Tennessee Titans 3rd best option in the 2019 NFL Draft: Montez Sweat

A late faller who has always been high on my board for the Tennessee Titans.

The Tennessee Titans are less than 80 hours away from the 2019 NFL Draft at this point, so the names left may sound less likely but this is one that seems much more possible today than it did a month ago.

With the best offensive linemen all off the board, it is time to focus on the strength of the 2019 NFL Draft: defense.

As the draft gets closer there are still a number of defensive tackles left in free agency, so I think any deal that will get done between any team and one of the top free agents will come after the draft.

With that in mind, it skews the focus a little bit more to the EDGE for me. So, which EDGE player warranted a top-3 spot on my list?

First, a quick reminder on what this list really is and who is eligible:

-Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams and Josh Allen will be impossible to land barring a trade into the top-3 or 4. They can’t be included in this list.

-This is a list specifically on which of the players available 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.

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So why is he still a top-3 pick on my list? There have been several players with heart concerns over the past few drafts, namely Star Lotulelei and Maurice Hurst. The condition seems to be closer to Lotulelei than Hurt.

What that means is, while it is something to monitor it shouldn’t be something that hurts him long term.

If the Tennessee Titans have a chance at Sweat at 19 or even if they have to trade up to get him they absolutely should. His profile screams Pro Bowl EDGE and those are so hard to find.

While he plays a little stiff, he is strong in his rush and really hard to move off of his path. On top of that, he shows the athletic potential to be a bender or to be more than a straight line player, but honestly he never had to be that in college.

Over his two years at Mississippi State he averaged 1 TFL and 0.73 sacks per game (30 TFLs and 22 sacks total). To put that in perspective, Jaylon Ferguson the all-time leader in sacks averaged 1.3 TFLs and 0.88 sacks per game and he was going against bad talent at Louisiana Tech.

When you look at both through the lens of SEC competition, they look like this over their career:

Montez Sweat: 16 TFLs and 15 sacks in 16 games (1 and 0.94 per game)

Jaylon Ferguson: 6.5 TFLs in 3 sacks in 5 career games (1.3 and 0.6 per game)

So while some players in this class are more productive over the course of their entire career, no one in this draft compares to the kind of production that Sweat has had vs top competition and he combines that with elite athleticism.

Yesterday on this list I said that if the Tennessee Titans drafted Chris Lindstrom I would almost go as far as to guarantee his success given his resume, athleticism and the fact that the Titans have so much inside information on him.

Today, I will say that no matter where Sweat goes, as long as he stays healthy he is one of the safest bets in the 2019 NFL class at the 2nd most important position in football. Pairing him with Harold Landry would give the Titans their best starting EDGEs in franchise history.

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