5 bold predictions for the Tennessee Titans 53-man roster after the preseason
By Will Lomas
2. Isaiah Mack makes the roster over two of these names: Austin Johnson, Brent Urban, Matt Dickerson, Amani Bledsoe
The consensus is that Mack is talented but young and will likely head to the practice squad to develop.
I get that the other guys listed have more experience and might be more “versatile” but none of them have anything in their game as Mack’s power rush.
The argument is that he is playing against backups, but the truth is that all of those names have also played against backups and have ranged from forgettable to liabilities. There is a lot of lip service about how well Johnson has played, but that isn’t what I have seen from the tape so unless it is happening in practice I am just not seeing it.
Even if Mack is only a nose tackle/1-tech, he can still play in two different fronts. His power lends itself to being able to anchor and stop the run, meanwhile we have seen his closing speed on display from his sack against the New England Patriots.
Outside of Jurrell Casey and an improved Daquan Jones, no defensive tackle has consistently looked better than the offensive lineman blocking him, more frequently than Mack. If the goal is to keep the players with the most upside on the roster to keep them away from another team snatching them up, then Mack is a better fit for that than any of the other names mentioned.