The Tennessee Titans claimed their first victory of the campaign in Week 5, and Mike Borgonzi's first draft class had a lot to do with that. However, one rookie struggles each week, and he looks somewhere between frantic and lost.
By all accounts, former UCLA linebacker-turned-EDGE Femi Oladejo is a hard worker. When people inside the building discuss his approach, they say that he is constantly asking questions to other defenders like Jeffery Simmons in an attempt to get a better handle on how to improve.
With his work ethic, perhaps Oladejo can develop into a starting-caliber EDGE. It certainly won't happen this year, though.
Titans rookie EDGE Femi Oladejo continues to struggle
Some of Oladejo's struggles should be expected considering that he only played EDGE for part of a season in college. For instance, he seems content to work around the outside shoulder of the tackle without ever being quick enough to threaten the lineman as a pass rusher. On other reps, he buries his head into the chest of the tackle.
What is really concerning is Oladejo's failure to disengage in the run game. The former UCLA standout will set the edge, or he'll peek in the backfield to find the ball, but there is rarely any block shedding. Oladejo takes too long to dissect the action, and the ball either goes right past him, or he tries to get off his block late, ending up on the ground.
On top of that, the Titans have asked the second-round rookie to drop in coverage and to spy athletic quarterbacks. When executing those assignments successfully, Oladejo has the lateral agility of a former defensive tackle, not a former linebacker. There is no quickness in his game in space, and everything seems to be an intense labor for him.
Putting a grade or a label on Oladejo just five games into his NFL career is premature, but going off his handful of appearances so far, he looks like someone whose ceiling is going to be a two-down EDGE who specializes in stopping the run. The Titans didn't need that. They needed a pass rusher.
If you gave Borgonzi truth serum, it's hard to imagine that he'd look back on the Oladejo pick as a successful one. Even if Oladejo becomes a starting-caliber EDGE one day, the team wasn't in a position to draft someone that high who had a low ceiling as a prospect who needed at least a year of development.