NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Plotting team chemistry is tough, and it’s something that is overthought by some NFL franchises, underthought by others.

There is an element of the unknown when you throw 90 guys, and then 53, in a locker room together. What shakes out in terms of how people get along and work together can be a bit of a mystery, and it can be a cause for fear.

In 2014 as they continued to search for offensive line solutions, the Titans signed tackle Michael Oher. He was a surly presence who didn’t play very well and was not well liked by the rest of the group. It caused headaches and made it difficult for the line to bond in the way it needed to.

General manager Jon Robinson may misjudge a personality or insert an occasional outlier into the locker room, particularly once he feels leaders and the team's culture are set.

But in listening to Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan talk about team chemistry this week, I was struck by how the Titans' fundamental principle -- a desire that all players be team-first, disciplined, tough guys who rank football as super important -- serves to raise the odds of excellent chemistry.

On 3HL in Nashville, Lewan was asked about the locker room culture now versus when he joined the team as a first-round draft pick in 2014.

“It’s much more of a tight-knit group and I think that comes with our youth,” Lewan said. “We’re a really young team. Obviously we’ve got a couple old guys, Delanie [Walker], that guy’s going to need a cane soon. There are a couple other guys around who are pretty old.

“But they’ve been through it and they’ve got a very young spirit. I think we all just mesh. Everybody gets along for the most part. People have their quarrels here and there, but it is what it is. It’s a cliché that’s used way too much, but it really is a brotherhood. It’s something special going on here and I am excited to be a part of it.”

Any good team will have that brotherhood feel to it.

There are different paths to getting there, and some of it amounts to the magic that can elevate a team to a new level.

The Titans’ work to ensure they have a locker room with a unity of purpose certainly enhances the chances of that happening.