Tennessee Titans 2018 Draft Class Review

With the 2018 NFL Draft behind us, it’s time to begin the review process on how each team stacks up with the selections they’ve made. The Titans seemed to have a draft strategy in mind as they traded a lot of their draft capital to move up more than once to select two of their top choices on their board. With all that movement, Tennessee was left with only four selections to their entire draft class, let’s review… 

Tennessee Titans 2018 Draft Class Review:

Round 1 – Pick 22 (22)

Rashaan Evans (LB)

Moving up in the first round once they saw their player sitting there ripe for the taking, the Titans selected one of ADF’s favorite players in this draft in former Alabama product Rashaan Evans. His size and stature is exactly what the Titans were looking for to instantly take over one of their middle line backer spots, a position they desperately needed a talent upgrade. Evans is a natural athlete that can move all over the field finding ball carriers with ease. Though Evans was a decent producer in his time in Alabama, his statistics wont jump off the paper at first glance, but rather it’s what he brings to the overall defense that is of importance. While Evans only produced 150 tackles over his four years in Bama, his 15 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss is a great indication of how he was used by coach Saban. Taking more of an inside role in Tennessee should be an easy transition for Evans as we believe he is quite the versatile player.

A few issues arise to bring some level of warning but nothing so glaring that can’t be overlooked. ADF does question why Evans never ran the 40 yard dash in both the combine and at his pro-day? Perhaps Rashaan wasn’t fully recovered from his injuries which would’ve shown a slower time than what he knows he can run? Either way, that may have dropped his outlook leaving teams to remove him for the top 15 picks of the draft. ADF also questions the cover ability of Evans which now will be a large aspect to his game in Tennessee. His playing speed is great as seen from his tape, but we shall watch with keen eyes to see if he indeed can handle the great responsibilities of shutting down receivers and tight ends over the middle. The value for Evans at pick 22 is absolutely fantastic and should view as a slam dunk selection from day one. New Coach Mike Vrabel has got a new toy to lead the defense. 

ADF Prediction: High potential, day one starter, great upside.

Round 2 – Pick 9 (41)

Harold Landry (DE)

Trading up once again, this time in the second round at the expense of more draft capital, Tennessee landed another first round talent this time at pick 41. Harold Landry is a great prospect that was expected to test extremely well at the combine and he didn’t disappoint whatsoever. All his numbers confirmed what the books had already placed on him prior to seeing it in person. Landry ran a blistering 4.64 40 time for a man weighing 252 pounds, eye popping speed that’s for sure. Harold also showed-out in all shuttle drill proving his agility is also top notch. Landry does possess a rare mixture of speed, agility, and power that should be able to transfer over to the NFL with solid coaching and experience from in game action.

When reviewing Landry’s tape from Boston College, we couldn’t pry ourselves away from his 2016 junior season film as it was just spectacular. Everything just seemed easy a methodical for Landry in that campaign which saw him put up gouty numbers. Harold was responsible for 16.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, 7 forced fumbles, 1 interception, and 4 pass breakups, quite astonishing to say the least. Coming off a year like that, the expectations of course would climb, but unfortunately Landry had a letdown which could’ve lead to his draft day slide. Harold has a great first step off the line that should give opposing offensive lineman fits until the league gains tape on how he plays. Most scouts believe Landry will need more creativity in his game otherwise he’ll be fairly easy to defend as most speed rushers can become. ADF believes this was the perfect landing spot for Harold as this roster houses many talented pass rushers to help prefect his craft.          

ADF Prediction: High potential, requires coaching.

Round 5 – Pick 15 (152)

Dane Cruikshank (DB)

While the Titans address many holes and upgraded certain positions in free agency on the defensive side, adding depth players is also equally as important to maintain success. Dane Cruikshank fits the mold of a bench stash player with good potential to handle special teams duties while learning and perfecting his talents at the safety position. A lot of clubs will never pass on purely athletic talented players hoping they can develop the trade as no one can coach God given talent. Dane absolutely destroyed the combine testing process showing top-end speed (4.41 40 time), great strength (25 bench reps), great hops (38.5 vertical), and incredible agility (4.24 20 yard shuttle). Cruikshank is the definition of a project player with off the chart intangibles that will have to be coached and applied to show any type of progression.        

ADF Prediction: moderate celling, very low floor.

Round 6 – Pick 25 (199)

Luke Falk (QB)

Luke Falk is a very intriguing prospect that ADF has been watching for quite some time. Falk has always been a fairly good producer in his four year stint at Washington State bosting a career completion percentage of 68%, fairly impressive. However, those statistics were definitely doctored in the sense that the Cougars offense was set up with a short passing game which inflated his stats potentially hiding his inadequacies from the film. With that said, Falk still was able to amass over 14,000 passing yards, throwing 119 touchdowns, to only 39 interceptions in that span, not too shabby. Luke is a tall man standing 6’4”, which is a definite positive holding traits that had teams very interested in the later rounds. Tennessee took the gamble and selected Falk with their last selection in this draft in hopes he could turn out to be a great backup quarterback to Marcus Mariota.

While Luke has some good upside, his red flags are quite glaring to say the least. He isn’t a very good athlete and can become a statue type in the backfield making it easy for the opposition to bring him to the ground. His arm is a definite question mark as he’s proven it difficult to make all throws NFL teams expect. ADF believes that if a system is tailored to fit his specific skill-set (short pass game), there is a great chance he could be a very serviceable quarterback in the league. There is some upside here and would be picked off the practice squad if placed there by the Titans.    

2018 Undrafted Free Agent Signings

Austin Barnard, P, Samford

Devin Ross, WR, Colorado

Damon Webb, DB, Ohio State

Sharif Finch, LB, Temple

Deontay Burnett, WR, Southern Cal

Andrew Ankrah, DE, James Madison

Nico Falah, OL, Southern California

Nick DeLuca, OLB, North Dakota State

Rico Gafford, CB, Wyoming

Joshua Kalu, DB, Nebraska

Ethan Wolf, TE, Tennessee

Akrum Wadley, RB, Iowa

Jordan Veasy, WR, California

Mike Ramsay, DT, Duke

Aaron Stinnie, OT, JMU

Elijah Nkansah, OT, Toledo

Tejan Koroma, C, BYU

J.T. Luper, WR, Central Oklahoma

Ryan McKinley, CB, Montana