Titans can prove they made the right decision on Jack Conklin in free agency

The elephant in the room

Looking back, we know now that the Titans had already locked up their top-4 offensive tackles before the draft even took place. Taylor Lewan and Dennis Kelly were the starters, Ty Sambrailo was a veteran with experience on both sides and then one of Mike Vrabel’s favorite people in David Quessenberry.

However, the Titans’ whole offense is based on being able to force a defense to commit extra resources to stopping the run. It is basically: run it until they stop you, run play action to take advantage of the players that are out of position because they are trying to stop the run, and then take deep shots when you want to reopen running lanes.

With that in mind, Jon Robinson thought that he would go with a player to help replace Jack Conklin in the first round even if the initial plan wasn’t for them to start. And now we have arrived at the panda elephant in the room: Isaiah Wilson.

This isn’t going to be an article slamming Wilson, but he is a key part of the Jack Conklin storyline. I don’t know what player they should have focused on because looking back, because based on their draft choices later, they were either looking for an elite player that fell (there wasn’t one) or: OT, CB, RB, or DL.

If we assume that they knew there would be a CB in the second round, then you are talking about taking either Isaiah Wilson, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, or Ross Blacklock.

They weren’t taking a running back in the first round, and even though we are pretty sure Isaiah Wilson is bad, we know that Blacklock is bad. So really there wasn’t a “correct” option.

Still, spending a 1st round pick on Wilson wasn’t part of the deal that anyone knew going into the draft, and despite all of the good things that came out of Jack Conklin going to the Browns, this pick is a stain on that decision.

Now the Titans can close the book on Jack Conklin and prove they were right.