Tennessee Titans Jon Robinson’s cornerback formula
By Will Lomas
Trying to crack Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson’s formula for finding quality cornerbacks.
It is no secret, Jon Robinson has a systematic way at looking at NFL Draft prospects. The Tennessee Titans defensive backfield could be built off of this analysis, so I am doing my best to educate myself.
Robinson has a clear set of things that he looks for in a cornerback and Paul Kuharsky reminded fans exactly what those things were during their pursuit of Logan Ryan. Here is the part he highlighted himself:
Alright so let’s look at those analytics. He looked specifically at pass breakups and interceptions.
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Based on how he approached last year’s draft, we can also tell that he really values how many games a player has played in/started. Look at this:
Jack Conklin: 38 games
Kevin Dodd: 21 games
Austin Johnson: 35 games
Derrick Henry: 39 games
Kevin Byard: 48 games
Tajae Sharpe: 47 games
LeShaun Sims: 35 games
Sebastian Tretola: 28 games
Aaron Wallace: 27 games
Kalan Reed: 46 games
So, that is a pretty clear indicator that he values player that have played in a lot of games, including 7 of 10 picks that played in 35 or more games in college.
So what does it mean for the cornerbacks?
Alright, so now that we know a few things to look for we need a group of players to figure out a baseline of what it takes.
Luckily we have just enough to create a decent idea of what Jon Robinson and the Tennessee Titans. That is all thanks to three players: Logan Ryan, LeShaun Sims and Kalan Reed.
Those three cornerbacks are player that Jon Robinson has admitted to using his analytics on and they should provide a map going forward on what to look at.
So, combining those three production stats (games played, pass deflections, interceptions) and baseline levels of height and athleticism (40-yard dash, broad jump, vertical jump) I came up with a baseline value that included all three cornerbacks.
With 7 total data points, and allowing for a very slight margin of error (where they get half a point instead of a full point) I have come up with the definitive ranking of what I believe the Tennessee Titans will believe are the best fits for their analytics.
I found the production values on Sportsreference.com and the athletic numbers were all based on the NFL combine.
Also this is a slideshow. Sorry if I wasn’t clear up top but you can start the breakdown by hitting the right arrow key.