The Titans have been a team that has used a very personalized offense for each of their running backs in the past. For example, the "Smash and Dash" offense where Lendale White pounded the defense and Chris Johnson beat them with speed was highly effective for the Titans. Even in less successful years like 2013, the Titans didn't run the same offense with Jackie Battle that they did with Johnson.
The incumbent starter, Shonn Greene, has gotten a lot of the first team reps in camp so far, but he doesn't really fit in with the rest of the players at his position. This offseason, the Titans either added or re-signed three shifty running backs. Obviously the first two are Dexter McCluster and Bishop Sankey, but the third is Leon Washington who is getting some reps at the position.
Now, it is clear that the Titans are going to have a running back by committee situation for Whisenhunt's first year in Tennessee. That being said, he isn't afraid to do some interesting things with that position regardless of who is on the field. Where most teams would have different game plans for players like Shonn Greene and Dexter McCluster, that doesn't seem to be the case this year.
For example, on multiple occasions Shonn Greene shifted from his running back spot to a slot wide receiver spot pre-snap. Now, this is something you would expect to see much more from more agile players like Dexter McCluster or Bishop Sankey, but doing this with Shonn Greene isn't really a wrinkle I expected to see.
On the other hand, Both McCluster and Sankey have been lined up in the backfield and had inside, iso-run plays usually designed for bigger, bruising backs.
This balance of play is something that should make it harder for defenses to read what the Titans are doing, but it isn't as common as you would think. Consider how the Giants won Eli's first Super Bowl. The Giants ran a two-headed backfield that consisted of a pounding Brandon Jacobs who couldn't get to the outside, and Ahmad Bradshaw who was the shiftier player.
So whether the Titans will shift to more personalized offenses dependent on who is on the field will be something to watch for in preseason games.
