The 2017 NFL Draft takes place April 27-29 this year, and as it stands, the Tennessee Titans have two first round draft picks. General manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Mularkey currently hold the 5th overall selection and the 18th overall selection. Over the next few weeks, your boy Big Natural will be taking a look at some of the prospects rumored to be tied to or make sense for the Titans.
The Titans have dire needs throughout the entire secondary. They’ll still be shopping for number one cornerbacks and safeties come draft day. Only the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints allowed more passing yards per game last season than the Titans did. Allowing 25 passing touchdowns put them in the middle of the pack, but overall, this was a bad unit last year. Cornerback Perrish Cox led the Titans with three interceptions in 2016, while Da’Norris Searcy and Daimion Stafford tallied one each from the safety position. The Titans linebackers had just as many.
Stafford and Cox are currently free agents and Searcy could be passed by throughout training camp. Jason McCourty has been a reliable cornerback when healthy, but his days as a top-10 caliber defensive back are behind him. Kevin Byard has a wealth of potential, but could use a partner in the backfield to really let him be the ballhawk.
Don’t let the signings of Johnathan Cyprien and Logan Ryan fool you. This is still the unquestionable weakness of the Titans defense. Cyprien is physical run-stuffer and Ryan has never been a true number one corner. Positive additions, for sure, but this isn’t the Titans secondary of the future.
Should the Titans look to start re-building the secondary, Jamal Adams out of LSU could be just the guy.
Of course, if they want him, they’ll have to use that fifth overall pick. A lot of mocks have Adams going in the top 10 based on scout evaluations. While you never say never when it comes to the NFL draft, he’s too talented of a prospect to imagine sliding to #18 barring some sort of last-minute injury. Or, you know, a video could come out of Adams smoking weed through a gas mask in front of a Confederate flag.
Still, Adams could be the most complete safety in the 2017 draft class. He can cover, tackle, and help out wherever the defense needs him. The former Tiger could play free safety or strong safety, but slotting him at strong and allowing Byard to play free would be the ideal pairing. That could be a deadly safety pairing for years to come.
Adams has elite football instincts, showing an innate ability to sniff out a play and stop it. He intercepted Alabama’s Jalen Hurts after reading the play flowing to the part of the field he happened to be occupying. He stopped plenty of screens from developing throughout his career. Those instincts come naturally and aren’t easily coached. He’s just the type of player that Robinson looks for.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktuijMDwsh8]
Catch up on previous first round option reports:
Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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