The Titans released their first depth chart of the 2018 football season and it was... weird.
A look at the @Titans first depth chart pic.twitter.com/6wsDOvny6Z
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 6, 2018
Here are some of my takeaways from my initial review:
- The first thing that jumps out as inaccurate is Harold Landry’s spot. They have him listed with the third team, but he is absolutely ahead of Aaron Wallace and Josh Carraway based on practice reps and common sense.
- The cornerback rotation is also a bit off as the depth chart shows Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler as the starting duo in base defense, but in reality, those two are rotating at one spot while Adoree Jackson plays every snap on the other side. I would say that practice reps indicate an order of Jackson-Ryan-Butler right now, but I would imagine that goes Jackson-Butler-Ryan by the time the team kicks off in Miami.
- The safety designations make no sense whatsoever. Kendrick Lewis has been out for the last few practices with a [insert your guess here] injury, but he very well may be the starter opposite Kevin Byard for right now if everyone was healthy. I wouldn’t expect that to last long though. Kenny Vaccaro is listed as a free safety, but he’s pretty clearly going to play more of a strong safety role. Same for Dane Cruikshank who is somehow listed behind Brynden Trawick which makes no sense based on distribution of practice reps. Also, Trawick is in no way a free safety. It honestly looks like the team switched the SS and FS lines after the starters by accident.
- Will Compton being listed with the first team defense is no surprise and that’s accurate based on practice reps, but Nate Palmer was definitely not working ahead of Rashaan Evans when Evans was out there.
- The wide receiver order is kind of strange too. Corey Davis and Taywan Taylor have definitely been working with the first team so that checks out, but Tajae Sharpe and Darius Jennings have been working with the 2’s despite the fact that Jennings shows up on the third line. This really has more to do with the fact that slot-only guys like Michael Campanaro and Nick Williams don’t have their own line on this chart because it’s based around a 2-TE base offense. Deontay Burnett is definitely not behind Brandon Shippen right now.
- At kick and punt return, the team lists Adoree Jackson at the top of the competition for both spots, with Dion Lewis working as the #2 kick returner and Campanaro working as the #2 punt returner. That’s pretty consistent with what I’ve seen.
Again, this is not something to get too worked up about. This probably isn’t even the order that we will see guys rotate in during Thursday’s preseason game, much less by Week 1. Most of the strange listings that don’t match practice reps favor the veteran player or player who has been with the Titans the longest.