Tennessee Titans should make this Rashaan Evans week
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans should start their 1st round draft pick.
After an injury and a slow easing in process, it is time to put the Tennessee Titans 1st round draft pick, Rashaan Evans on the field.
I expect a lot out of linebackers, and maybe that isn’t fair. There are only a handful of linebackers in the NFL that I truly believe make a difference in a positive way. On the other hand, slower linebackers are a hurting 20 or so teams and making them exploitable.
Take Telvin Smith for example. To me, that is the prototype of what a linebacker needs to be in the NFL. A sideline-to-sideline run defender who doesn’t have to be 255 lb. to make a play against the run.
That is why when the Titans got Rashaan Evans I was excited. On tape, he doesn’t often get lost in traffic and no one gets a free ride when he is on the field.
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Evans flows well and arrives with bad intentions which is what you want from a linebacker. Now, he isn’t perfect and you don’t want him covering slot receivers down the seam or anything, but he isn’t a slouch in coverage either.
So as long as you have someone who can cover a tight end better than him on the field, like Jayon Brown or one of the safeties he shouldn’t be a liability.
This is really important because this week the Tennessee Titans obviously face the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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The good news is the Titans may get lucky enough to play against Leonard Fournette which really makes the Jaguars offense one sided and flat.
So based on snap counts this is what the Jaguars offense will look like on an average down:
QB: Bortles
OL: Josh Wells, Andrew Norwell, Brandon Linder, A.J. Cann, Jeremy Parnell
TE: Austin Sefarian-Jenkins
RB: Fournette
WR: Keelan Cole, Donte Moncrief
11th man: SWR Dede Westbrook or James O’Shaunessy
If Fournette is healthy the gameplan is pretty simple, run him 20-25 times and then run screens and play action passes off of that.
To force the Jaguars off schedule the Titans should be aggressive defensively with the linebackers and trust their defensive backs to take care of a mediocre group of receivers and a middling quarterback.
The best way to do this is to get linebackers who won’t get outrun to the corners and who can offer some pass rush in a pinch. That means that your ideal trio is:
SLB: Wesley Woodyard
MLB: Rashaan Evans
WLB: Jayon Brown
With Woodyard being the first man off the field on passing downs.
dark. Next. More about the Titans big AFC South matchup Sunday
The defense communicates better through Will Compton who Mike Vrabel said knows every position on the field. However, after the ball is snapped the Titans need someone who will be in on every play or at least close and I think it is time to see why you drafted Evans in the first round.
Harold Landry, Brian Orakpo, Derrick Morgan, Kamalei Correa, and Jurrell Casey all have a big part to play in this too but if runs get to the second level the Titans need guys who can make a big time play.
Aggression and athleticism will be key this week, and everything at the college level said that is what Evans is. It is time to find out if he can make the transition to the NFL quickly.