With their natural selection in the 3rd round of the 2009 NFL draft, the Titans finally addressed their need at cornerback. Showing a callous disregard for the affections of their local fans, however, they did not take former Vanderbilt Commodore D.J. Moore, but instead former Hawaii Warrior Ryan Mouton. On Mouton, who measured in a 5’9″ 187# at the NFL Combine, the first words out of NFL Network draft guru’s Mike Mayock were “undersized nickel corner.” Like so many other Hawaii players, this Houston native started out at a junior college, then went to the Islands. He started most of his two years at Hawaii, and was subjectively the best player in the Warrior secondary (not a particularly mean feat). His performance during workout season was limited by a hamstring injury, but was about 75% at a private workout in his hometown a couple days before the draft.
Beyond “undersized nickel corner,” he was a guy who played a little bit of offense in college and some NFL speculation was he might play WR. I’d expect him to be strictly a CB in Tennessee, though. He also has some return experience, including a KOR TD in Hawaii’s win over Fresno State this year.
I admit, I’m a little skeptical of this pick because he reminds me of Ryan Smith, a 6th round pick out of Florida a couple years ago who didn’t make it out of training camp. Mouton has better speed than Smith, plus return ability, but Mouton’s a smaller guy and doesn’t seem to be the battler Finnegan was.
Titan fans, what say you? Will he ever live up to not being D.J. Moore? Fine with potentially having two short corners if Mouton takes over for Harper next year?
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