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Tennessee Titans: NFL Trade Rumors Update

By Chris Headrick

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The NFL Trade Deadline is this coming Tuesday, October 28, 2014, and that gives the Tennessee Titans just a couple of days to try and make some moves that could bolster their hopes for any kind of a run in the final weeks of the season, as well as set a positive course for 2015-16.

This team has been absolutely horrible in almost every aspect of their game, and there are real needs on both sides of the ball.

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The most glaring weakness is at quarterback, where Jake Locker has been too injury prone, not very good when he has been healthy, and his backups are not any better.

Charlie Whitehurst is a fill-in at best, and although Zach Mettenberger got a full game in this afternoon, I’ve said and maintain that Mettenberger is not a good NFL QB, and that the Titans should resist the urge to put much hope in him.

He has the makings of a fair NFL QB, but not a good or great one, and a decent performance from him (a rookie) today doesn’t change that for me. He was 27 for 41 passing with a nice 299 yards, but tossed an interception and burped a fumble, was terrible on 3rd downs, and that against a Texans defense ranked 26th out of 32 teams. What happens with Zach faces a real defense? It’s widely known he has a tendency to choke with real pressure.

He’s big, has a strong arm, but there are too many problems with his accuracy, arm mechanics, heavy-footedness, and poise in the pocket. Any team serious about trying to actually get somewhere shouldn’t settle for a problematic quarterback, and as any scout will tell you, Mettenberger is more of a problem than a solution.

Furthermore, Locker is most likely gone in the last year of his contract, Whitehurst is well… Whitehurst, and so there is tons of room and plenty of reason for the Titans to keep looking at quarterbacks in the draft, or trading for an exiting NFL quarterback.

Although the problem is probably most glaring at the helm, there are other huge needs for this team, so I thought I’d take a moment to update fans on the trade rumor picture that’s been developing the last week or so, and look at some of the players central to those rumors, in no specific order.

Trades and Trade Rumors

Twitter

First of all, we already know that Akeem Ayers is off to New England to learn the Patriot Way, and that move could be good or bad depending on a number of factors.

The 6 foot, 2 inch, 255 pound linebacker and 2nd round draft pick in 2011 was and is a good player, but he’s only been involved in less than a dozen plays for the Tennessee Titans this year, still recovering from knee surgery (both pateller tendons), and now hampered by arguably trying to make too soon a comeback.

The Patriots are in need of a good linebacker though, and a healthy Ayers could benefit them down the road.

According to a tweet from Jason La Canfora, the Patriots gave up their 6th round draft pick to get Akeem Ayers along with the Titans 7th round draft pick.

6th round huh? I would remind the Titans and fans that they took Mettenberger in the 6th round as well, and that decision still sets me off!

Pro Football Talk

According to Mike Florio of NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk, the Philadelphia Eagles are looking for a good, starting capable safety, and when Ian Rapoport heard that news, he tweeted out the possibility that Titans’ safety Michael Griffin could be had for the right price…

Griffin is a great player, but has a tendency to lose focus and make mistakes. He has a couple more years on his current contract though, and is on schedule to make around $6.5 million in those two years.

My thinking? Griffin is too good to trade unless the prices and payoff is good enough to cover other more pressing areas of the Titans’ offense or defense.

NFL (Video)

Ian Rapoport is also talking about the possibility of a Nate Washington trade by the deadline.

Washington is a veteran and a team captain for the Titans, but is on the final year of his current contract and making nearly $5 million this season, so he could be expensive for any team willing to bite, and Washington, as they say, still got game!

According to a report from John Glennon of  the Tennessean, Nate isn’t worried.

"I don’t read the Internet stuff. I don’t know anything about it. I can’t control it, so I’m not worried about it. I’m just worried about playing football on Sunday. Whatever happens happens."

Personally, I doubt anyone bites even if the Titans are shopping Washington, and even if they did I’m not sure losing him would be in the Titans best interest.

Final Truth

That’s about all the rumors that are swirling around these days, give or take, and as you know it’s not likely that anything will be done at all by the Trade Deadline on Tuesday. I think the Titans are looking to work hard and try and figure out what has gone wrong with this season, and begin some planning for what they’ll do next season.

As I’ve said, there are huge defensive needs, and I think big needs at quarterback, but little will be done to fix these problems by Tuesday.

I have some very specific ideas to fix the quarterback problem, and I’ll detail those soon.

I know that I have been hard on Zach Mettenberger as a good choice for the Titans’ everyday quarterback, but as hard as I’ve been on him, and the problems I clearly see, I still hope I’m dead wrong.

Zach wouldn’t be the first rookie with questionable skills to figure out a way to turn things around, and sort of reinvent himself at a position. No analysis can predict the future with certainly, but time will certainly tell.

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