Titans should capitalize on another Houston Texans mistake
By Will Lomas
Titans should sign defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.
The free agent class just got some more talent on the defensive line and the Tennessee Titans should take a shot on Timmy Jernigan.
This all happened because last night it was reported from Jernigan himself that the Houston Texans weren’t going to sign him after nearly two months of a reported deal being in place.
The Texans have the money, they have the need, and a deal was discussed and presumably agreed upon, however for some reason the deal fell through and now Jernigan is “back” on the market.
I think Sigmund Bloom summarized it best in his tweet about the role that Jernigan was expected to fill on the Texans roster:
Not good for a run defense that will miss DJ Reader and play Derrick Henry and Taylor/Mack four times a year... https://t.co/yTNiKMdmxZ
— Sigmund Bloom (@SigmundBloom) June 3, 2020
A big reason why I assume that the Texans decided to let Jernigan “walk” was that the deal they had in place with Jernigan was agreed on before the draft, but when Houston made their first selection they chose Ross Blacklock DT, TCU.
Other than that I can’t imagine a reason for not signing someone that would make your team better unless there is some injury or behind the scenes issue that we can’t know about at this point.
Titans should pounce on Jernigan
I have talked about this a few times, but I really love the upside that the Titans DTs have right now. Daquan Jones is the lone known quantity and he has proven to be a steady defensive lineman that consistently wins with effort and strength even though he isn’t going to be bending an edge any time soon.
Beside him, you will have Jeffery Simmons who has all the potential to be an absolute star in Tennessee and who looked better at 80% than most guys do at 100%. Bleacher Report said that he would put up stats in his second season that matched or eclipsed career bests for Jurrell Casey.
Behind those two you have Isaiah Mack and Larrell Murchison who both fill the need as defensive linemen that move around well and who can win in the passing game.
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What you don’t have in that top-4 is a second wave run stopper.
I have been going back and watching 2019 Tennessee Titans games and a fun fact is that the first touchdown of the season that the defense allowed was a run by the Cleveland Browns when Isaiah Mack was rotating into the lineup.
Now it wasn’t all his fault and that was just one play, but that is also an area where Mack doesn’t thrive. The same thing goes for Larrell Murchison who you probably want to start out as a slanting defensive tackle rather than someone who is trying to win in the run game when formations start condensing.
The best way to optimize the use of both players is to bring in a player like Timmy Jernigan to handle those other assignments for you. Now the Titans don’t have to settle for a player “like” Timmy Jernigan, they can get the real thing.
With plenty of money left to sign Jernigan and still be competitive for Jadeveon Clowney, the Titans can improve their defense significantly if they could add both players and it would make Texans/Titans games even more fun because of the connection those players have to the division rival.