An early check at the Tennessee Titans in 2016 NFL Mock Drafts
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans are at the quarter mark of their season, and we are starting to get a pretty good sense of where the holes are on their team. CBS and Rob Rang are starting to put out mock drafts with a slightly better sense of what the college players look like and where teams need help.
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So, who does he have the Tennessee Titans taking in his latest mock draft?
With the 8th pick, Rob Rang has the Tennessee Titans selecting: Jaylon Smith LB, Notre Dame.
Here are his quotes on the pick:
“With Marcus Mariota playing well, the Titans look vastly improved on offense, but the club hasn’t been able to stop opponents yet. Smith’s explosiveness could make him a perfect fit.”
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He goes into more depth on Smith here in his 2016 NFL Draft Big Board that he put out today.
“The Irish annually produce NFL talent but Smith is a different level of athlete than recent Notre Dame prospects. With raw power and aggression to go with fluidity and speed, Smith has the look of a top-10 pick. To earn that distinction, however, he needs to show more consistent pursuit angles and open-field tackling.”
So I have a couple of thoughts on this pick. Firstly, I think that the offense will be a bigger concern than the defense by the time this year is over. The Tennessee Titans have the top ranked pass defense in the league and Derrick Morgan, Brian Orakpo, Jurrell Casey, and Jason McCourty all look very good. So with that in mind, guys like Laquon Treadwell and Corey Coleman would be great additions to this team.
The Titans need guys that can separate from coverage with speed or win contested catches. At this point, I don’t think anyone except for Kendall Wright and Dorial Green-Beckham has proven they can do that and with a quarterback like Marcus Mariota, they need to arm him.
My second thought is, as much as I like Jaylon Smith as a prospect I think this team will be targeting best available playmaker if they are picking in the top 10 this year. Smith may very well be that guy, but if Joey Bosa, Robert Nkemdiche, Vernon Hargraves, or Jalen Ramsey falls to the Titans I expect them to jump on the prospect for sheer positional value.
This team isn’t far away, and are one Cleveland Browns loss on the road away from only losing two games by a combine three points. If this team can steal a possession for Marcus Mariota or make it even tougher for opposing defenses to move the ball then I think they will go defense. If not, it is hard to ignore giving Marcus Mariota weapons after showing what he can do with the players he has now which are good, but definitely not great yet.