NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When the Titans first said in the spring that they were interested in bringing Mason Rudolph back as quarterback depth, I thought they were being nice.
It turned out the Steelers outbid them for his services with a two-year, $7.5 million deal with $3million guaranteed.
That should have told us all we needed to know about the Titans’ approach at backup QB.
Rudolph was fine for the Titans in practice, but when he was called on to settle things down when things got out of hand with Will Levis, he did no such thing.
Levis threw a pick or fumbled on 6.3 percent of his pass attempts or runs. Rudolph nearly kept the same pace at 5.5 percent. And out of that fine work, the Titans wanted him back.
With Levis in line to back up Cam Ward, they signed Brandon Allen as the alternative to Rudolph and also brought in Tim Boyle. The team touted Allen’s familiarity with Brian Callahan’s system from time together in Cincinnati and spoke of game snaps as a qualifier for Boyle, despite his horrific numbers in those snaps – five touchdowns, 13 interceptions, a 60.5 completion percentage and a 58.1 passer rating.
Allen (six-for-12, 62 yards, a pick on a topped ball and a 30.6 passer rating) showed his weak arm in the Titans’ preseason opener in Tampa Bay, a 29-7 loss, and Boyle looked as you would expect – horrible. He connected on four of 13 attempts for 24 yards with two interceptions for a passer rating of 0.6. Yes, zero point six.
A day later, Brian Callahan was in full defense mode, because saying a bad backup quarterback performed poorly is generally something NFL coaches can’t do.
“Tim got put in a bit of a tough spot, especially at the end there,” Callahan said. “We go down two scores and we’re trying to drop back and throw the ball bunch and didn’t really want to get to that position, but put him in harm’s way probably more than you’d like to for a preseason game.”
A tough spot?
Boyle came into the game late in the fourth quarter with the Titans down 13-7, a third-stringer playing with third-stringers against third-stringers. Oh, the poor guy.
I pushed back at this idea, asking Callahan if Boyle wasn’t exactly where a guy of Boyle’s standing was where he could expect to be.
“I think you’re right about that part. I just think when you want to give a guy a chance to have the run game at his disposal and you want give him a chance to have some of the play-action things that go with it so you’re not just in a full drop back mode, which is that last probably two series and we’re down two scores with whatever it was, it was 16-7. There’s roughly five-ish minutes left, so we were trying to go a little faster and play in a two-minute mode.
“Again, yes, you are correct about the statement that, yeah, you’re not going to be in the best spot in the world when it comes to the preseason in the fourth quarter. And I’m not trying to make an excuse for him either. I’d like to see him play better than he did, obviously, and that’s got to get corrected the next time we get out. He’s got be able to complete some balls and move the team down the field a little bit more than he did.”
Levis had more upside than Allen. I wrote in the spring that he should have been the choice as the No. 2 behind Ward. But then he chose to have season-ending shoulder surgery just before camp started.
Team brass indicated to Jeremy Fowler that it would consider an upgrade at the spot, though I bet Allen’s familiarity winds up having pull.
I believe the Titans really feel that if Ward struggles or misses time hurt they will take the losses that come with Allen and the higher draft pick that result from them.
And that part of the building plan is understandable, but this part is not: Ward isn’t the only guy developing this season, and Bryce Oliver, Elic Ayomanor, Chimere Dike, Gunnar Helm and plenty of others involved in the offense deserve better than Allen if something goes wrong for Ward.
The general perception of No. 3 and 4 quarterbacks around camps right now is that they are better than they are.
Take a look at Ourlads’ quarterback depth chart for the league.
“If Quinn Ewers from the Dolphins gets cut, Will Howard from the Steelers or Riley Leonard from the Colts, I jump on those players and develop two rookie quarterbacks,” Blake Beddingfield said. “Also, I would sign Kedon Slovis from the Texans on the practice squad. I think he has potential as a No. 2. This roster has to be looked at not just for this year, 
but for the future, and if you can develop two young quarterbacks, that can be a big plus.”
“Veterans: Bailey Zappe, Sam Howell, Drew Lock, Case Keenum and Jameis Winston. I think Lock, Zappe and Howell have very similar skill sets to Ward.”
Someone better or at least more interesting than Allen will come free and the Titans shouldn’t use Allen having been with Callahan in Cincinnati and having been with the Titans through the offseason and camp as the rationale for sticking with the status quo, even if he’s better in two more preseason games.
And Boyle can’t be the practice squad guy who’s a twisted ankle away from being a twisted ankle away. If the guy the Titans get to replace him is forced into action and is terrible, at least there won’t be so much evidence ahead of time that he will be.
