Tennessee Titans 2016 NFL Draft update via Dane Brugler
By Will Lomas
How did Dane Brugler grade the Jon Robinson’s first draft with the Tennessee Titans?
It seems like forever ago, but the 2016 NFL Draft was Jon Robinson’s first with the Tennessee Titans.
Dane Brugler did posted a massive analysis of the 2016 NFL Draft, breaking down each team’s picks and grading the class as a whole.
As much as we all scoff at immediate draft grades, they are an important part of the process. After the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft most thought the Miami Dolphins got a steal landing Laremy Tunsil and that he was the best player in that whole class.
Meanwhile, the former San Diego Chargers were ripped for drafting Joey Bosa when so many good offensive tackles were on the board.
Since then, Tunsil has been above average and the Chargers probably have a player on pace for a Hall of Fame career if he can stay healthy.
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Still, this snap shot shows us which teams are going with the flow and drafting by consensus and which teams are ready to stick to their evaluations and take the best player. Titans GM Jon Robinson is clearly in the second group.
You can read Brugler’s full post here, but if you have been paying attention you probably can guess which player was the biggest bust and who was the best player in that class.
Ultimately, Brugler gave the Titans a “B-” and broke down why with the help of Titans beat writer Travis Haney.
Only 12 teams in the NFL got a better grade than the Titans did in this class, and it doesn’t seem to factor in the Corey Davis pick up in 2017. If you include Davis in this class I think you can at least bump it up to a “B” grade which would put the Titans with just 7 teams in front of them.
Either way, it should be noted that 6 of the Titans 10 picks from this draft are still on the roster three years later which is sort of rare. I would also throw in that the 3 of the Titans UDFA signing are on a roster now too.
–Austin Johnson, Karl Klug and Angelo Blackson, pushed out UDFA DT Antwaun Woods who has been a pretty darn good DT for the Dallas Cowboys.
-K Aldrick Rosas is now the kicker for the New York Giants.
-OT Tyler Marz (somehow pronounced Meritz) is actually still with the Titans as a player who has moved on and off of the practice squad throughout his career. He has been solid depth on that line.
While you can’t include the ones that moved on, it should be noted that Marz probably filled the role Tretola would have had as a utility OL.
For the majority of last year people were down on Jon Robinson because he brought a winning culture to the Titans…wait that doesn’t sound right, let me try again. Last year people were upset because he turned the Titans from a bottom-feeder to a playoff team in two years…that can’t be right.
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In 2018 people were mad at GM Jon Robinson because he didn’t spend a trade a 1st round pick for Amari Cooper just to pay him $13+ million in 2019 and then have him break the bank in 2020…
Ok, I keep checking my notes and this all is true but I’m just going to power through it. Jon Robinson took some flak last year despite all of his success, but this should show you that in retrospect Robinson has had above average classes every single year he has been with the Titans.
Looking at the depth chart, only 5 of the 22 starters on offense and defense were on this roster before Jon Robinson took over: Taylor Lewan, Marcus Mariota, Delanie Walker, DaQuan Jones, and Jurrell Casey.
The rebuild that Robinson has done on this team in three quick years is remarkable and it all started with this class. Even if it may not have been the best draft class of 2016 it did everything it needed to in terms of filling needs, while also setting the Titans up with a top-5 pick in 2017 to give Tennessee another foundational piece.