During the Tennessee Titans’ preseason Week 2 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rookie cornerback Elijah Molden shined with his play on the field, but in preseason Week 3, he stood out for a different reason.
Earlier this week, Molden was praised by safety Kevin Byard, not only for his instincts, which he displayed last week, but also for his ability to pick up the defense so quickly.
Molden showed the latter point on Saturday night against the Bears. ESPN’s Turron Davenport noted the third-round pick was calling out pre-snap instructions, giving signals, and even sent a cornerback in motion.
For a rookie just entering the league, it doesn’t get any better than that. It would appear that Molden is far ahead of where you’d expect such a young player to be, and that’s a great sign for the Titans.
I honestly think Molden will start at nickel. Unfortunate for Chris Jackson who's injury gave way for Molden to step up. But Molden's feel for the nickel position is beyond rookie status. He's a natural there. Fitting of the name that @LRiddickESPN gave him, "Jedi of the Slot." https://t.co/aQVUOscFhn
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) August 29, 2021
Thanks to what we’ve seen the last two games, Molden has now become the favorite to win the slot corner job after fellow corner Chris Jackson, who did not play in the preseason finale, appeared to have the edge not long ago.
It looks like the Titans might have something special cooking here. Don’t get us wrong, he will still have growing pains in his first season, but right now it looks like the Titans might have hit gold with Molden.
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