Tennessee Titans should trade for Marcell Dareus

Why the Tennessee Titans need to take advantage of the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills put up a sign for the Tennessee Titans to see, there is a fire sale in Buffalo.

By sending Ronald Darby and Sammy Watkins away for lesser versions of themselves and draft picks, the Bills are admitting that they want to build for the future.

And it all makes sense if you think about it. You have to think that Tom Brady is going to play well for the next couple of years at least. It is time to think about building for 2020 if we are being honest.

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By that logic, you would ideally invest in a young quarterback and someone to mentor him until his time to take over.

To do that, you would need money and draft capital. The Bills are part of the way there, but could use something else.

That brings me to my point, the Tennessee Titans should trade for Marcell Dareus.

Why would the Bills get rid of Dareus.

The Bills are selling everything right now and Marcell Dareus should be no exception. He is a nose tackle making over $10 million per year. Unfortunately he is a bad fit for that scheme that I believe wants to be a 4-3.

Dareus needs to be an aggressive nose tackle that gets penetration or uses his wide frame to keep blockers off of linebackers. Instead, he is being asked to line up predominantly on the weak side and beat double teams on every play.

That is a waste of his talent.

That is like the 2016 Tennessee Titans paying a slot receiver $10 million even though that would have been a round peg in a square hole.

So why not maximize that asset by sending it to a team that uses a nose tackle?

Why the Titans should make a trade.

Look at these two players:

Player A: Through 6 years at NT at age 26: 34 sacks

Player B: Through 6 years at 3-tech/5-tech at age 27: 33 sacks

The first player is Marcell Dareus, the second player is Jurrell Casey.

This is the perfect timing for Jon Robinson to get a great deal on a player that would be a huge impact defender for the Titans.

The timing, need and cost should all be right for Robinson, the only issue is the cost.

With Dareus set to earn something along the line of 8% of the cap next year, that would be hard to justify with impending extensions to Taylor Lewan and Marcus Mariota.

Now to be fair, the Titans are set to have nearly $100 million in cap space in 2019 which would be when Mariota would need to be signed by so even with this trade, the Lewan extension and the new QB deal they would have a ton of cap room to play with.

This would bring the former All-Pro nose tackle closer to his home in Alabama and it would set him up for success with one of the best defensive coaches in NFL history.

I keep calling him a nose tackle (which is where he would predominantly play) but he is more than that. In this video package from the top 100 list in 2015 Dareus lines up all over the line. That is someone Dick LeBeau could use.

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The price tag

Considering that he is so expensive, you would expect the price tag to be low. However, you have to realize that Dareus may still be in his peak and that his production has been very impressive.

I went to the man Jim Cobern, to find out what he should really cost and what he is worth. Check out his findings:

Based on his age, I'd expect 2015 production to be the new normal for him. So top 15-30 production versus the top 5-10 he had early. pic.twitter.com/fROzyfppJz
— Jim Cobern (@Jimetrics) August 11, 2017

As far as a trade, the Bills would probably want a first-rounder. But I'd shoot for second-rounder. And future salary should be 5-10mil
— Jim Cobern (@Jimetrics) August 11, 2017

So if the Titans really wanted him, this is what they should do:

1. Find out if Dareus is willing to rework his deal, preferably to a longer deal with less of a cap hit. Maybe rip up his old deal and offer him a 4 year/$40 million deal with a larger guarantee.

2. If that is possible, they should offer a third round pick and DeAngelo Blackson for him. That is an average DL and a pick a round lower than where they should really be valued. That is the formula they used for their other two trades.

3. If that doesn’t work, up the price to a 2nd round pick and maybe pick up a 4th back.

That would give the Titans a front seven that included Dareus, Casey, Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan. That would be a top-5 front seven in the NFL and it would bolster the Titans roster even more.

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