EDGE Yetur Gross-Matos, Penn State
This year’s draft class may be highlighted by EDGE rusher Chase Young from Ohio State, but it is pretty shallow in depth.
Outside of Young, there are two other pass rushers worthy of the first round. While K’Lavon Chaisson out of LSU is expected to go in the top 10, the other being Yetur Gross-Matos out of Penn State is the outlier for the rest of the teams to fight for.
Gross-Matos is an intriguing prospect. He racked up 17.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the last two seasons for the Nittany Lions. The athletic EDGE rusher flies off the page as a 6’5”, 266 lb EDGE who carries the size for either a 4-3 or 3-4, but who also has explosive traits as evidenced by his 34” vertical jump.
The Titans can use another athletic force across from Harold Landry to bring the heat to opposing quarterbacks.
Gross-Matos might be a better prospect if he fully translated his athletic frame to more production and skills. While he can use his speed and athleticism to bully collegiate players, he will need to develop more skills and moves to get past NFL players.
Lucky for the Titans, their head coach has proven very adept at getting the most out of the potential of defensive players. Pairing Gross-Matos with a coach like Vrabel will allow him to grow.
Giving up too much capital might not be worth the experimental risk of Gross-Matos, but the Titans need to be wary of the Seahawks in this draft.
Interestingly, the Seahawks and Titans seem to be fighting it out for free agent Jadeveon Clowney. If Clowney opts to go elsewhere, then the Titans are back to fighting with the Seahawks for a premier EDGE rusher.
The Titans may have to move up a few spots to 26 to get ahead of Seattle. If Gross-Matos is still available at that spot, I can see a Dolphins team who are building for a long future swap picks to accrue more draft picks.
The Titans seem content with spending big money on an EDGE rusher. With the dearth of talent in the free-agent market, it might be worth the team taking a flyer on Gross-Matos.