Tennessee Titans: PFF Misses On AFC South Position Battle
The Tennessee Titans definitely have a position battle raging at the defensive tackle position and PFF didn’t miss on that. What they did miss on was the who all would be fighting at that position, especially when one to two of the guys they mentioned may not even be on the final roster.
PFF seemed to do a pretty good job on the rest of the AFC South positional battles but when they got to the Titans and their defensive tackles, they didn’t dig too deep.
Via PFF:
"Tennessee TitansPosition: Defensive TackleThe Players: Sen’Derrick Marks, Shaun Smith, Jurrell Casey and Karl Klug"
The Titans have eight DT’s on their roster right now. Some are just camp bodies, but some have a serious chance of making the final roster. I was shocked to see rookie DT Mike Martin left off PFF’s list, which only had Sen’Derrick Marks, Jurrell Casey, Shaun Smith, and Karl Klug. Martin will be very much in the running and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start at some point in the season. Smith and Marks will both be fighting for a roster spot, as the aforementioned seven other DT’s will be doing their best to stick with the Titans.
Here’s the full list of DT’s on the Titans roster right now: *DaJohn Harris, Jurrell Casey, Karl Klug, *Mike Martin, Shaun Smith, Sen’Derrick Marks, Lamar Divens, and Zach Clayton (*= rookie).
That’s a pretty loaded position and after a rough start, Shaun Smith is going to have to really show up in camp and earn his spot, as will Marks. Martin could easily surpass both those guys on the depth chart, and I suspect he quickly will. DaJohn Harris is another talented rookie that the Titans got as a UFA due to a hole in his heart (not as serious as it sounds) was discovered during his physical at the Combine. The doctors cleared him and alerted the teams he was okay but he still went undrafted. He’s a former teammate of Casey, as they both attended USC and if any of the other names on this roster could be pushing for a spot, it’d be him.
If I’m writing this article for PFF, here’s the guys I’m putting out there: Jurrell Casey, Karl Klug, Mike Martin, DaJohn Harris, and Sen’Derrick Marks.
Smith has a lot to prove this camp and I’m not sure that he can make it. It’ll also be difficult for the Titans seventh-round pick from 2011, Zach Clayton, to stick.
Almost all these guys have something to prove. It’ll be fun watching them all battle it out through preseason (only 18 days away!).
We’ll start hearing about it soon as training camp starts next Friday, the 29th
You can find me on Twitter @JustinLStewart