Gosh, time flies (and at the same time it drags)! It seems like it was just yesterday that we as Tennessee Titans fans were talking about the NFL Draft like it would never arrive. Then, once it was showtime, it was seemingly over as quickly as it popped up.
Fast forward to the present, and it seems like it’s been forever since it happened. Time has a way of evoking all types of emotions.
That doesn’t mean the draft isn’t still a topic of conversation though. At the time of this story being written, we’re almost one full month past the most recent selection meeting, and yes, it feels like six. Still, the topics of conversation range from whether or not Caleb Farley will ever be one-hundred percent healthy again to whether or not Monty Rice was taken too high to whether or not we’ll even see Rashad Weaver on the field for 16 games.
If you’re not careful, the storylines can get a bit stale, so whenever there’s a fresh take, eyebrows are raised. Recently, the Titan Sized staff found one.
The Tennessee Titans draft class lands them on a unique list of NFL teams.
Titans general manager Jon Robinson‘s drafts haven’t been flawless, but at least he’s figured out a pretty decent formula that will land him better players more often than not. If you haven’t noticed, he seems to like guys from college football’s best conference, the SEC. He also looks at the guys that earn Senior Bowl invites and performed well there.
With no NFL Combine to attend, teams had to rely on what they already knew about prospects, Pro Days, and of course the Senior Bowl, which was, for the most part, the best offseason avenue to meet with some of these guys on a one-on-one basis.
Apparently, Robinson liked a lot of what he saw because as this recent tweet from Reese’s Senior Bowl’s official account suggests, the Titans, a team that added eight players in total, were one of only nine teams that selected five or more players that participated in the most recent Senior Bowl (Dillon Radunz, Monty Rice, Dez Fitzpatrick, Rashad Weaver, and Racey McMath). Take a look at this one.
9 teams picked 5 or more players from the Senior Bowl in the #NFLDraft2021. @DillonRadunz @RiceMonty @dezfitz8 @RashadWeaver @ohrae17_ will be suiting up for the @Titans #TitanUp #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE pic.twitter.com/go7qu16GnY
— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) May 20, 2021
Add the Tennessee Titans to a list that includes the San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Bills, and the Atlanta Falcons among others. Now, all that’s left is for that talent that put them on the Senior Bowl’s radar to translate to an ultra-competitive NFL.
Oh, and just in case you’re interested, this time around Robinson added two SEC guys during the draft and two more as undrafted free agents. Throw the aforementioned Rice and McMath as well as Alabama’s Miller Forristall and LSU’s Tory Cartey in that category.
Keep your fingers crossed if you’re a fan of the two-tone blue. Hopefully, we’ll be able to look back and state that this was the class that helped spearhead the start of something very special in Nashville.