Jason Pierre-Paul and the Tennessee Titans
By Will Lomas
The big news over the holiday weekend was the mysterious hand injury to Jason Pierre-Paul. JPP as he is known, is obviously the talented young defensive end for the New York Giants who has yet to sign a franchise tender or a long-term deal.
While nothing has been confirmed, there is a chance that the New York Giants could withdraw their contract offers to the defensive end and that he could hit the open market.
With that in mind, is there a place for him on the Tennessee Titans roster?
Scheme
Now this is the big question with JPP. Not only was he raw coming out of college, but most of his time (if not all) in the NFL has been spent in a 4-3 defense. So would that be an issue for the Tennessee Titans.
I think that it would be if he wasn’t such a talented run stopper. During his career, he has made been in the top-11 of PFF’s rankings when you sort by the ability to stop the run for 4-3 ends. In 2012, he was actually the top rated player in this category.
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When you are building a 3-4 defense, the main thing you want from your edge players is the ability to occupy offensive linemen and the ability to anchor against the run so that the edge rushers are more free to blitz.
Cost
This is the best point on why the Tennessee Titans should bring in the young player. The Tennessee Titans are the team with the second most cap room left for 2015 in the NFL.
With all of that money and no one to really spend it on next year in terms of extensions, this move would make a lot of sense.
The Tennessee Titans could offer a nice, incentive-filled contract that gives him to opportunity to make up to what the New York Giants were going to offer him.
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Need/Playing time
Another huge reason why the Tennessee Titans should consider this. JPP could be an excellent rotational player with Brian Orakpo. In this situation, JPP could play in sub 4-3 packages and Orakpo could play at his more natural 3-4 EDGE alignment.
This would eliminate a huge need for the Tennessee Titans over the next four years. By doing this the Tennessee Titans could solidify one of the most important positions on the field AND put themselves in position to draft difference making players in the draft with QB, LT, EDGE, and CB all pretty much taking care of.
Will it happen
Probably not. If he hits the free market, there aren’t that many teams he could join and make a lot of money but it is a huge move and the Tennessee Titans don’t usually get to make those.
However, with Dick LeBeau as a major selling point and the fact that the Tennessee Titans won’t have to rush him back if he isn’t fully healthy at the start of the season, the team does have a very strong pitch.
If he hits the free market that it.