2015 NFL Draft: Full roster breakdown and needs for Tennessee Titans
By Will Lomas
For the past week I have been ranking the 2015 Tennessee Titans roster based on a combination of their performances in 2014, their career, their potential for the future, and whether or not they stood out in a bad situation. Notice that I am not including injury concerns or salary cap in this ranking. For example, I know that Andy Levitre makes too much money, but that doesn’t make him a worse offensive lineman than Brian Schwenke.
I have broken each player into one of five categories, which will be explained as you go along.
Blue Chips: Everyone knows this phrase, it is a player that any team would start if they had the chance.
1. Jurrell Casey DT
2. Delanie Walker TE
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Good Starters: These are players that have been very good, but they aren’t transcendent in any way. They make the team better, and the front office shouldn’t look to replace them. This group is also comprised of rookies that have shown a lot of talent, and look like they will be at the level of some of these other players next year.
3. Jason McCourty CB
4. Kendall Wright WT
5. Taylor Lewan LT
6. Brian Orakpo EDGE
7. Derrick Morgan EDGE
8. Da’Norris Searcy S
9. Perrish Cox CB
10. Chance Warmack G
11. Harry Douglas WR
12. Avery Williamson LB
13. Karl Klug DT
14. Sammie Hill DT
15. Dexter McCluster RB/WR
16. Coty Sensabaugh CB
17. Andy Levitre G
18. Bishop Sankey RB
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Above Average Starters: These are players that you can win with, if they are properly supplemented by the first two categories. Alex Smith would likely fall into this category.
19. Daimion Stafford S
20. Ropati Pitoitua DE
21. Zach Mettenberger QB
22. Mike Martin DT
23. Brandon Harris CB
24. Justin Hunter WR
25. Taylor Thompson TE
26. Zach Brown LB
27. Michael Griffin S
28. Al Woods DL
29. Byron Stingily OT
30. Jonathan Massaquoi EDGE
Below Average Starters: These are players that either haven’t seen enough time to demonstrate their abilities, or they are players that have shown they can’t play. These players are the ones that Ruston Webster and company need to look to replace.
31. Craig Stevens TE
32. Brian Schwnke C
33. Lache Seastrunk RB
34. Charlie Whitehurst QB
35. Wesley Woodyard LB
36. Zaviar Gooden LB
37. Kamerion Wimbley EDGE
38. Marqueston Huff DB
39. Anthony Fasano TE
40. Clyde Gates WR
41. Antonio Andrews RB
42. Shonn Greene RB
43. DaQuan Jones DT
44. Khalid Wooten DB
45. Gabe Ikard C
46. Rico Richardson WR
47. Dorin Dickerson
Bad Players: These are the players that should never touch the field. Fourth string offensive tackles, journeyman defensive backs, and busts all stay in this range. If you know more than five of the names, then you are a die-hard Tennessee Titans fan. These are in no order, because they all need to be replaced.
Josh Stewart WR
Justin McCray OL
Will Poehls OL
Alex Tanney QB
Jacoby Ford WR
Brett Brackett TE
Terren Jones OL
Jamon Meredith OL
Jamea Thomas DB
Yawin Smallwood LB
Justin Staples LB
Blidi Wreh-Wilson CB
Kaelin Burnett EDGE
Dontay Moch LB
Chaz Sutton DL
Nate Askew DB
Ri’Shard Anderson DB
Glaring Issues
So, where is the Tennessee Titans right tackle? You can’t tell me that they are really going into the draft with no one that can play right tackle, right? Well I guess you can, because unless the Tennessee Titans are high on Byron Stingily then there is really no one to fill that hole. For what it is worth, right tackle Joe Barksdale and center Stefen Wisniewski would have graded out around 12 and 11 respectively for me and moved offensive line to the sixth biggest need (list below).
Another hard thing to look at is that the first quarterback ranked for the Tennessee Titans is Zach Mettenberger at 21. That is not where you want your quarterback to grade out, and it is a big reason why the Tennessee Titans are reportedly talking to the San Diego Chargers about a draft day swap of Marcus Mariota and Philip Rivers.
Biggest Assets
The Tennessee Titans are set at tight end, which is a quarterback’s best friend. If Zach Mettenberger is the guy for the Tennessee Titans next year, then I would expect Delanie Walker to have a huge year splitting deep zones.
Kudos to Ruston Webster for making several very solid free agent signings this offseason. The Tennessee Titans didn’t get Ndamukong Suh, but that was never going to happen any way. What they did do, is stockpile talent at EDGE rusher (Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan), add a very good number two cornerback (Perrish Cox), bring in a box-safety to make Michael Griffin play better (Da’Norris Searcy), and bring in a very capable wide receiver (Harry Douglas).
In fact, five of the top-11 players on this list were on the open market this year.
Needs
After looking at this and assuming that the Tennessee Titans aren’t going to add any more players before the 2015 NFL Draft, here is what my need list looks like:
1. Offensive line (high)
2. Quarterback (high)
3. Wide receiver (medium)
4. Inside linebacker (medium)
5. Safety (medium)
6. Edge rusher (medium)
7. Defensive line (low)
8. Running back (low)
9. Cornerback (low)
10. Tight end (low)