Who is YOUR Titans' starting D-Line???

Starters:
LDE - Kearse
LDT - Haye
RDT - Brown
RDE - KVB

Brown has moved to RDT, Haye is now the LDT.

Backups:
LDE - Hayes, Ford
LDT - Jones
RDT - Vickerson, Marks
RDE - Ball

If they don't keep 10 d-linemen (and there's a good chance they won't) then Vickerson will probably be the odd man out.

 

Arrgghh!

 

Well...

The problem is we are overly deep at both DE and DT. If you're not gonna have a stud DT, then having a lot of guys to throw at a single OL is a good strategy. The problem is, we have too many guys. Keeping in mind this year AND our future, here's what I would do (have already done actually).

RDE - KVB/David Ball/Larry Birdine

RDT - Jovan Haye/Jason Jones/Sen'Derrick Marks

LDT - Tony Brown/Kevin Vickerson/Mitch King

LDE - Jacob Ford/William Hayes/(Jones or Birdine)

Base D
KVB
Haye
Brown
Ford

Nickel or long passing downs
KVB
Jones
Brown
Hayes

Rotate in others as necessary.

Since I wouldn't keep more than 10...that means someone has to go. That means Vickerson, Marks, King and Birdine are fighting it out for one spot. If King is close to the bottom, he goes on the PS.

You might notice Kearse is not on my board. I would have traded him. Ford, Hayes and Ball need significant playing time to assess if any of them can be good starters after this season and whether or not we need to get another big time DE via free agency, the draft or a trade. I don't think Kearse will be what he once was. He's a nice player, but we need a serious pass rush threat at the LDE spot and Kearse wasn't it. He's great in pursuit but he's not a good pass rusher anymore and he gets pushed too easily off the line vs run blocking. I'm ready to see what Ford/Hayes and even Jason Jones can do. It is unlikely Kearse would significantly outplay the other 3 or 4 possible replacements who are all younger, cheaper, and have more upside now.

I also would not have drafted Marks either (which would leave me my 10), but that's another story.

Gut

 

I don't know if Ball makes the team. KVB, Kearse, Ford, and Hayes (who is a LE, Fish has made that clear) are all locks at DE. Birdine has looked good; it looks like we'll have 4 or 5 DTs (prob 5, I don't see us cutting Vickerson).

Only way he makes the team is if our FO and Fisher see him as a replacement for KVB next year, and I don't think that's too likely.

 

Ball makes the team for sure, I think. As good as Birdine has looked in preseason so far, I'd think he'd be released before Ball.
BUT keep in mind, a Fisher team would always love to be overcrowded with DLmen than any other position.