Tennessee Titans: Hayes, Ruud Sign Elsewhere and Kiper Gives Picks
Former Tennessee Titan DE William Hayes has signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Rams. He was the Titans 4th round pick in 2008. There are three players from that draft still remaining with the team in RB Chris Johnson (1st round), TE Craig Stevens (3rd round), and WR Lavelle Hawkins (5th round).
Hayes never really lived up to expectations with the Titans and now finds himself in familiar company with Cortland Finnegan and Jeff Fisher.
On another bit of free agent news, the Titans worst free agent signing of this past offseason, also know as Barrett Ruud, has signed with the Seattle Seahawks. Best of luck to him there. He’s also being reunited with DL Jason Jones.
Today Mel Kiper of ESPN was giving picks for the first three rounds of the upcoming draft for every team. Here’s what he had for the Titans:
I'm projecting the Tennessee Titans first 3 picks to be CB Dre Kirkpatrick (Rd 1), DE Vinny Curry (Rd 2), & C Ben Jones (rd 3).
— Mel Kiper Jr. (@MelKiperESPN) April 6, 2012
I could see the second two happening, but not really the first. The Titans have a lot of directions they could lean with the first pick. DE, DT, OLB, S, CB, G, C are all plausible choices. Even WR could be one. Though I don’t think the Titans will take Curry, they certainly will be giving him a look. Ben Jones is definitely a big possibility. The Titans have been very actively searching for a replacement for Eugene Amano.
I just don’t see them taking Kirkpatrick with the first pick. If they were to take a CB with their pick, I’d expect them to take Stephon Gilmore. He’s a fiery player I expect to be a playmaker at the next level. He has a lot of the same qualities that Cortland Finnegan brought to the table and would be a great replacement.
That being said, the Titans aren’t fond of taking CB’s that high in the draft. The highest draftee in the Titans CB group is Alterraun Verner, who was taken in the 4th round. With bigger needs in other places, I’d expect them to use it on something else, such as a DE or S.
Only time will tell.
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