Ryan Tannehill: Having familiar faces back is a good thing

[T-Rac]

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It took some time to get done, but the Titans were able to beat the July 15 deadline for franchise-tagged players and sign running back Derrick Henry to a four-year extension earlier this month.

The deal will keep Henry in Nashville for a few more years and reaching it also meant that the team signed two of their key offensive players to extensions this offseason. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill got his own extension much earlier in the offseason and the team also has wide receivers Corey Davis, A.J. Brown and Adam Humphries and tight end Jonnu Smith back after a trip to the AFC title game.

While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Tannehill said keeping the band together is a reason to feel confident about the year to come.

“Any time you have continuity from year to year it helps a lot,” Tannehill said, via the team’s website. “The league, your team usually changes a whole lot from year to year and we do have change. But bringing back a lot of familiar faces is a good thing. We are jumping back into the same offense, with some minor adjustments, and we’re able to lock into some small details that we never really got to last year. If we can do that this year and keep pushing forward, it is really going to help us. And when you have that familiarity with the guy that is beside you, the guy you are throwing to, the guy who is handing you the ball, hopefully it will help us.”

The Titans did say goodbye to one starter when right tackle Jack Conklin signed with the Browns, but Dennis Kelly has been with the team since 2016 so they’re able to keep continuity despite the change in starters.