NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Dick LeBeau likes the personnel he’s inheriting and the guys his new team, the Tennessee Titans, have added.

He likes the effort he saw from the Titans in 2015, their first playing in a 3-4 scheme that was a version of his defense.

When Michael Griffin met LeBeau, the new head of the Titans' defense, the coach told the safety that film showed it was the group’s first time playing the scheme and that things would get better.

LeBeau spoke for the first time since Ken Whisenhunt hired him and installed him over his protégée, Ray Horton. The veteran coach told Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean more about what the team has.

"Those were good acquisitions for us and retaining Derrick [Morgan] was a major move for us,” LeBeau said of a free-agent class that includes outside linebacker Brian Orakpo, strong safety Da'Norris Searcy and cornerback Perrish Cox. "You can never have too many good players.

“We have to do better, there's a lot of improvement to be made, but I was impressed with the way the defense put out. It was a tough year for everybody, but that happens in this league, it happens in this business. I was looking at the video and I was impressed with the team effort on defense throughout the season. … There's a lot of good, hard-working men who didn't have a lot of success last year, but we intend to correct that."

It’ll take a lot to calm Titans fans and win them over to the 2015 team after 2014’s 2-14 debacle.

LeBeau is one of the biggest reasons for optimism.