Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.When the offseason began, the Titans had one of the better running back situations around the NFL. With Travis Henry as a starter and Lendale White as a backup, the team seemed to have a solid combination of experienced talent and young potential.
But that was before the Titans misjudged the free agent market and let Henry go by not paying an option bonus. Henry quickly jumped to the Broncos. White then gave the team even more to worry about when he showed up fat for the team's minicamps and missed much of the minicamps with hamstring problems.
Because of that, the Titans drafted second-round pick Chris Henry and brought back Chris Brown. Brown wasn't able to crack the Titans active roster for much of last season and requested a trade before becoming a free agent. But when he couldn't find a job elsewhere and the Titans couldn't find a better running back he decided to return to Tennessee. After all that drama, he could end up starting in 2007.
All three of the Titans candidates have some strengths and some clear weaknesses. White will never be a big play threat, but if he keeps his weight under 250 he has the power and enough quickness to be a dependable every-down back who can move the chains. But he's yet to prove he can stay healthy or skinny enough to do that.
Henry has the nearly perfect combination of size (6-foot, 225 pounds) and speed (4.45 in the 40-yard dash). But he didn't turn his great skills into production at Arizona where he lost his starting job and rushed for less than 1,000 yards in his career.
Brown disappeared last year, but he was a 1,000-yard back for Tennessee in 2004. He's more of a dependable back than a superstar, but considering his knowledge of the offense and his ability to occasionally break off a big run, he's the odds-on-favorite to win the starting job. If he can win it, he could be a nice sleeper pickup in fantasy leagues as the Titans keep their starting tailbacks busy--Tennessee has had a 1,000-yard back in four of the past five years.
Training camp battles: See them all
