This might not come as a major surprise but the Tennessee Titans appear ready to run the football which will require Marcus Mariota to put his ego aside.
In a recent article, Marcus Mariota talked about how all he cares about is winning and will “hand the ball off 40-times” if that’s what it takes. His comments were made to show that he’s a team player, but this is something that might become a reality.
The strength of Tennessee’s offense is at the running back position and the offensive line. They feature three former 1st round picks on the offensive line including this year’s selection Jack Conklin.
Each of the projected starting linemen are excellent run blockers who love to move defenders off the line of scrimmage. They’ll be able to open plenty of running lanes for DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry.
Tennessee invested a lot of money and draft capital in the backfield. According to sportac, they have nearly $10 million invested in Murray, Henry and Dexter McCluster.
Running back talent aside, the Titans may prefer to run the ball because they lack a major threat at wide receiver. They have several solid pieces on the outside but nobody that demands attention.
Kendall Wright, Harry Douglas, Rishard Matthews, Dorial Green-Beckham and Justin Hunter just haven’t had the type of sustained success needed to be a team’s go-to target. This is a group of No. 3 receivers who are being asked to play a bigger role.
The Titans didn’t trade for Murray and selected Henry in the 2nd round to only give them a few carries each. This is an offense that will run the ball the majority of the time. The roster makeup speaks to this fact as does the inexperience of Mariota.
Things only change if one of the receivers emerge as a legitimate weapon that forces the team to feed him the ball.