The Tennessee Titans attempted to upgrade their offensive line and secondary in the 2020 NFL Draft with the selections of Isaiah Wilson in the first round and Kristian Fulton in the second.
But one mysterious and unnamed executive isn’t impressed with what the Titans have done at the cornerback position over the years.
In fact, according to Mike Sando of The Athletic, the unnamed executive criticized the Titans for being unable to “get a good corner” and considered the position the team’s No. 1 need going into the draft.
“If I was going to ding them, it would probably be for how they can’t get a good corner,” an evaluator said. “You look at the rest of the roster and they are pretty darn good, except corner. Adoree’ Jackson was a first-round pick and he won’t tackle. Fulton won’t tackle. Logan Ryan was overpaid. Malcolm Butler was overpaid. That is their Achilles’ heel and was their No. 1 need coming into this draft, ahead of tackle and halfback.”
You can certainly make the case that both Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler were and are overpaid, so no issues there.
Butler has been good after a shaky start to his Titans tenure, but I’m not sure he’s good enough to pull in the $13.3 million he’s set to make this year.
Ryan is no doubt a great leader and has plenty of positives, but he struggles in coverage with fast receivers and no team has met his $10 million per year demands on the open market.
However, to say Adoree’ Jackson “won’t tackle” is a stretch, as he’s proven to be more than sufficient in that area, particularly last season.
And, if we’re going on the word of Pro Football Focus, Jackson was a top-15 cornerback in the NFL in 2019. There’s no question that Jackson alone significantly elevated the Titans’ secondary upon his return from injury.
When asked about the Titans’ pick of Wilson, who was thought of as a reach at No. 29 by some experts, the exec believes the Titans thought he was their last chance to get a “plug-and-play” right tackle in the draft.
“I’m sure they were worried about the dropoff at tackle because there wasn’t a whole lot there after him where it is plug-and-play,” an exec said. “You felt like after that, maybe there is a guy who could be better in due time, but you look, the next potential tackle went at 39, Robert Hunt to Miami, and some people saw him as a guard.”
Going into the draft, I felt the more pressing need for the Titans was at cornerback, so it was disappointing to see the team didn’t go after one in the first round with plenty of good players at the position on the board.
Thanks to a little bit of luck, the Titans may have been able to land a first-round talent late in the second round in Fulton, and still got arguably the best tackle left on the board at the end of the first round in Wilson.
Will the Fulton pick be enough to please the Almighty unnamed exec? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
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