On Monday, the Tennessee Titans released their unofficial depth chart for the 2022 season-opener against the New York Giants.
In the unofficial depth charts during the offseason, multiple starting positions had players separated by slashes, indicating there was a competition for the spot.
But in the first unofficial depth chart of the regular season, those slashes have since been removed, showing us who won what spot — and, admittedly, one of those positions came out differently than what we had in a recent starting defense projection.
Womp womp…
With the way the Titans move players around and rotate them in and out, you can’t get too crazy over where guys currently stand on this latest version of the depth chart, but there are some interesting takeaways nonetheless.
First we take a gander at the unofficial depth chart released by Tennessee and then the biggest takeaways from it, along with some other minor notes.
The depth chart
Keep scrolling for our takeaways!
NPF, Brewer listed as starters
No surprise here. Brewer long had control of the left guard job, while general manager Jon Robinson announced Petit-Frere had won the starting job during the preseason Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals. Now we’ll see if either is a capable starter in the NFL.
Dillon Radunz a backup at guard
Despite being drafted as a right tackle and competing for that starting job this offseason, Radunz is listed as the backup at guard, a position many envisioned he’d play before being drafted.
Radunz is currently looking like a bust after failing to beat out NPF, but he could have a shot at redemption if an injury occurs upfront or if Brewer struggles at left guard and needs to be replaced.
Rookie WRs still listed as backups
Burks and Philips have been listed as backups behind Robert Woods and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine all offseason long. Both will have roles in this offense, but how big of a role they have out of the gate remains to be seen.
DeMarcus Walker at DE, Denico Autry at OLB
With Harold Landry on injured reserve, the Titans are now listing defensive lineman Denico Autry at outside linebacker, a position he saw time at in 2021. Meanwhile, DeMarcus Walker is taking Autry’s spot.
We highly doubt this will be the concrete way the Titans fill the void left by Landry.
Chances are Autry will mainly play upfront and bounce to the outside here and there. When he does that, Walker will be the guy to replace him. But we fully expect Rashad Weaver to get a lot of run off the edge, and Ola Adeniyi will chip-in, also.
Roger McCreary ahead of Caleb Farley
Here’s one we didn’t have on our offseason bingo card: rookie Roger McCreary beat out Caleb Farley for the starting job opposite Kristian Fulton.
Granted, the writing was on the wall after McCreary played very well this offseason, but we expected the Titans to give Farley the first crack at it. This is a great sign for McCreary, but a bad one for Farley.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Titans handle things when there’s an extra defensive back on the field. In the preseason we saw Farley come off the bench and the Titans push McCreary to the inside, but that was also with Elijah Molden sidelined.
The returners
Rookie wide receiver Kyle Philips has secured the punt-return job for Tennessee and will be backed up by safety Amani Hooker, who we hope never sees a punt return all season since he’s so vital to the defense.
At kick returner, it’s Dontrell Hilliard’s job and he’ll be backed up by running back Julius Chestnut, who was among the biggest surprises on the Titans’ 53-man roster.
Other minor notes
-Teair Tart beat out Naquan Jones for the starting job, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise after what we saw from both this offseason.
-Dontrell Hilliard is listed as RB2 which, again, was to be expected. Hilliard will serve as the third-down back, but we expect Haskins, who is ahead of Chestnut, to get some carries here and there if the Titans need a few tough yards and Henry isn’t available to get them.
-Lonnie Johnson has played both corner and safety during his career but the Titans have him at safety. Johnson may very well play the tight-end matchup role Dane Cruikshank played in 2021.
-One of Tennessee’s free-agent acquisitions, A.J. Moore, is dead-last on the depth chart.
-Ugo Amadi, who has been known as a safety, is listed at cornerback.
