Detroit Lions: Five teams that should trade for Matthew Stafford
By Bob Heyrman
2. Tennessee Titans
The Titans become America’s team during their Cinderella playoff run just a month ago. In two of their playoff wins quarterback Ryan Tannehill wasn’t asked to pass for more than 100 yards in each contest and only completed around 50% of his attempts.
The Titans have a couple of decisions to make this offseason. Both Tannehill and Marcus Mariota are pending free agents. Mariota is as good as gone, but is Tannehill the answer? Will he live up to the hype on a long-term deal that’s undoubtedly going to pay him around $25 million/season?
The Titans will make Derrick Henry a priority this offseason. He provides the Titans with an identity. I regularly refer to him as the big diesel due to his violent power running style. He wants to run you over like a semi-truck, not dance around you like a sports car weaving in and out of traffic.
Tannehill is the perfect game manager for the Titans with Henry in the backfield. The Titans have a great offensive line and a dynamic playmaking defense at all levels. But what happens to the offense if something were to happen to Henry?
He’s a volume back that gets a lot of carries; adding a gunslinger like Stafford to the offense could help preserve Henry throughout the season, perhaps preventing an injury. I understand it takes just one hit, but if a quarterback can knock 100 carries off of a runner’s workload throughout the season, it will really benefit the franchise.
The Titans have an up and coming playmaker at tight end in Jonnu Smith, along with a budding star at wide receiver in A.J. Brown plus a former first-round pick in Corey Davis. It’s an offense that Matthew Stafford would excel in, especially working the ball deep down the field with a plethora of play-action pass attempts.
Stafford would make the Cinderella story into reality for the Titans if they decided to pursue his services.