Over the years, the 6th round of the NFL Draft has been a mixed bag for the Tennessee Titans. The next-to-last round of the annual April event has reaped solid contributors such as Jacob Ford in ’07 and Bo Scaife in ’05.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Titans have also utilized recent picks in the sixth on the likes of “immortals” such as Joel Filani, Ryan Smith and Jonathan Orr: a motley crew of players who failed to make their marks in Nashville.
In 2009, I’m excited about the potential of this year’s crop of sixth-rounders: WR Dominique Edison and CB Jason McCourty.
Edison, who has a nice size/speed combination (6’2″, 204/4.47 40), suffered from a familiar draft-day fate experienced by a lot of small-school players over the years. As a result of the lack of competition, despite their physical skills, small-school guys typically see their draft stock plummet.
‘Nique was highly productive on the college level, snagging 67 balls for over 1,000 yards and a whopping 18 touchdowns during his final year as a Lumberjack. He also turned heads at the NFL’s annual meat market a.k.a. Combine, emerging as one of the faster wide receivers at the event.
Edison, who has already passed Paul Williams on the Titans WR depth chart, will be an interesting player to watch as training camp unfolds at the end of next month.
With a ton of unproven young vets and rookies vying for position on the team’s WR totem pole behind starters Justin Gage and Nate Washington, Edison could emerge as a surprise contributor this year.
Despite being drafted in the sixth round, like Edison, McCourty also plays a position that is in a state of flux outside of the two starting positions (Finnegan and Harper). With the departures of Eric King and Chris Carr via free agency, a strong training camp could pave the way for McCourty to make his mark in ’09.
During his college days at Rutgers, McCourty contributed in the team’s secondary while also making an impact returning kicks. At 6’0″ 193 lbs, Jason has good size and his wheels aren’t too shabby either, as indicated by his 4.3 speed in the forty-yard dash.
Kudos to the Titans for finding a guy with that type of size/speed combination in the depths of the NFL Draft. McCourty will definitely be a guy I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on during training camp and the preseason.
Here’s to hoping both Edison and McCourty will follow in the footsteps of former 6th rounders Jacob Ford and Bo Scaife by earning their NFL stripes as Tennessee Titans.
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