The first surprise on the list for the Tennessee Titans.
Yesterday I revealed that the Tennessee Titans 16th best option in the 2019 NFL Draft was a Michigan EDGE. Well today I am saying that the 15th best option is…also a Michigan EDGE.
I’m going to dive right in, but if you need a refresher on the rules when I was making this list then here is the outline:
-Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams and Josh Allen will be gone barring a huge 1st round trade that is nearly impossible to imagine. They can’t be included in this list.
-Which of the players available specifically make the Tennessee Titans better.
-Don’t treat this as a big board, some positions won’t be brought up because there is no one talented enough that can come in and be an instant improvement over what the Titans already have.
-While long term help is important, consider what this player does for Tennessee short term and if they will help reduce the hit of free agent departures in the future.
Which player is the 15th best option for the Tennessee Titans in the 1st round?
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Chase Winovich EDGE, Michigan
Sometimes we make biases on players based on how they play the game. When I see Clelin Ferrell I see an improved version of what Derrick Morgan was coming out. Quinnen Williams reminds me of Albert Haynesworth with more upside. Noah Fant reminds me of Eric Ebron.
When I watch Chase Winovich I see Kyle Vanden Bosch.
Winovich is a try hard guy whose feet and hands are always moving as he heads towards the quarterback or running back. Does he always win? No. Does he pop off of the screen? Nope.
What he does do is he keeps a constant pass rush on the quarterback even when he loses initially. Instead of stopping and staring like most players, he keeps working and tries to make a play.
He is a try hard guy, but he isn’t just a “try hard” Winovich is a really impressive athlete. At 256 lb. he ran a 4.59 40-yard dash, 4.11 short shuttle and a 6.94 3-cone. All of those numbers put him in the 90th percentile or above according to Mockdraftable.
Despite playing through an ankle injury that slowed him down during his senior year, he still managed to amass 31.5 TFLs and 13.5 sacks in his final two seasons (26 games).
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He a great athlete and has solid production, but is that really enough to call him the 15th best option for the Titans? In a word, no.
The reason he is so high on this list is because he would be better in Tennessee than he was at Michigan.
I rarely say this about players because I think moving positions is a gamble that isn’t as easy as people think. However, Winovich is perfectly suited to be an EDGE in a Dean Pees defense.
While turning the corner is still king for an EDGE, Pees asks his EDGEs to stunt inside often and Winovich shows a special sort of viciousness when he does this. He stays low and keeps his feet moving at nearly impossible angles.
A perfect example of this is against Penn State where he took a hard step inside, but the tackle took the right step to stop him. In response he squared his shoulders and popped the inside shoulder of the tackle to create enough room between the RT and the RG for him to burst through and sack the QB.
I love Harold Landry, but I have never seen him be able to do that successfully.
Also, despite being just under 260 lb. he was asked to be an end in a 4-3 defense which asked him to take on pulling guards often. He did it well enough and wouldn’t be a liability but I think he is better suited for 3-4 looks.
On top of all of this, he spent the first two years of his college career bouncing around positions because Michigan couldn’t figure out how to get him on the field.
When you add all those things up you get a high effort player who is athletic and productive even though he played in a defense that didn’t suit him well. Theoretically, if you put him with a smart DC and a great linebacker coach (like say Dean Pees and Mike Vrabel) they should be able to make him one of the rare players who is actually better in the pros than college.
If we assume that Harold Landry is going to play the majority of the snaps on one side, we only have to figure out who plays opposite him. The Titans could use Sharif Finch and Cam Wake in their 4-3 looks and Winovich in their 3-4 looks as they spend the year developing him into a refined EDGE.
He is a high floor, high ceiling player who coaches and GMs should love. Is it enough for them to overlook the fact that he is a little bit light and that he never had a 10-sack season in college?