“If only in my dreams…”
By Jason Peters
As the off-season approacheth, our eyes get wider and wider with the prospect of bringing in potential free agents and draftees to continue to build on our successes. Teams are always looking for that one guy to be the complementary, finishing piece of the puzzle. A lot of us here at Titan Sized, and other sites around the league, are currently projecting/hypothesizing/outright-delusionally-dreaming of who we could potentially bring into the fold at LP Field. With that in mind, I will take an excitingly unrealistic look at who the Titans could theoretically sign in the off-season. Assuming our owner was some guy named Cuban. Or Snyder. Or Jones. Pretty much anyone but Adams.
Unbelievably Exciting Free Agent That We Won’t Sign #1: Mario Williams
Williams is an absolute wrecking ball of the highest caliber. He’s big, strong, fast, and routinely punishes guys at the line of scrimmage. From the looks of last season, he would also make a heck of a linebacker. However, I think Williams enjoyed being arguably the best Defensive Lineman in the league, as opposed to just a very good Linebacker, and wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to see if any 4-3 teams come calling via free agency. Also, Houston has that other premier DE to worry about, and I doubt J.J. Watt will be playing for his rookie salary for more than another year or two. My feeling is that Williams actually will test the market, but that we won’t even come close to offering enough to get him.
Guy That Would Instantly Make A Solid Unit Elite That We Won’t Sign #2: Carl Nicks
Nicks is top-ten at his position. No question. The Titans have nobody on the inside of the line that would come close to that label. No question. If Adams were to pull the trigger and sign Nicks, and then go after a veteran at a modest price like Saturday or Hardwick, this line would be unbelievable. From there, we would let Scott walk and have Amano and Harris battle it out for the starting RG position. Suddenly, CJ is putting the 2K next to his initials again.
Athlete That Would Make Our Unit An Acrobatic Force To Be Reckoned With That We Won’t Sign #3: Steve Johnson
Honestly, I doubt very much that Buffalo will let this guy go. He’ll be paid, and paid handsomely, because a lot of people have to justify the $60 million they handed to Fitzpatrick last year, and Steve Johnson goes a long way in helping to do that. However, can you imagine an offense that saw Locker and CJ take the field with Britt, Johnson, Washington, and Cook? That just feels like too much athleticism and tenacity for most teams to handle.
Player That Would Put Fear Into The Hearts and Minds Of Opposing Teams That We Won’t Sign #4: LaRon Landry
The feeling that I get about our defense is that it is respected, but not feared. We have a number of very, very good players, not to mention very, very young players, but I can’t think of anyone that Tom Brady or Drew Brees would go out of their way to account for, nor can I think of anyone that Adrian Peterson would be afraid of getting hit by. The more I think about it, the more I would love to see us get a vicious, physical, nasty presence to bring some swagger to our game, while still maintaining discipline, and putting opposing players on notice when they come to LP Field. LaRon Landry can be all those things wrapped in one big, bad package.
3 We Would Have to Trade Half Of This And Next Years Picks To Be Able To Draft, But Won’t: David DeCastro, Courtney Upshaw, Justin Blackmon
All three of these guys are going to be pro-bowlers for a decade. They will also all go in the top-ten. I can’t honestly say that I recall us ever trading-up during draft day in the first round. The last significant move I remember us making was trading a second to draft Cook in the third. Either way, there’s no chance a new GM in his first year on the job is going to make such waves, in addition to the fact that he seems much more level headed than that. It’s also an admittedly risky proposition, especially after seeing how much the Falcons had to give up to get Julio Jones, and ultimately, how little effect his presence made on the offense as a whole. Still, a boy can dream…
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