The Tennessee Titans made a slew of moves this offseason, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but was the trade for wide receiver Julio Jones the team’s best offseason move?
The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode thinks so — and we agree with him — as he chose the trade for Jones as Tennessee’s best offseason move. Here’s why:
Trading for Julio Jones comes with risk and at a cost that no other team was willing to match. But a second-round pick is worth that risk to add a player who still looks like he has excellence left in him onto a team that now looks more like a potential AFC contender. Much of the story of this season will revolve around a largely remade defense. Plenty of moves have gone into that. But even if it’s markedly better, does that mean holding the score down against a Kansas City, or even a Cleveland or Buffalo, in January? Now the Titans might just be able to score enough in a game like that.
Before acquiring Jones, the Titans were sorely lacking depth in their group of pass-catchers and it wasn’t clear if the team had enough offensively to even match what it did last year, which would have been a big problem if the defense, which remains a question mark, didn’t vastly improve.
Now with Jones in the mix to go along with wide receiver A.J. Brown and running back Derrick Henry, some of the pressure is lifted off the defense and so much as a slight improvement should be enough to help propel Tennessee to a great season if the offense can produce as advertised.
Perhaps most importantly, the Titans now have a passing attack that can carry the load when Henry isn’t going off, which has been a big problem in each of their last two playoff exits.
