Good news, bad news on Marquise Brown injury for Tennessee Titans

DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Marquise Brown #5 of the Oklahoma Sooners runs for a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns in the first quarter of the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Marquise Brown #5 of the Oklahoma Sooners runs for a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns in the first quarter of the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Why the Marquise Brown injury could be a mixed bag for the Tennessee Titans.

When players need surgery this time of year it is brutal for their draft stock and the Tennessee Titans know that better than most.

While an injury in February is obviously worse, when you have to miss the combine and your pro day it sets of flags for several teams. Look no further than in 2017 where teams didn’t get to see Corey Davis test.

Now, with Davis there are rumors that he was able to do some things with teams before the actual draft and that was why the Tennessee Titans were comfortable taking him so high. Looking back at the class he was definite the best of the receivers that went in the top-10 but it wasn’t so clear after year one.

In his rookie year as I’m sure we all remember, he struggled to stay healthy in camp and his injuries spread eventually causing him to have a hamstring problem. Finally with a full offseason to get healthy he looked great in year two, but it is still a great example of how one small injury can linger and spread until a player has a full year to recover, especially receivers.

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So, when the news came out that Hollywood Brown was undergoing LisFranc surgery I was very frustrated. I thought Brown was a great fail-safe option for the Tennessee Titans at 19 if there was an incredible run on defensive talent early.

If you are a pessimist looking at this situation, you are going to see an undersized receiver with a major injury and you don’t get to see if he has the straight line speed and athleticism to justify a high selection in spite of all that.

In fact, there is an example of this injury ruining careers for promising players like Brown:

While an overwhelming amount of this news is bad, there is a silver lining for Titans fans. If they are able to have their medical team look at Brown and if he passes their testing and looks fine (huge ifs) there is a great chance that he is going to find himself still on the board late in round two or early in round three.

If the Titans want to move around and collect picks, he could be a target for them in that range. There is an example of Tennessee doing that before like I said with Davis, and if the Titans supplement the WR with a solid signing in free agency then there is room for them to take a risk on a player who could be ready to practice when camp comes around.

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Is it a risk? Yes. However, with the right free agent class it could be a risk worth taking. With EDGE now looking like all but a lock for the Titans in the first round, I could definitely see them rolling the dice in the 60-75 range as long as they picked up some extra picks along the way.

All in all this is a terrible day for Marquise Brown’s draft stock whether it is reported that way or not and as he slides into the background it will be important to see just how interested the Titans are in talking to him at the combine and if they set up interviews for him in Nashville.

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