CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Tennessee woman is facing a second-degree murder charge following the deadly overdose of her friend, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The TBI said Jerica Marie Hayes, of Crossville, was indicted in the death of Samuel Mashburn after allegedly supplying him with fentanyl.

In September 2021, officers with the Crossville Police Department responded to a home on Willow Street. Mashburn was found dead in the driveway.

An autopsy revealed he died from acute combined multiple drug intoxication. During the TBI’s investigation, Hayes, a friend of Mashburn, was identified as the person who allegedly supplied him with fentanyl.

“On August 5th, the Cumberland County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Jerica Marie Hayes (DOB 08/21/1988) with one count of Second Degree Murder and one count of Delivery of Fentanyl,” the TBI said.

Hayes is currently being held at the Cumberland County Jail with a bond set at $1,000,000.

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The Tennessee Titans are entering the first year of Dennard Wilson’s defense with a number of new faces.

Here’s an idea of how the Titans could line up on defense during the season:

Defensive End: Sebastian Joseph-Day, Keondre Coburn, TK McLendon Jr.

Joseph-Day signed with the Titans in free agency and he should provide a strong veteran presence on the defensive line.

Nose Tackle: T’Vondre Sweat, Quinton Bohanna

Sweat is the lone rookie starter on defense, and the Titans have high hopes and expectations for the second-round pick out of Texas.

Defensive Tackle: Jeffery Simmons, Marlon Davidson, Isaiah Iton

Simmons is the undisputed leader of the defense, and he should be playing a good majority of the snaps at defensive tackle.

Outside Linebacker: Arden Key, Harold Landry III, Shane Ray, Rashad Weaver, Jaylen Harrell, Khalid Duke, Caleb Murphy, Thomas Rush

Key will be suspended six games for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. This could mean that Shane Ray, who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018, could take his spot as a starter at outside linebacker.

Inside Linebacker: Kenneth Murray Jr., Jack Gibbens, Garret Wallow, Chance Campbell, Otis Reese IV, Cedric Gray, Luke Gifford, James Williams, JoJo Domann

Murray replaces Azeez Al-Shaair in the middle of the defense. He’s joined by Jack Gibbens, and the two will look to be the team’s top tacklers.

Cornerback: L’Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie, Jarvis Brownlee Jr., Tre Avery, Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Caleb Farley, Tay Gowan

Sneed and Awuzie have both dealt with injuries during training camp, but both are unquestionably the starters at cornerback.

Nickel Cornerback: Roger McCreary, Eric Garror, Anthony Kendall, Robert Javier

McCreary gets the nod at nickel with Garror expected to be his backup.

Safety: Amani Hooker, Jamal Adams, Elijah Molden, Mike Brown, Shyheim Carter, Matthew Jackson, Keaton Ellis

The depth chart was released before the arrival of Quandre Diggs, but he should factor into the safety conversation, likely starting alongside Adams or Hooker.

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The Tennessee Titans have spent their offseason trying to get dramatically better in the secondary. This is obviously, indisputably, unambiguously true.

Let’s say it works.

Let’s say the Titans’ choice to hire DB-focused defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and their moves to add L’Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie, Jarvis Brownlee Jr., Jamal Adams and now Quandre Diggs into a room that already features Roger McCreary, Amani Hooker and Elijah Molden makes the defensive backfield obviously, unambiguously better in 2024.

What then? Is being better in the defensive backfield a cheat code to being better as a team?

As with anything in the NFL, it’s complicated. Here are the trends to see if the Titans’ energy and resources have been well-spent.

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Tennessee Titans offseason moves: How much better are the DBs?

On paper, the Titans officially project to have a top-three secondary in the NFL after the move Sunday to add Diggs.

This isn’t hyperbole or random peacocking. This is analysis pulled straight from ESPN projections analyst Mike Clay’s forecast for the 2024 season. Based on Clay’s unit-by-unit grading system, only the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars have better combined grades for their cornerback and safety groups. Clay’s grades give the Titans the fifth-best cornerback room and 12th-best safety room in the league. There are only four other teams graded out as being above average at both cornerback and safety.

The Titans haven’t finished a season in the top half of NFL teams in pass yards allowed since 2018. Even in their best years under coach Mike Vrabel, the Titans’ defensive backs were more opportunistic than stifling. This year, that has a real chance to change.

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NFL secondary trends: Are Titans scheduled to see big turnaround?

No one stat is going to encapsulate perfectly how good a team’s secondary is, but for the sake of brevity, let’s look at net passing yards allowed by year. It’s not the most sophisticated metric, but it still rings true that teams that allow the fewest passing yards are generally regarded as having the best defensive backfields.

Teams get better against the pass year-over-year all the time. There have been 92 instances in the past 15 seasons of a team improving their net passing yards against by 400 yards or more. In nine of those cases, teams improved by 1,000 or more yards. That 1,000-yard improvement might be a little drastic; it’d position the Titans with the sixth-best net pass defense of any team since 2008. But a more-modest 400-yard improvement vaults the Titans into the range of the top-10 net pass defenses in the NFL last year, which isn’t something to scoff at.

But as for getting better in pass coverage directly correlating to more wins, the data doesn’t back that up. Of those 92 teams mentioned earlier, their median wins gained year-over-year was zero. The 20 most-improved pass defenses in the sample improved by only a median of 0.5 wins year-over-year.

Tennessee Titans roster 2024: So what should fans expect?

Getting better just about anywhere is a good thing. Take a look at teams like the 2021 Bengals and 2023 Lions who made deep playoff runs after loading up on cornerbacks and safeties in the offseason to fix ailing secondaries, and it’s more than fair to say the Titans approached this offseason a correct way.

In the modern NFL, the five most important commodities are pass throwers, pass catchers, pass blockers, pass rushers and pass defenders. Nearly every move the Titans made this offseason can be viewed through the lens of one of those five commodities. That’s a good thing. But the Titans aren’t the only team that knows this. In a league where so many other teams are behaving similarly, there’s no guaranteeing that making the right decisions will lead to immediate, transformative success.

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.