Grading the 2011 Tennessee Titans: Defensive Line

by Jimmy on Jan 21, 2012 11:46 AM CST in Tennessee Titans News

This is a good news, bad news type of post. The good news is that their were two guys who played really well on the defensive line this year, and they were both rookies. Jurrell Casey and Karl Klug were two of the best players on the defense. That is a solid foundation in the middle to build around.

The bad news was the defensive ends were highly disappointing. We were so pumped about Jason Jones moving to end, but it did not end up being a good move. He was only able to manage 3 sacks on the season.

Derrick Morgan was even worse. He was only able to come up with 2.5 sacks on the season, but he at least showed some signs of turning it around at the end of the year. Next season is a huge one for him.

One of the biggest things the Titans need to upgrade in the offseason is their pass rush. That starts with getting better at defensive end.

The grade here would be an F if not for the play of Casey and Klug. Their play bumps it up just a bit.

Grade: D

Poll

Grade the defensive line

A

4 votes

B

46 votes

C

149 votes

D

72 votes

F

14 votes

285 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 14 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I think we need two guys

A pass rushing DE and a run stuffing DT, you know what Shaun Smith should have been.

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by alijeal on Jan 21, 2012 11:59 AM CST reply actions

horrid vs the run, no pass rush

if it weren’t for Klug and Casey it’d be an F, but I voted D. More of a D-

by trevor2013 on Jan 21, 2012 12:00 PM CST reply actions

Their performance was meh, but there is so much promise

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by StPrattrick on Jan 21, 2012 12:34 PM CST reply actions

C.

Don’t think they were THAT bad, honestly.

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by WinnipegTitanFan13 on Jan 21, 2012 12:38 PM CST reply actions

Yeah, I agree.

They couldn’t grade out worse than the O-line.

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by J3G77 on Jan 21, 2012 12:42 PM CST up reply actions

Eh, they were VERY inconsistent, which seems to make a "C" the correct grade.

Some good, some bad…nothing consistent.

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by ronburgundy7427 on Jan 21, 2012 1:03 PM CST up reply actions

The grade here would be an F if not for the play of Casey and Klug. Their play bumps it up just a bit.

this what i was thinking they were 24th against the run 31st in getting sacks. There were even games where the opposing team just ran it against us and won with back up rbs(1st Jaguars game and first Texans game). hopefully next year is better

by jv1222 on Jan 21, 2012 1:10 PM CST reply actions

We need another Casey at dt

Klug is a liability against the run. Or move jj back inside. Tony brown would be great here wouldn’t he?

I think morgan will have full stength next year and pairing him with a talented edge rusher would do the trick

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by zero defects on Jan 21, 2012 1:11 PM CST via mobile reply actions

no brown wouldnt be good

He’d be injured

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by rothbard on Jan 21, 2012 2:24 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

There are major signs of promise.

We need a DE who can get pressure desperately, thought. Morgan I like going into next year. He should be fully healthy by the start of the year, so I expect him to start living up to his pick number. We’ll see, though.

by FYNBYAC on Jan 21, 2012 3:39 PM CST reply actions

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by JustinS on Jan 21, 2012 6:46 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

If you draft Coples this year

That front will be naaaaaaaasty in a season or two.

by SoCalTexan on Jan 21, 2012 9:07 PM CST reply actions

It feels like to me with each passing day that we'll be drafting the best DE on the board when our pick rolls around.

I’m leaning that way also. Pick up a WR from FA (someone like Meachem would fit nicely), draft the best DE left, then plug O-line holes 2nd/3rd round. Still leaves the safety spot open, so not sure where we’d go for that.

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by Dynamic Dreadlocks on Jan 21, 2012 10:15 PM CST via mobile reply actions