I’ve broken down the Titans visits. I’ve gone through the likelihood they choose a player at each position. It’s draft day, which means it’s time for me to do my draft day annual tradition: taking somebody else’s seven-round mock and picking who I would pick for the Titans at that slot given how that draft goes.
This year, I’ll be using the seven-round mock put out today by Matt Miller of Bleacher Report. Invariably, this mock draft will be wildly off by the time the dust has settled on Saturday, with a player I take in the seventh round going off the board in the fourth round, or vice versa. The draft never goes quite how any one single person expects, though, and using somebody else’s mock is a good illustrative example of what could happen in a particular draft as opposed to me listing players the Titans could maybe get based on what I think might happen.
So, here’s my take:
#1: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
Matt’s pick: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
Analysis: One of the questions about this exercise is do I take the players the Titans are likely to take, or the players I think the Titans should take? I’m going to split the baby, as you will, limiting what I do to what I think the Titans could do, but with a leavening in favor of players from among that group I think the Titans could favor. There’s obviously still a boatload of uncertainty with this pick. If the Bucs do not take him at #1, I believe it will and should be Jameis Winston. If the Bucs take Winston, I believe the Titans would like to trade the pick, will not get any offers strong enough to induce them to make a trade, and will select Mariota.
#33: Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State
Matt’s pick: Jake Fisher, OT, Oregon
Analysis: I think this is the prime spot for an edge rusher, but there’s nobody there I like enough to take him. That opens up other possibilities, most notably tackle and wide receiver. As I wrote in the position breakdown, I don’t think a 2015 starter candidate is or should be a priority for the Titans, so I go on wide receiver where I’m more worried about the drop-off from the second to the third round. I’m not quite as high on Strong, who visited, as I think the Titans could be. Matt has him going 12 picks later.
#66: Hau’oli Kikaha, OLB, Washington
Matt’s pick: Rashad Greene, WR, Florida State
Analysis: Damn the Buccaneers, who grabbed Nate Orchard with the previous pick. Kikaha was one of the players the Titans coached at the Senior Bowl I believe they would be very interested in. His draft stock is wildly uncertain to those of us on the outside, though, because it depends on the medical evaluation of his knee injuries. Matt has him going in the fifth round, but I believe he’s a candidate to be drafted much higher by a team that’s comfortable with his medical evaluation because of his collegiate production while some teams reportedly have him off the draft board completely because of those knees. I don’t see Greene as the type of receiver the Titans would be that interested in. If the Titans are as interested in a running back as Jim Wyatt thinks they are, Matt has Ameer Abdullah, who was on the North team at the Senior Bowl, going to the Jaguars with the next pick.
#100: Rob Havenstein, RT, Wisconsin
Matt’s pick: Markus Golden, OLB, Missouri
Analysis: If the Titans haven’t addressed edge rusher by this point, then Golden is a real possibility. I’ve already added one, though, and believe another Senior Bowl North teamer, Havenstein, would be very attractive to them. Offensive line coach Bob Bostad coached him at Wisconsin, so the Titans would be very familiar with him even without that Senior Bowl experience. They’ll understand how to coach and develop him, and he would pencil in as the 2016 starter at right tackle. Matt has him going #104 to the Jets.
#138: Karlos Williams, RB, Florida State
Matt’s pick: Ben Heeney, ILB, Kansas
Analysis: We’re getting to the point of the draft where I’m less comfortable with the players and boards diverge wildly from one team to the next, plus we don’t know where the Titans would have as much interest. Williams is a bigger back (230 pounds) with good long speed who showed some developing pass game skills in Tallahassee. He should be a quality special teams player and could step into a Jackie Battle-like role as a half-halfback, half-fullback. Plus, the Titans haven’t taken any major character risks to this point in the draft, so they need a guy with a DV accusation even if charges weren’t pressed, and he could fit some of their terrible running back evaluations as well. Matt has him going to the Raiders two picks later.
#177: Davis Tull, OLB, Tennessee-Chattanooga
Matt’s pick: Lorenzo Doss, CB, Tulane
Analysis: Do they double up on edge rushers, and is there a second spot for one? Tull had labrum surgery after his pro day, so he could start his rookie season on PUP and potentially get a year to acclimate to the NFL game. He was a highly productive college player, and I believe the Titans were reportedly in attendance at his pro day. The sixth round is a good place to take a player like that, so he’ll probably go to a team like the Seahawks and Patriots. Matt has Tull going nine picks later to the Giants.
#208: Bryce Callahan, CB, Rice
Matt’s pick: John Crockett, RB, North Dakota State
Analysis: UDFA-plus, given it’s the Titans’ last pick. Since Callahan is a visitor and this is the right place in the draft to take him, that’s how I got to him. I don’t have strong feels on him, Doss, or any other cornerback picked after, oh, the top 75. I did not see Callahan in Matt’s mock.
What would Sour Gower think of this draft? I wouldn’t get too excited about that, given the players I would in a vacuum characterize as risks (Mariota even though I approve of the choice, Kikaha, Williams), but on the other hand it’s also not Brandon Scherff at #2, Sammie Coates at #33, and I’ve jumped off a building before #66.
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