I have to eat a little crow and give running back Mekhi Sargent a shit load of credit. When he signed with the Tennessee Titans back in May as an undrafted free agent, I said it would be virtually impossible for him to make this roster because of its running back depth. Behind Derrick Henry, the team invested a third round draft choice in Darrynton Evans in 2020. Jeremy McNichols has been effective as the third guy in this rotation before, and the team brought in the veteran Brian Hill this offseason to add a little competition on the back end of the depth chart. No one’s challenging Henry’s spot for damn sure. But, it looked like opportunities would be few and far between for an undrafted guy to boot. But, credit where credit is due – Sargent has proven up to the challenge.
At the time of this writing, Sargent is second in the NFL preseason in total rushing yards with 136. He trails only New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson and his 193 rushing yards. He’s taken 16 carries in each of the two preseason games so far, and averaged 4.25 yards per carry with ’em. In Saturday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he also caught a beautiful touchdown pass as well. Sargent has done a little bit of everything everything well. He’s obviously out there playing like his career depends upon it. But, in addition to playing hard, he’s shown that he can be quite slippery and shifty between the tackles. Not to mention that he showed on Saturday night that he can be a tough guy to bring down, carrying four Bucs defenders with him on a run up the middle.
Mekhi Sargent dragging tacklers @Titans | #TENvsTB pic.twitter.com/rkSEun0mQz
— NFL (@NFL) August 22, 2021
Do two strong preseason performances make Mekhi Sargent a lock to make the final 53-man roster? No. But, I’ll say this – the conditions are starting to set up well for the former Iowa Hawkeye. Namely, this coaching staff is getting a good long look at him in game action, and he’s exceeding expectations. It helps that Hill hasn’t really wowed anyone in this race. And, with Evans getting hurt (again) and missing action, it’s leading to more opportunities for Sargent. The more I see of him, the more I think he really might be able to push McNichols over the course of the last couple of weeks. That’s all I’m saying – I’m not out here calling for Sargent to be the backup to Henry. I’m just saying that if he were to make the final roster, this is exactly how his path to a spot would look.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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