Saahdiq Charles‘ retirement caught the Titans off-guard, but the team had been pitting the free agency addition in an even competition with Dillon Radunz. As a result, the former second-round pick has zeroed in on Tennessee’s starting right guard spot. More continuity is likely here, even as GM Ran Carthon has largely reshaped the offense.
Carthon’s purge of Jon Robinson-era players is not set to include the right side of the Titans’ offensive line. Those position battles are not finished yet, but HC Brian Callahan said Radunz and Nicholas Petit-Frere are moving toward being the team’s starters.
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During a decade in which the Titans have been unable to find right tackle stability — since they let Jack Conklin walk as a 2020 free agent — it is interesting that two players who battled for the gig not long ago are likely to start alongside one another. The Titans’ disastrous Isaiah Wilson investment gave way to a second-round Radunz pick in 2021, but the North Dakota State product was unable to win the job. David Quessenberry started primarily in 2021, and a 2022 competition — after Quessenberry’s free agency exit — produced Petit-Frere as the starter. The 2022 third-round pick, however, encountered a gambling suspension last year and soon sustained a season-ending shoulder injury.
Radunz played four positions last season but primarily worked at right tackle. Pro Football Focus slotted him 41st at the position, a positive step during another injury-plagued Titans season up front. Radunz logged 504 snaps at right tackle and 166 at left guard, coming back after a December 2022 ACL tear. He played 19 snaps at right guard in 2023 and may have entered camp behind Charles, but the ex-Washington starter’s retirement changed the equation for the Titans.
Should Callahan’s current expectation come to fruition, this will also mark the second time in three years Daniel Brunskill will have been demoted. The 49ers used him as their starting right guard throughout the 2020 and ’21 seasons but demoted him to a platoon role with Spencer Burford in 2022. Brunskill, who followed Carthon to Tennessee last year, started all 14 games he played with the Titans in 2023.
This would be a nice opportunity for Radunz, who is in a contract year. Two seasons remain on Petit-Frere’s rookie deal. If an upset occurs and the job goes to another right tackle candidate, the Titans would go into a season with a sixth Week 1 RT in six years.
Petit-Frere started 16 games for the 2022 Titans but played in just three games last season. The team acquired ex-Bill Callahan Cleveland charge Leroy Watson via trade this year and signed veteran Geron Christian; those two joined 2023 sixth-round pick Jaelyn Duncan (five starts last season) in vying for roster spots.
Tennessee has locked-in starters at left tackle (JC Latham), left guard (Peter Skoronski) and center (Lloyd Cushenberry). If DeAndre Hopkins recovers in time for Week 1, the Titans are on track to have eight Carthon acquisitions as offensive starters. Two Robinson-era blockers, however, are poised to remain in the equation for another year.