have given the Titans’ the best CB combo in the NFL by far.