Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.Meet The ...
Only team that rivals watching paint dry in the boredom department. The Titans likely hate fantasy football. They definitely hate the pass. Their 543 rushing attempts last year led the NFL, even though they averaged a subpar 3.9 yards per carry. Only four teams threw the ball less often, and they were the only team in the entire league that threw less than 10 TD passes. I'm bored just thinking about this offense as I type. So they did the only rational thing to do in the off-season ... shore up the run game while nearly ignoring the passing situation. Yeah, they added tight end Alge Crumpler -- a 30 year-old TE who endured a rough 2007 in easily the worst season of his career. Still, the team virtually ignored wideouts in the off-season, fully content on letting Justin Gage and Roydell Williams being the top two with an absymal supporting cast. Instead, they used their first round pick on speedster RB Chris Johnson. Do you really believe them when they say they wanna pass more?
The Breakout
Ugh. Truth be told I really like no one, but they tell me I have to pick someone. Okay, I'll go with Chris Johnson. I can envision a thunder-and-lightning type combo with LenDale White here that evolves into White taking the short yardage carries and Johnson getting 15-20 outside touches. He has enough speed and running ability to become a decent flex guy by the end of the year. Gamble on him late.
The Bust
In sticking with what I said above, it's going to be White. Sure, he didn't run for a single TD last year and that will change in 2008. The problem is that everyone knows that. They also know he ran for 1110 yards last year and is the incumbent starter. Johnson's going to cut into that yardage big-time, so people drafting White and expecting 1110 yards and six TDs are going to be disappointed ... by about 400 yards. Of course, should they sign Kevin Jones, LenDale should completely disappear.
The Depth Chart
QB1 - Vince Young
QB2 - Kerry Collins
RB1 - LenDale White
RB2 - Chris Johnson
RB3 - Chris Henry
WR1 - Roydell Williams
WR2 - Justin Gage
WR3 - Brandon Jones
WR4 - Justin McCareins
WR5 - Lavelle Hawkins
WR6 - Mike Williams
TE1 - Alge Crumpler
TE2 - Bo Scaife
K - Rob Bironas
The D/ST
Well, it's pretty obvious that as much as the Titans like to run the ball they really trust their defense to keep them in and win games. They finished 11th last year and added soon-to-be 32 year-old Jevon Kearse to the defense that was seventh in sacks last season. Gotta love the possibility of them increasing their standing in that category, and they were second in picks as well. The reason they were only 11th last year was that they only scored two TDs (the Eagles didn't score, and three others only scored one time). Defensive TDs are somewhat fluky -- unless you have a returner like Devin Hester -- and are therefore quite fickle. With this in mind the Titans are a lower-tier starting D/ST for 2008.
The Skinny
Like I said at the start, pretty boring around here for fantasy purposes. Young is a lower-tier backup fantasy QB at best, White's a flex guy, Johnson's hopefully a startable flex by midseason, Crumper and Bironas are low-end starters or high-end backups, and the D/ST is good. None of the WRs are worth starting unless you are required to start four wideouts and play in a league of 16 teams ... in which case you can take a look at Gage and Roydell as last resort options ... maybe gamble on Jones in the last round. No one else is even ownable. This is a great example of a real team that is much, much better than their fantasy parts.
