Tennessee Titans Friday four-round 2019 NFL Mock Draft
By Will Lomas
A look at what the Tennessee Titans should do during the 2019 NFL Draft.
It isn’t often that there are moves made in February that force a huge shift in the following draft, but the Tennessee Titans actually watched as two separate incidents reshaped 2019 NFL Mock Drafts.
The first thing that happened was defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from Mississippi State tore his ACL. While I was never on board with the idea that he was a top-2 DT in this class or anything, he had many supporters and the idea was that he was a top-16 lock.
That injury now pushes him down to somewhere in the 30-50 range given that he will most likely have to sit out his entire rookie season. On top of that ACL’s usually take about 20 months to fully recover and even though you can play after 8-10 months, it takes about another year to regain your athletic ability.
With the defensive class getting slightly weaker in the 1st round after that, the Tennessee Titans may not end up with a chance at one of the top eight DL/EDGE.
The other news that came out was that the Denver Broncos are trading for Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco. The assumption is obviously that he will be the starter and the draft implication is that now the Broncos aren’t locked in to any one position with the 10th overall pick.
Now, they could definitely still go with a developmental QB like Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins, Drew Lock, or Daniel Jones if they looked at Flacco as a bridge QB. However, it also opens the possibility for them to take the best player available whether that is Ed Oliver, Rashaan Gary or Devin White.
The other implication that may have is that with new offensive line coach (and maybe the best OL coach in the NFL outside of New England) Mike Munchak taking over a unit riddled with holes, a player like Cody Ford or Jonah Williams could be the pick.
Now, the Titans probably weren’t going to take one of those players but if the board fell horribly, both of those players are guys who could play inside or outside on the offensive line and have the disposition that Mike Vrabel and Jon Robinson would love.
So, with those changes, let’s see what happens in this four round 2019 NFL Mock Draft using the Fanspeak simulator.
*Update: Using the simulator the Broncos elected to go CB and took Greedy Williams*
Round 1, pick 19: Clelin Ferrell EDGE, Clemson
The closer we get to draft day the more likely this pick seems. Once pegged as a top-10 lock, Ferrell hasn’t really fallen down draft boards as much as he has been passed by other people.
The rise of the quarterback position in a terrible QB class helped pushed him down, as did the need for CBs. You could argue that the 5th EDGE in this class is going to be great value considering it means that either Ferrell, Bosa, Allen, Sweat, or Polite will fall and that isn’t even considering wildcards like Brian Burns or Charles Omenihu who could also be 1st round picks.
A lot of people are going to see an EDGE from Clemson and get PTSD of Kevin Dodd, don’t worry they are absolutely not the same player. Dodd was a one year wonder whose production came off of a great game vs Alabama in the Championship.
On the other hand, Clelin Ferrell finished his career as the 2nd in career TFLs (behind Bradley Chubb) and 3rd in career sacks (behind Vic Beasley and Jeremiah Attaochu). He has been a becon of consistency and improvement during his three year stretch as a starter improving in both TFLs and sacks each year.
He has a solid frame and at 6’5, 260 he is perfectly suited to replace Derrick Morgan as the resident run stuffer who can also get 6-8 sacks per year during his prime.
The reason he probably won’t get drafted higher is because I think he will have an average combine. He isn’t particularly flashy and will certainly get passed by the Jachai Polite and Brian Burns level athletes, but his technique and multifaceted game should be coveted for a team like the Titans who need someone like him to balance out Harold Landry.
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Round 2, pick 51: Deebo Samuel SWR, South Carolina
The Tennessee Titans need to address receiver twice, once in free agency and once in the draft. If I was going to project what I would like to see in free agency, I would probably hope for a boundary WR that has proven he has reliable hands and can run really nice routes even if they aren’t particularly young or as athletically gifted.
Then the draft, I would follow that up with someone who can play in the slot and consistently work his way open. To me, that screams Deebo Samuel.
Imagine a depth chart with Corey Davis, Jordan Matthews and Deebo Samuel as the starters with Taywan Taylor and Tajae Sharpe as the primary backups and situational guys. To me, that is miles ahead from where the WR room ended up in 2018.
Round 3, pick 82: Erik McCoy C, Texas A&M
Garrett Bradbury is the hot name when you talk about interior offensive line products and rightfully so. He is going to be a top-40 pick who (when he gets the snap off clean) takes great angles and gets to the second level consistently.
Bradbury is a great fit in a ZBS system just like the Tennessee Titans use, however so is Erik McCoy who will be available two rounds later.
McCoy is a slick center prospect who looked great in his toughest matchups this year. When he had to go up against the likes of Quinnen Williams, Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence the trio only managed 0 sacks and just one TFL.
He has a ton of potential and I think in the right system he can be a long term starter at center with Pro Bowl upside. Putting him on the Titans OL would let them move Jones and Levin to the guard positions if they wanted to and while they could still upgrade there during free agency a starting line of Lewan-Jones-McCoy-Levin-Conklin might actually be a pretty good upgrade.
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Round 4, pick 121: Daylon Mack NT, Texas A&M
The image I can’t get out of my head is the Washington Redskins banged up offensive line (which really was nearly entirely backups) bullying the Tennessee Titans in a game that both team desperately needed to keep their playoff chances alive.
The Titans couldn’t do anything to stop them in the run game in the trenches and that just can’t go on. Mack flashed a lot as a freshman and then went quiet until this year where he had a career season.
Tennessee doesn’t need him to be Damon Harrison and he probably won’t get a lot of snaps per game early in his career, but early in a series on run downs they need someone who can keep Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown clean so that they can be the playmakers they have shown they can be.