When the Tennessee Titans were making moves in the offseason, Calvin Ridley and L'Jarius Sneed were the additions that received the most attention. The next wave included players like Chidobe Awuzie and Tony Pollard, intriguing veterans who projected as notable starters.
However, no one spent much time talking about Sebastian Joseph-Day. In fact, any buzz around him died once the Titans drafted T'Vondre Sweat.
The thought was that Jeffery Simmons and Sweat would lock down the interior of the defensive line, making Joseph-Day a role player at an unglamorous position.
And while Simmons has been up-and-down, Sweat has been great, and Joseph-Day has found a way to make an impact on the defense.
While he is a defensive tackle on paper, Joseph-Day has been at his best when the Titans have lined him up as an defensive end. Dennard Wilson is utilizing his versatile veteran on the edge on neutral or running downs.
In those situations, Joseph-Day has been lining up against tight ends and driving them into the backfield. His size and quickness gives him an advantage in those matchups and he's been very effective, often breaking open cracks in the offensive line for linebackers to attack the backfield while helping reset the line of scrimmage.
How good has Joseph-Day been this year? Well, on a defense with Simmons, Harold Landry, Ernest Jones, Kenneth Murray, and Sweat, he is second in quarterback hits, tied for second in sacks, and tied for third in tackles for loss.
The tangible production is great, but Joseph-Day's impact goes beyond the box score. Advanced data collected by Football Insights indicates Joseph-Day has been among the best interior defensive lineman in the league, when balancing pass-rushing production with run defense.
DI run stop and pass rush win rates pic.twitter.com/ps6x4l2Kop
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) October 5, 2024
Joseph-Day is in rare territory, grading out well above-average in both categories.
This doesn't mean that he is on track for a Pro Bowl, but he has been a guy who has taken advantage of the chances that have been afforded to him. While teams worry about Sweat and Simmons in the middle or Landry on the EDGE, Joseph-Day is winning his matchup and reminding coordinators that they should be paying attention to him.
Joseph-Day had his best game of the season against the Miami Dolphins, and the Titans didn't even have Simmons available for that game.
Either way, Joseph-Day is "the other guy" on the Titans defense right now, and most fans haven't paid attention to him. However, if you peel your eyes away from some of the impressive stuff that the rest of the defense is doing, you will be happy to see the kind of impact that he is having on a snap-by-snap basis.