Tennessee Titans 53-man roster projection: July 2

Off ball linebacker: 5 (41 Total)

Sure things: Rashaan Evans, Jayon Brown, Wesley Woodyard (ST)

Numbers favor: Daren Bates (ST), David Long Jr. (ST)

Rashaan Evans showed that he has all the potential you could want from a 1st round rookie linebacker last year after a brief learning period. His style actually perfectly compliments fellow linebacker Jayon Brown.

While Evans is more heavy handed (not to be confused with heavy footed) in his approach to winning matchups, Jayon Brown is more of a flashy/burst player. Call them thunder and lightning or compare them to a sledgehammer and a switchblade, but whatever you do make sure that you know these two young stars.

Beside them is Wesley Woodyard who may be one of the most respected players to come into the Titans locker room over the last decade or so. Woodyard has been a captain every year in the NFL despite coming in as an UDFA.

He led the Titans in tackles in 2017 and 2018 and he has been very valuable when on the field as a second coordinator and a coach on the field…that can also make tackles.

Those three seem like locks, but behind them are Daren Bates and David Long.

We know what Bates is, which is an energetic special teams player who loves to create chaos when covering kicks. He may not have a ton of upside as a potential starter, but he has been very good on special teams and has helped the Titans special teams unit become less of a cluster.

Long is a question mark though. On film he was a lightning rod for ball carriers, constantly finding the running back and making a play. If he can do that on special teams and eventually on defense, he can make a lot of money in the NFL. If not then he might be one of the players that the Titans try to sneak on the practice squad for a year.