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The almighty unnamed executives have spoken and weighed in on not only two of the Tennessee Titans’ 2021 NFL draft picks, but also other moves the team has made in recent years.
The Athletic’s Mike Sando spoke to numerous unnamed executives around the league, trying to get some inside insight into the NFL draft classes of every team.
One executive was critical of some of the Titans’ recent moves and said 2021 first-round pick Caleb Farley’s “medical was terrible.”
He also mentions how Tennessee drafted the troubled Isaiah Wilson in 2020 and now have a potential problem on their hands in 2021 fourth-round pick, Rashad Weaver, who has been charged with simple assault. Tennessee’s declining fifth-year options of past first-round picks was also mentioned.
“If the corner becomes a good player, God bless them, but his medical was terrible,” an exec said. “You look at the Isaiah Wilson pick last year. Then you have (Rashad) Weaver in the fourth round this year with an assault case that comes out. Then you go back and look at all the fifth-year options that were declined, and then the one they picked up was for Adoree Jackson, who they cut. There are a lot of mishaps there that it seems like just aren’t being talked about.”
Since taking over in 2016, general manager Jon Robinson has made seven picks in the first round. Only three of those picks are still on the team (Rashaan Evans, Jeffery Simmons, Caleb Farley).
Of the fifth-year option decisions that have come up in that span, the Titans have declined three of the four (Evans, Jack Conklin, Corey Davis), and the one Tennessee picked up (Adoree’ Jackson), never got off the ground after the Titans released him earlier this offseason.
An unnamed general manager praised the Titans’ pick of North Dakota State product and offensive lineman, Dillon Radunz, who he believes can play both guard and right tackle at the next level.
However, the dark, shadowy general manager also expressed concern about Farley’s history of back problems, saying there was more worry about his past injury issues than with any other early-round player.
“We liked the North Dakota State guard they took (Dillon Radunz) in the second round,” the GM said. “He could play right tackle. But we were way more worried about Farley’s back than some of the other injuries for guys in the first couple rounds.”
While Farley has reassured Titans fans that he will be just fine moving forward, there is certainly reason for concern. For now, we remain cautiously optimistic that everything will work out with the Virginia Tech product.
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