NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- New Tennessee Titans offensive tackle Byron Bell was not signed to be the starter at right tackle.
He’ll have a chance to compete for the spot, and the Titans clearly think he can bounce back from a poor season in Carolina. Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean reported it’s a one-year deal for $1.5 million. We don’t know how much, if any of it, is guaranteed.
I suspect not much, in which case Bell can play well and win the starting spot or play poorly and wind up missing out on the 53-man roster.
Bell was bad for the Panthers last season, and they wound up signing failed Titans right tackle Michael Oher to replace him.
The signing doesn’t look good for the Titans considering how poorly Oher played in Tennessee last year.
“He’s worse than Oher, and I think Carolina agrees with me,” said Matt Williamson, ESPN.com’s resident scout. “He has some ability, but has really struggled and has played more left than right tackle.”
The Titans now have Bell, Byron Stingily, Jamon Meredith, Terren Jones and William Poehls on the roster as candidates for the open spot.
Adding Bell likely eases any pressure the team might have felt to fill the roster hole early. But they still should draft a tackle.
They need to get back to a time when they could find a player like David Stewart in the fourth round in 2005. He was a fixture in the lineup for years.
How about someone like Robert Havenstein from Wisconsin?
