Tennessee Titans: Senior Bowl Intrigues
There’s not a lot going on in terms of Titans news, or any other news really, as most teams are at the Senior Bowl observing prospects and trying to put their own grades on them.
Here’s a little info on a couple of guys who have stood out so far during practices:
Courtney Upshaw is blowing up practices. He’s pushing himself up draft boards while knocking down offensive tackles. Upshaw has been playing a lot of defensive end during Senior Bowl practices, a position he’s familiar with. The Tide often moved him back and forth in his positioning on the field, from being a linebacker to playing on the line at defensive end. I couldn’t find the link today, but on Tuesday I know he knocked at least one, if not more, offensive tackles on their butts just using his pure force. At 6’1″ and 273 pounds, it’d be easy for Upshaw to be a starting DE in the NFL. He also plays well into Gray’s scheme, as he like drop DE’s into coverage every now and then. It’s very likely he’ll be long gone by the time the Titans go to pick at #20.
Quinton Coples also had a good Tuesday practice. FifthDown had this to say about his Tuesday’s practice:
"It’s not an exaggeration to say that Coples won 90 percent of his reps in practice Tuesday. He again made his opponents whiff at times on his go-to inside rip and swim move and flashed a rare, but effective edge rush move with good lean. He’s been strong enough to get away with a high pad level when defending the run. His play, albeit against what may be questionable competition, was again evoking nearly unanimous comparisons to Julius Peppers."
They are a little higher on him than others. Rob Rang of CBS sports has compared him to some what of a Jason Jones type player. He said he didn’t have the type of explosiveness that would produce a bunch of sacks at an NFL level. That’s not really something I think the Titans will be wanting in a DE. They need a pass rusher who will turn around one of the least productive pass rushing lines in the NFL. A nice book end to pair with a resurgent Derrick Morgan is exactly what the doctor is ordering.
We’ll just have to wait till free agency, or possibly the draft, to see how the Titans respond to that.