Titans’ youth movement evident on defensive line

A team that fielded Jevon Kearse for five seasons and Kevin Carter four had to bring in free agent Kyle Vanden Bosch this offseason to bump up the average age of its defensive ends. Antwan Odom, Travis LaBoy and Bo Schobel have playing experience only because they had to play as rookies in 2004.

The good thing for these Titans? They don’t lack for confidence.

“We’re pretty young, but I think we’re going to shock a lot of people,” Odom said Monday. “We’re going to shock a lot of people.”

They will need to if the Titans are going have a pass rush provided by something other than their tackles. The defensive ends did that very well last season despite a 5-11 record, tying Atlanta with 16 1/2 sacks in leading the NFL at that position. But only four teams had fewer sacks than Tennessee’s 32 last season.

Carter, who had six sacks, now is in Miami. That leaves Albert Haynesworth as the oldest of the group going into his fourth NFL season, and the 2002 first-round pick hasn’t played in every game of a season since his rookie year.

Coach Jeff Fisher said the team has seen improvement even though the Titans must be patient since evaluating the linemen isn’t easy without pads, something they won’t put on until training camp. The Titans conclude their final minicamp with workouts Tuesday and Thursday.

“We look at other areas — strength, explosion and other things. They’ve all improved throughout the offseason. Based on the playing time they got last year and a good offseason, they should all be better,” Fisher said.

Rien Long, the former Outland Trophy winner and fourth-round pick in 2003, had five sacks with four starts in 2004. Randy Starks, who celebrated his 21st birthday in December, had 4 1/2 sacks that ranked him fifth among the league’s rookies last season.

Defensive line coach Jim Washburn isn’t worried about his tackles, and is grateful general manager Floyd Reese signed Vanden Bosch, who played in 35 games over four seasons with Arizona despite knee injuries that kept him out of most of his rookie year and all of 2003.

Vanden Bosch worked with the first team of Haynesworth, Starks and Odom on Monday with Schobel excused for personal reasons.

“He’s tough, and he plays hard, has got some skills and he’s smart,” Washburn said. “He’s a better athlete than I thought. I thought he was just a tough player, but he’s a lot more than that.”

Fisher said they believe Vanden Bosch’s knee problems are history and think he will be a perfect fit for a defense that rotates its linemen.

“He’s also been around the block. His practice tempo, technique and approach to things are going to help with the young guys,” Fisher said.

Haynesworth thinks the line has a chance to be the team’s best.

“We’ve got some real talented guys inside. We’ve got some real fast, talented guys on the outside,” he said.

Only time will tell.