Tennessee Titans free agency: How far is the defensive line from dominance?

The Tennessee Titans are set to be big players in the NFL offseason. While all eyes are on the Titans sitting atop the 2016 NFL Draft, it is free agency that fans should be most interested in. While other teams have more caps, several teams are committed to not being big spenders (for what ever reason).

On the other hand, it is make or break time for the Tennessee Titans head coach, but the new GM is in a position of power. That bodes for a really interesting mix of desperation (from Mike Mularkey) and refusal to overpay someone in free agency just to say you are making moves.

What I think that means is that the Titans are poised to be in the mix for some of the best players in free agency, but they won't shoot themselves in the foot to get those guys.

This staff has preached "dominance" all through this process so, let's look at how far they are from this "dominance" position by position.

Defensive line

How many players do they need?

Really if we are honest this is one of the Tennessee Titans strongest position groups. You could and should make the argument that the Titans only need one starter to be one of the deepest units in the NFL. I will get more into this later, but I think they could really use a NT to make this DL great.

What do they have?

The Titans would enter the season tomorrow with Jurrell Casey at one defensive end position they have the flexibility to move either Angelo Blackson or DaQuan Jones inside and out on that line. In my opinion, Jones is more than capable of anchoring that 1-tech/5-tech spot in this defense and Blackson is a very good rotational NT. I think the smartest move would be adding a great nose tackle in FA.

Top free agent targets:

Blue Chips:

-Damon Harrison NT, New York Jets.

(A clear stud at the position who deserves to get a ton of money this offseason)

Fits that would move Jones to NT:

-Muhammed Wilkerson DE, New York Jets

-Malik Jackson DE, Denver Broncos

-Ian Williams DE, San Francisco

One last chance/who?:

-Nick Fairley NT, LA Rams

-Jaye Howard NT, Kansas City Chiefs

-Kevin Williams NT, New Orleans

-Haloti Ngata NT, Detroit Lions

All of these players would be great for the Titans, ranging from an elite player like Harrison, to an underrated player like Howard or veteran leadership like Ngata. No matter what, if the Titans add one of these players, they will have a great defensive line unit.