New Team And New Mindset

OT Jack Conklin:"It'll be fun to open up at home for our fans with this new team and this new mindset."

Conklin said this in an interview days before the Titans first game of the year at home against the Minnesota Vikings.

It wasn't always this way. Players being positive and everything looking optimistic.

Before the 2015 season started the Titans had been stuck in a bad rut the last four years with a GM that couldn't draft and a QB that had terrible accuracy issues as well as injury woes. With a bad GM/QB the team had leadership issues as well as problems winning games.

Then things started changing for the better when QB Marcus Mariota was drafted in the 2015 NFL Draft. Mariota set franchise records for most touchdowns (19), completions (230), passing yards (2,818) and passing attempts (370) in his first NFL season.

Then more good news at the beginning of 2016 the franchise decided to bring in a new GM as well hiring Jon Robinson who spent the last twelve years learning under Bill Belichick in New England.

It didn't take long for Robinson to start making waves and correcting issues as he brought in free agent RB Demarco Murray to help out a team with no run game and not long after that made a major impact in Tennessee by trading the teams number one pick to the Rams for a boatload of draft picks including two first round picks in 2017.

Both Mariota and Robinson are serious about doing all they can to turn the franchise around and make them a winning organization again. They know it will take time but they are in it for the long haul.



This offseason new Titans GM Jon Robinson created 41.5 percent roster turnover from 2015 to 2016 which ranks first Titans history. It isn't half the team that underwent change but close to it. Not many players left from the unsuccessful Webster regime.

Robinson recently traded WR Dorial Green Beckham and released WR Justin Hunter plus CB Blidi Wreh Wilson all disappointments that were drafted by former GM Ruston Webster.

Speaking of Webster he was so bad at drafting that all of his 2nd and 3rd round picks from 2011 all the way through 2015 are no longer on the team except DT Jurrell Casey.

The whole point is Robinson and the team asked DGB to come back knowing more of the playbook as well lose some weight and DGB avoided doing both. So the team set an example by getting rid of DGB and shipping him to another team.

The GM and staff is putting everyone on notice anyone could be expendable and the best way to stick around for the long haul is work hard and know your playbook.

We already see how well Robinson is drafting as OT Jack Conklin,RB Derrick Henry and WR Tajae Sharpe were all voted in among twenty of the most impressive rookies. NFL.COM made a ranking of the twenty most impressive rookies this preseason and the three Titans mentioned earlier all made the list.

Not bad that out of 20 rookies and 32 teams that the Titans have 3 players that stand out and more players were picked from the Titans than from any other team.

PFF got in the mix as well naming both RB Derrick Henry and WR Tajae Sharpe the best rookies at their positions.

GM Jon Robinson also put back 30 million in cap space and saved it for next offseason. So starting in 2017 in addition to having 2 first round picks Robinson will also have a big amount of cap room too.

If anyone thinks a lot of moves were made in 2016 there will be many if not more made when the team gets around to picking free agents as well as drafting players in 2017.

The most likely scenario in 2017 is we will see some major upgrades on defense in addition to moves being made on that side of the ball as well.

This new mindset is a refreshing change to the Titans franchise as well as its fanbase.