After diving into the biggest takeaways from Tennessee Titans’ 2022 offense and defense, it’s time to offer our biggest takeaways from their special teams performance.
The star of special teams for the Titans in 2022 was punter Ryan Stonehouse, who broke multiple records in his first season, including the all-time mark for gross yards per punt.
But it wasn’t all good for the Titans on special teams last season, and even the rookie has areas where he can improve.
Now, let’s dive a bit deeper by taking a look at the Titans’ three biggest takeaways from the special teams units during the 2022 campaign.
Note: in case you missed our takeaways from the offense and defense, you can check out offense here and defense here.
Ryan Stonehouse was great but has room for improvement
Stonehouse had a record-breaking rookie season and was as good as the Titans could’ve possibly hoped for, especially when you consider he was replacing a franchise great in Brett Kern.
Stonehouse not only broke Sammy Baugh’s 82-year-old single-season record for most gross yards per punt, he smashed it by 1.7 yards. Unfortunately, the rookie was snubbed for the Pro Bowl but was named a second-team All-Pro.
One of the reasons given for Stonehouse being snubbed was his net yards per punt average, which ranked fourth in the NFL and was 1.6 yards less than Kansas City Chiefs punter, Tommy Townsend, who finished ahead of Stonehouse both in the All-Pro and Pro Bowl vote.
The 44.0 net yards per punt was still a single-season record for rookies, so it’s not like he was bad in that area, he just wasn’t the best in the NFL this season.
Looking ahead to 2023, Stonehouse has to improve the hangtime on his monster punts and must do a better job of angling them to pin opponents deep if he wants to improve his net yards mark.
If he can master that art, Stonehouse is going to be one of the greats.
A bigger leg needed at kicker
While kicker Randy Bullock has been a great stabilizing force for the Titans after the team had issues at the position for a few years, he has limited Tennessee a bit.
Bullock’s leg isn’t the strongest, which prevents the Titans from trying longer field goals. In two seasons, Tennessee has only attempted three from 50-plus, with Bullock making two of them.
The veteran’s lack of elite leg strength also makes achieving touchbacks more difficult, as evidenced by the Titans accomplishing them at a rate of 53.62 percent, ranking 24th in the NFL.
One in-house candidate to take Bullock’s job is 2022 UDFA Caleb Shudak, who was signed to a futures deal. He has a bigger leg, and the rookie made three of his four kicks in one start, however all four were under 40 yards.
Shudak lacks the experience and track record Bullock possess, though, thus depending on him to be the starter in 2023 would be a risky proposition, although the same was said about Stonehouse.
But whether it’s Shudak or someone else, the Titans should explore bringing in another kicker who can make longer field goals. Bullock is under contract for 2023 but the team can get out of it with just a $600,000 dead-cap charge.
The return game remains a mess
The Titans’ return game has been lackluster and sloppy for years now, which is just one reason fans have called for the head of special teams coordinator, Craig Aukerman.
It seems like every punt return is a messy adventure, and returns in general rarely yield positive results. Tennessee finished 22nd in kick return average and 19th in punt return average.
Defending punt returns wasn’t good, either. The Titans surrendered the fifth-most yards per punt return, and it wasn’t a small sample size, as the team had the most punt returns against in 2022.
Tennessee did fare better on kick returns, with the fourth-fewest yards given up per attempt.
For a head coach who stresses special teams as much as Mike Vrabel does, these numbers simply aren’t good enough. The Titans have to find a way to improve upon their weaknesses in 2023, and that might start with letting Aukerman go.
