Titans Move Mountains By Demoting Andy Levitre

What's worse than putting the second highest paid offensive guard in the NFL - who just happens to have four years left on his contract - on the bench?

Watching the second highest paid OG fail to protect your rookie QB or open holes for your young RB group knowing that there's a better option on the roster.

It's been 3 seasons since the Titans signed Andy Levitre to a $46.89 million contract, and the results have been absolutely disastrous. Despite being a nearly universally approved signing back  in 2013, Levitre's play has steadily declined in Nashville, and at this point it's obvious to even the most casual Titans fan that a miraculous turnaround is all but impossible.

Lucky for us, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt finally bit the bullet on Sunday and started a reworked offensive line that featured Levitre on the bench. The positive returns were obvious and instant. All of the sudden Bishop Sankey went from struggling to breaking off steady gains, Mariota had a consistently safe pocket that allowed him to concentrate on progressing through his reads and the entire offense looked smooth and on schedule.

Despite the small sample size, Sunday's performance was enough to show me that the Titans should be starting the Lewan/Bell/Schwenke/Warmack/Poutasi for the rest of the preseason. If the unit gels, then we could be looking at four of the starting five positions being set for years to come.

So while Levitre's huge contract looks ugly on the bench, it's what happens on the field and on the scoreboard that matters most.