After the releases of Ben Jones and Taylor Lewan, and the Tennessee Titans letting Nate Davis hit free agency (where he ultimately signed with Chicago), the Titans found themselves having to replace four starters along the offensive line. When they didn’t immediately shell out $20M a year for Mike McGlinchey or Jawaan Taylor, the sky began to fall on Titans Twitter. But, there was still a high upside candidate out there in Eagles LT Andre Dillard, and guess what, folks….they got him.
Dillard is a former first round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles from the 2019 NFL Draft. He tore his bicep prior to the 2020 season, and ended up losing the starting left tackle job to Jordan Mailata. It’s one of those rare instances where it truly doesn’t seem like he was benched as much as Mailata just became undeniable. The dude is one of the best tackles in the game today, for crying out loud. Dillard was due for a chance at another starting role, and that’s exactly what I expect he’ll get here in Nashville.
He played just 36 snaps on offense in five games in 2022, but the bulk of his snaps (26, to be exact) came against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Titans. Everyone seems to be running back his 2021 tape (smart – I’m not knocking it). But, we know the scouting report on Dillard by now. The dude’s bouncy – he uses his lateral quickness to route rushers outside, and he simply pushes dudes off of him. You could say he has a “rubbery” quality in how he manages to mirror guys by using his feet to glide around and absorb the punch of an edge rusher. My man has that gazelle in him. But, I wanted to see if there were signs of those qualities still present in 2022. So, let’s fire those up and see if we can find us anything (and don’t worry – I have a couple links below for more stuff).
Now, if you look at those box scores, you’ll quickly realize that the Eagles deployed Dillard once the game was well in their control. But, there were still some quality reps in there, in my opinion. Let’s start with the Steelers, where they played him at left tackle at first. He got some good work in against Alex Highsmith, who is no slouch. There’s this little technique thing that Dillard does where it looks as though he’s using Highsmith’s momentum against him. Highsmith is trying to get around the edge on Dillard, but it’s a handoff. By the time Highsmith realizes it, he’s over-pursued the play, but Dillard is using that momentum to apply pressure to keep him from changing direction and going up field. It mucks him up long enough to completely neutralize him from the play.
Look at the right arm there! Getting up under Highsmith and keeping him from resetting and hunting the play down. Now, that play doesn’t go anywhere, as the run’s stopped and the Eagles have to punt. But, it’s a good example of Dillard’s balance, and it’s further evidence of his understanding of leverage and using momentum against rushers. He has the makings of an elite pass protector because of stuff like this. They moved him over to left guard on the final drive of that game, and well…the Eagles mostly ran the ball on that drive to try and burn the clock.
Run blocking isn’t exactly Dillard’s strong suit. He had some decent reps against the Steelers where he was out there throwing himself at guys in traffic and I respect the effort, but he doesn’t play with a lot of pop and drive in the run game. I noticed he was driven back a couple steps rather easily on one snap. But, when he’s able to get to the second level, he can get a hands on a guy and engage him long enough to spring a play. I’d say he’s more of a nuisance as a run blocker than a heavy hitter.
Now, let’s move on to the Titans game – ugh…reliving that shit show. My apologies, Titans fans. No reps at left tackle this time – the Eagles played him at left guard when the game was out of reach, before moving him over to right guard on the final drive of the game.
The Eagles even played Andre Dillard at right guard on the final drive of the game against the Titans after they’d done taken ‘em to the woodshed. pic.twitter.com/4zYueeMssW
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) March 15, 2023
He had some good run blocking snaps against Larrell Murchison where he stood him up, got his hands on him, and held his ground. But, y’know…evaluate that match-up however you’d like. There was a play during which he looked like he was supposed to get to the second level and block a linebacker, but couldn’t disengage from the defensive tackle, and said linebacker made the play to stop the run. He got it right on the very next snap, though – released and moved Joe Schoebert out of the way. I don’t know. I just didn’t see a lot of consistent play strength in the obvious run plays. It’s a terrible sample size, though. I probably shouldn’t have done this film study, but I’m in too deep to stop now. I don’t know what we’re really going to learn here, but I have to cross this off my to-do list since I started it.
I wonder what the Titans see him as. I would venture a guess that #1…it’s versatility. They have several needs along the offensive line. Dillard can fill several of them. At first, I figured he’d be a lock to start at left tackle, but his experience at left guard gives them some flexibility to just see how things fall in the draft. I wouldn’t be mad at a LG Dillard and LT Paris Johnson Jr. left side of the line. I also wouldn’t be mad at a LT Dillard and LG Steve Avila left side of the offensive line. Cody Mauch fits in well here too somewhere. You get my point. Between his versatility and his athletic pass protection skill set, there’s a load of untapped potential here with Andre Dillard.
If you want more, the Titansphere has more for you. Tyler Rowland wrote a fantastic piece breaking down Dillard’s work against two of the top pass rushers in the NFL in Micah Parsons and Brian Burns. That rep where he baits Parsons inside to free up the edge for the screen to get off was disgusting in the best way possible. Also, we got that A to Z Film Room good good courtesy of James Foster, who completely blew my mind when he brought up an excellent point about Dillard in that his signing may indicate a potential shift in philosophy for the Titans. Maybe they are modernizing their offense and making pass pro a priority because of it! I’m just here for all the hype – I love this signing. LFG.
If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to The Unofficial Titans Podcast on Apple Podcasts, follow us on Spotify, or wherever you take in your podcasts!
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.
Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon here – $5/month gets you instant access to an exhaustive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos created exclusively for our subscribers!
