Edge rushers the Tennessee Titans should look at
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans had an underrated injury yesterday with Deiontrez Mount tearing an ACL and being put on injured reserve. While Mount has only played a handful of snaps this year, the need for a backup is a big one.
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There are two ways to get a good pass rusher:
1. Hope someone recently cut someone with talent (which doesn’t happen often).
2. Make a trade.
Let’s look at the first option.
While there aren’t many big names out there, the one that jumps out is a familiar one in Jason Babin. The former Titan turned around his career with Tennessee a few years ago.
The Raven picked him up a few weeks ago but waived him, in large part because I think he does his best work in space and really doesn’t like to play the run.
Those attributes add up to a talented pass rushing 3-4 EDGE player for the Tennessee Titans, and PFF backs me up. In 2014 with the New York Jets that use a 3-4 defense, he was the highest ranked 3-4 OLB of all players with 500 snaps or less. So I definitely wouldn’t mind putting him back in an attacking 3-4 defense.
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The other option I mentioned was trading. I think the biggest trade piece for the Tennessee Titans is Zach Mettenberger, the cheap and talented second year quarterback.
I won’t go into too much depth here because it is all hypothetical, but here is a list of teams that should consider a change at quarterback, who they should trade for, and why. I also divided them into two ranks: “Makes Sense” and “Long shots”
Makes sense
1. Kansas City Chiefs (team): Tamba Hali (player):
Hali has the14th highest cap hit of every 3-4 OLB. The Chiefs are the only team other than the Green Bay Packers with two edge rushers inside the top-14. This makes sense given the cap room and outlook of the Chiefs without Jamaal Charles.
2. Denver Broncos: Shaq Barrett:
In two weeks the Broncos will have Demarcus Ware, Von Miller and Shane Ray. Barrett is a fun EDGE player to watch and he would be a great young addition that really doesn’t do much to the Broncos depth. On the other hand they have Brock Osweiler who is largely unproven and he has a bad OL in front of him. This gives them another lottery ticket in the never ending struggle of trying to find a quarterback in the NFL.
3. Arizona Cardinals: Lamarr Woodley and a fourth round pick:
This is a backup-for-backup trade with a little extra added on the back end. With the team choosing Dwight Freeney over Woodley it makes sense to put him back with the coach that made him great. Can LeBeau be the fountain of youth for Woodley like he was for James Harrison?
Long shots
4. St. Louis Rams: Chris Long:
This is the area where it starts to get a little shaky. It isn’t a scheme fit, but with Long making a lot of money and staying injured I am sure he isn’t loved by coaches. Long is a great talent and he could be a starting DE in the 4-3 look that the Titans give, letting Brian Orakpo rest and keeping Long from taking the brunt of the snaps.
5. San Diego Chargers: Jeremiah Attaochu:
Attaochu is playing half of the team snaps, but coming out of college I thought he had a lot of the nastiness and pass rush ability of James Harrison (I believe I called him Harrison on stilts). LeBeau would get a lot out of this player, and the Chargers have no talent at quarterback behind and aging Phil Rivers who is in danger behind a terrible.