The Tennessee Titans have completely revamped their offensive line this season thanks to the excellent decisions made by general manager Ran Carthon. First round pick JC Latham will be a strong day one starter at left tackle. Saahdiq Charles (new free agent acquisition) may win the right guard spot opposite Peter Skoronski. The competition is fierce at right tackle. And Lloyd Cushenberry will be a huge upgrade at center. Or is he?
Pro Football Focus embarrasses itself
For those most closely familiar with the Tennessee Titans, the upgrade to Cushenberry over last season's center Aaron Brewer is quite obvious. However, that apparently isn't so clear to some in the national media. In fact, Pro Football Focus just published their "Top-32 centers going into next season" for the NFL, and got it completely backwards.
PFF somehow ranked Aaron Brewer (now with the Miami Dolphins) 11th among all centers in the NFL. This is after Brewer allowed the second most sacks of any center in the league in 2023, gave up the third most pressures, and ranked 42nd in pass block efficiency among centers with at least 100 snaps. All of this according to PFF's own grading system!
And to make matters worse, they actually had the audacity to rank Cushenberry (14th) behind Aaron Brewer (11th), despite their own grading system rating Cushenberry higher in overall offensive grade and pass blocking. Just a completely baffling ranking order when it comes to the best centers in the NFL.
Hopefully Titans fans can just have a good laugh, knowing that they're now rid of Aaron Brewer's complete ineptitude up front in pass blocking situations. Cushenberry, on the other hand, is a proven pass blocking specialist, which will come in handy given that head coach Brian Callahan's newly installed offense will likely have the Titans passing more than they ever have in franchise history.
Cushenberry has also stood out as a leader this spring in OTAs and minicamp. Plus, he has already been gelling with the rest of his offensive line mates very well according to Peter Skoronski when I spoke with him at practice last week. Titans fans can rest easy knowing they've got a good one in Cushenberry.
