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ESPN.com - Titans could hold key to first round
By Field Yates
One of the most popular topics of conversation among NFL personnel folks and coaches during the recent NFL combine was this: Which quarterback should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select with the first overall pick in the draft? It's nearly a foregone conclusion that Tampa Bay will take a quarterback, it's just a matter of this: Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota? And, interestingly, it wasn't hard to find those in Indianapolis who were utterly convinced that Winston would be the pick ... and others who believe Mariota is certainly the guy.
When viewed through the lens of which of those two will end up in Tampa Bay, there is intrigue for the No. 1 pick, but in many ways, the real intrigue of the draft begins at the second pick, currently held by the Tennessee Titans.
Here's why:
The quarterback question
The Titans have been outspoken in their support of 2014 sixth-round pick Zach Mettenberger, the former LSU quarterback who became the team's starter as a rookie, throwing for 1,413 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in seven games played. And though he suffered a shoulder injury to end the season, the Titans appear ready to consider -- and some people around the league believe as much -- Mettenberger as their starter for the 2015 season.
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt's preferred style of thrower is a sturdy pocket passer who can deliver the ball down the field. "Both the QBs he's won with were pocket guys -- Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger," one NFC personnel man noted. Mettenberger has the physical profile -- "Another big guy that can stand tall in the pocket and has the arm to make all the throws," the personnel man added. Winston fits that same description, which is why if Tampa Bay selects Mariota, Tennessee's positional outlook at quarterback could change quickly. If Winston is available, he'd be a hard player to pass on, despite Mettenberger being in the mix.
If Winston winds up as the first pick in the draft, the decision takes on a new level of intrigue: Mariota was not asked to play extensively from the pocket as a dropback passer. But can he? That's what Tennessee would have to project. If the Titans don't believe that to be the case, where do they turn at pick No. 2?
Williams in focus
It wasn't long after my arrival in Indy that this unsolicited opinion was shared with me by NFL personnel men: USC's Leonard Williams, a defensive lineman, is the best pure football player in this draft. Williams, 6-foot-5 and nearly 300 pounds, is a long and explosive player who NFL personnel men I spoke with feel best fits as a defensive end in a 3-4 front (though he can excel in any scheme).
"I think Williams is worthy of the second pick," one AFC personnel man said. "[He's] an athletic 5-technique in [their] defense. Look back on the impact [Richard] Seymour [had with the Patriots] -- might have been the best player on [their] first Super Bowl[-winning] team."
Tennessee, which recently hired longtime Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau to run its defense, will feature a 3-4 front (as it did under last year's coordinator Ray Horton, who will also work closely with LeBeau). And despite the fact that teams are playing an increasing number of sub-defense (five or more defensive backs) snaps, Williams has three-down value as a 5-technique in a 3-4 front, and as a rusher from multiple spots along the line in sub packages. While Williams may not be a player who consistently generates huge sack totals, he's a disruptor whose value transcends the stat book and would be a building block for a defense that needs one.
The value of the second pick
There is value in a draft pick, even before it is utilized. For Tennessee, it's a potential leverage point. If the Titans don't covet one of the two quarterbacks available, there are other teams around the league in desperate need of a quarterback and short on options. Be it the Jets, Bears, Rams or Eagles, there are teams whose clear-cut, long-term quarterback solution is not presently clear.
The Rams scored a major haul back in 2012 for the second pick in a similar situation, netting three first-round choices and a second-rounder from Washington. Would that be the starting point on a package this year?
"I think it depends on how much each team values the quarterback who will be there," one AFC front-office man said. "So it could be less, if a team doesn't like the player [as much]. Teams loved Robert Griffin III. St. Louis was able to leverage that for a great deal. If you see that teams love Mariota/Winston in the same way, then yes."
Another scenario to consider is: What if Tennessee can't find a trading partner, or feels that Williams (or another prospect) is too valuable to pass up at pick No. 2? That opens up the same auction process for Jacksonville -- which drafted its quarterback of the future last year -- at the third pick. The floor for either quarterback to be drafted would seemingly be the Jets at pick No. 6, but in a league in which there's a massive demand for and limited supply of reliable starting quarterbacks, it would be no surprise to see a team angle to move ahead of New York if a quarterback becomes available.
Over the next nine-plus weeks, NFL teams will continue the information-gathering process and continue to pinpoint exactly where players will stack up on their board.
Notes:
• It fell a bit under the radar during the combine, but the Chargers quietly kicked off their offseason in a positive fashion, extending offensive tackle King Dunlap through 2018 (he was set to become an unrestricted free agent). The long, rangy left tackle has played extremely well since being signed as a free agent during the 2013 offseason. He's a good example of a team investing in the traits and not the production of a player. Though Dunlap was not a star before arriving in San Diego, his 6-foot-9 frame and natural movement skills gave offensive line coach Joe D'Alessandris -- a respected teacher -- plenty to work with.
• I'll be curious to see what type of contract free-agent quarterback Ryan Mallett signs this offseason. Mallett, who spent 2014 with Houston following a trade from New England, profiles as a likely starter if he returns to the Texans. The factors that make this interesting are his age (26), experience (just two games started) and the shoulder injury he is recovering from. Head coach Bill O'Brien said at the combine that he'd like to have Mallett back in Houston. I think Mallett would be smart to return, as his development would benefit greatly from the presence of O'Brien and a staff that had an excellent first year in Houston.
• There's been a lot of discussion over what position former Washington standout Shaq Thompson will play in the NFL, as he played all over the field for the Huskies as a running back, linebacker and safety. He checked in at 6-0 and 228 pounds -- the size of a big safety -- and ran a 4.64 40. I think Thompson represents something that was reiterated in conversations with folks at the combine: Rather than focusing on labeling a player solely by position, focus on how a team utilizes that player based on his skill set. That's something that teams spend time zeroing in on during the pre-draft process: How does this player fit into our franchise as it pertains to both roster construction and scheme application? Thompson may not have the "conventional" build of a single position, but he no doubt has a promising role in this league somewhere on the field.
By Field Yates
One of the most popular topics of conversation among NFL personnel folks and coaches during the recent NFL combine was this: Which quarterback should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select with the first overall pick in the draft? It's nearly a foregone conclusion that Tampa Bay will take a quarterback, it's just a matter of this: Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota? And, interestingly, it wasn't hard to find those in Indianapolis who were utterly convinced that Winston would be the pick ... and others who believe Mariota is certainly the guy.
When viewed through the lens of which of those two will end up in Tampa Bay, there is intrigue for the No. 1 pick, but in many ways, the real intrigue of the draft begins at the second pick, currently held by the Tennessee Titans.
Here's why:
The quarterback question
The Titans have been outspoken in their support of 2014 sixth-round pick Zach Mettenberger, the former LSU quarterback who became the team's starter as a rookie, throwing for 1,413 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in seven games played. And though he suffered a shoulder injury to end the season, the Titans appear ready to consider -- and some people around the league believe as much -- Mettenberger as their starter for the 2015 season.
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt's preferred style of thrower is a sturdy pocket passer who can deliver the ball down the field. "Both the QBs he's won with were pocket guys -- Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger," one NFC personnel man noted. Mettenberger has the physical profile -- "Another big guy that can stand tall in the pocket and has the arm to make all the throws," the personnel man added. Winston fits that same description, which is why if Tampa Bay selects Mariota, Tennessee's positional outlook at quarterback could change quickly. If Winston is available, he'd be a hard player to pass on, despite Mettenberger being in the mix.
If Winston winds up as the first pick in the draft, the decision takes on a new level of intrigue: Mariota was not asked to play extensively from the pocket as a dropback passer. But can he? That's what Tennessee would have to project. If the Titans don't believe that to be the case, where do they turn at pick No. 2?
Williams in focus
It wasn't long after my arrival in Indy that this unsolicited opinion was shared with me by NFL personnel men: USC's Leonard Williams, a defensive lineman, is the best pure football player in this draft. Williams, 6-foot-5 and nearly 300 pounds, is a long and explosive player who NFL personnel men I spoke with feel best fits as a defensive end in a 3-4 front (though he can excel in any scheme).
"I think Williams is worthy of the second pick," one AFC personnel man said. "[He's] an athletic 5-technique in [their] defense. Look back on the impact [Richard] Seymour [had with the Patriots] -- might have been the best player on [their] first Super Bowl[-winning] team."
Tennessee, which recently hired longtime Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau to run its defense, will feature a 3-4 front (as it did under last year's coordinator Ray Horton, who will also work closely with LeBeau). And despite the fact that teams are playing an increasing number of sub-defense (five or more defensive backs) snaps, Williams has three-down value as a 5-technique in a 3-4 front, and as a rusher from multiple spots along the line in sub packages. While Williams may not be a player who consistently generates huge sack totals, he's a disruptor whose value transcends the stat book and would be a building block for a defense that needs one.
The value of the second pick
There is value in a draft pick, even before it is utilized. For Tennessee, it's a potential leverage point. If the Titans don't covet one of the two quarterbacks available, there are other teams around the league in desperate need of a quarterback and short on options. Be it the Jets, Bears, Rams or Eagles, there are teams whose clear-cut, long-term quarterback solution is not presently clear.
The Rams scored a major haul back in 2012 for the second pick in a similar situation, netting three first-round choices and a second-rounder from Washington. Would that be the starting point on a package this year?
"I think it depends on how much each team values the quarterback who will be there," one AFC front-office man said. "So it could be less, if a team doesn't like the player [as much]. Teams loved Robert Griffin III. St. Louis was able to leverage that for a great deal. If you see that teams love Mariota/Winston in the same way, then yes."
Another scenario to consider is: What if Tennessee can't find a trading partner, or feels that Williams (or another prospect) is too valuable to pass up at pick No. 2? That opens up the same auction process for Jacksonville -- which drafted its quarterback of the future last year -- at the third pick. The floor for either quarterback to be drafted would seemingly be the Jets at pick No. 6, but in a league in which there's a massive demand for and limited supply of reliable starting quarterbacks, it would be no surprise to see a team angle to move ahead of New York if a quarterback becomes available.
Over the next nine-plus weeks, NFL teams will continue the information-gathering process and continue to pinpoint exactly where players will stack up on their board.
Notes:
• It fell a bit under the radar during the combine, but the Chargers quietly kicked off their offseason in a positive fashion, extending offensive tackle King Dunlap through 2018 (he was set to become an unrestricted free agent). The long, rangy left tackle has played extremely well since being signed as a free agent during the 2013 offseason. He's a good example of a team investing in the traits and not the production of a player. Though Dunlap was not a star before arriving in San Diego, his 6-foot-9 frame and natural movement skills gave offensive line coach Joe D'Alessandris -- a respected teacher -- plenty to work with.
• I'll be curious to see what type of contract free-agent quarterback Ryan Mallett signs this offseason. Mallett, who spent 2014 with Houston following a trade from New England, profiles as a likely starter if he returns to the Texans. The factors that make this interesting are his age (26), experience (just two games started) and the shoulder injury he is recovering from. Head coach Bill O'Brien said at the combine that he'd like to have Mallett back in Houston. I think Mallett would be smart to return, as his development would benefit greatly from the presence of O'Brien and a staff that had an excellent first year in Houston.
• There's been a lot of discussion over what position former Washington standout Shaq Thompson will play in the NFL, as he played all over the field for the Huskies as a running back, linebacker and safety. He checked in at 6-0 and 228 pounds -- the size of a big safety -- and ran a 4.64 40. I think Thompson represents something that was reiterated in conversations with folks at the combine: Rather than focusing on labeling a player solely by position, focus on how a team utilizes that player based on his skill set. That's something that teams spend time zeroing in on during the pre-draft process: How does this player fit into our franchise as it pertains to both roster construction and scheme application? Thompson may not have the "conventional" build of a single position, but he no doubt has a promising role in this league somewhere on the field.
