Tennessee Titans get two first round picks back today
By Will Lomas
The Titans get two big players back.
In practice today, the Tennessee Titans got two of their biggest players back in the form of Jeffery Simmons and Isaiah Wilson.
When I was writing this, I also realized that the team was without their 1st round picks from 2017 in Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson. While the Titans should get both of those players back soon, it made me appreciate just how rare it must be for a team to have just two of their 1st round picks available.
On Tuesday the Titans played with Rashaan Evans and Taylor Lewan as the lone 1st round picks thanks to the four aforementioned players being unavailable, and Lewan missed the better part of that game.
Luckily the Titans won that game handily and now all eyes shift to just how much better this team can be when they face the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Figuratively and literally, it is huge to get Jeffery Simmons back and ready for this game. His presence was missed on Tuesday vs the Buffalo Bills, and not just against the run but also against the pass where he has gotten better and better.
The Houston Texans have 25 pressured allowed by the interior of their offensive line this season and Zach Fulton has been particularly bad, allowing 12 himself and 3 sacks which is tied for 2nd in the NFL according to PFF.
Tennessee hasn’t been good at getting to the quarterback this season, but that was harder without Simmons who is one of five Titans defenders with a sack this season and despite missing a game he is 3rd on the team in QB hits behind the starting EDGEs Harold Landry and Jadeveon Clowney.
Simmons is obviously a key to the Titans defense, but the other addition is rookie tackle Isaiah Wilson who is a “big return” mostly in the literal sense of the words because he is nearly 6’7 and 350 lb.
The good news is that Wilson has no pressure to start, play, or even be active any time soon because he is a long term project for the Titans. But, it is obviously hard to develop someone if they aren’t in the building, so hopefully, he isn’t too out of shape and he can pick the offense back up pretty quickly.