The 2022 NFL Draft takes place April 28-30 this year, emanating LIVE from Las Vegas, Nevada. As it stands, the Tennessee Titans have one first round draft pick. General manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel currently hold the 26th overall selection. Over the next few months, your boy “Big Natural” Stoney Keeley will be taking a look at some of the prospects who are either rumored to be tied to or who make sense for the Titans. Today, we’re lookin’ at Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary.
We haven’t talked cornerbacks on this feature so far this year, so let’s talk cornerbacks. On the surface, it doesn’t really look like the Titans should even remotely entertain the idea of a cornerback in the first round, doesn’t it? But, one thing we’ve learned during JRob’s tenure as GM of the Titans is that you never say never with this guy. The team recently moved on from Jackrabbit Jenkins, who played well but commanded a hefty salary, after just one season. And, the Titans don’t really have a lot of dire needs across the board. This is still a quality roster. They need a starting left guard and a starting right tackle, but they could feel they’ve solved those problems in-house with a few prospective starters they like. They need another play-maker on offense, and while the pick at #26 would be a wide receiver if I was in charge (I’m not), I’m not going to be shocked if the Titans look to bolster their secondary with a bit of an insurance plan just in case Caleb Farley isn’t quite right coming off of the injury that cut his rookie campaign short, and at the very least, provides quality depth in the defensive backfield.
McCreary was a guy that I hadn’t watched prior to taking the trip down to Mobile for the Senior Bowl. All I knew was that he ate a can of baked beans with sugar in ’em the night before every game. But, I came back to Nashville thinking this guy had real potential to sneak into the last few picks of the first round. Two terms come to mind when I think about McCreary: “battle-tested” and “polished.”
After four seasons at Auburn, McCreary is as experienced as they come at the position. After his senior season in 2021, he was named First-Team All-SEC, and First-Team All-American by both the Associated Press and ESPN. He’s an accomplished guy that ran through a gauntlet of some of college football’s elite wide receivers playing in the SEC West throughout the last four years.
I’m a ‘bad news first’ kind of guy, so let’s get the negatives out of the way first – they are few and far between with this guy. McCreary breaks up a lot of passes, but it doesn’t quite translate to pure turnovers. I don’t see the ball skills that some do. Also, he could misdiagnose breaks by receivers and allow them to create a lot of space, as evidenced by the walk-off touchdown he allowed to John Metchie III in 4OT against Alabama last season. That was just a really good route by Metchie and I don’t know how many defensive backs can defend that to be fair to McCreary. But, it happened several times earlier in that game as well. That video is embedded below, and there’s a reason I chose it. It’s a good mix of the good and the bad with McCreary and how he stacks up against a couple of NFL receivers. On to the good stuff.
While McCreary can allow guys to create space at times, he is an excellent pure man corner that is persistent in mirroring wide receivers, and has shown a propensity for being a pesky shadow throughout their routes. He is an aggressive, steady, lockdown type of guy. He’s tough from a competitive standpoint, and doesn’t shy away from the physicality of the game. He’s also a great tackler – even when he does allow an easy reception, his tackling ability limits YAC potential quickly. He went toe-to-toe in man situations against those vaunted Alabama receivers last year (not to mention the other receivers he’s faced throughout his career, hence the “battle-tested” part of my evaluation). There’s a hell of a PBU from McCreary in the video below during which he runs Metchie down from behind and lays out to smack the ball down. That’s emblematic of both McCreary’s ability and his football character – he’s the type of guy that is going to play with a lot of green on his jersey, and he’s going to aggravate the hell out of a lot of wide receivers.
The Titans like man guys and McCreary could be a good man guy in this defense. If he continues to develop as an athlete, and with the right support system in place, concerns about getting beat with quick crisp breaks would evaporate. The benefit of taking him is that between him, Farley, Kristian Fulton, Elijah Molden, and Chris Jackson, the Titans wouldn’t have to worry about their secondary for awhile. That’s a stout young core to build around. With McCreary being one of the most NFL-ready players in this draft class, he would be the perfect candidate to be an insurance plan for either starting corner for the Titans. You can never have too many good defensive backs, right? Just remember – when it comes to the Titans and Jon Robinson, never say never.
Further Reading: Roger McCreary stands out at Auburn pro day, celebrates as only he can, with ‘whole pot’ of beans
2022 TITANS FIRST ROUND OPTIONS
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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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