Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Breaking down the Rashaan Evans selection

Episode Date: April 27, 2018

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wherever you get your podcast, you can find us there. So we're recording this Thursday night after the end of round one of the NFL draft, the Titans obviously traded up to pick Rashawn Evans, inside linebacker, out of Alabama. And we spent a lot of time over the last few months talking about draft needs and all that kind of stuff.

And, I mean, we'd kind of come to the decision that edge rusher was the number one need. And edge rusher, you know, after round one of the draft, is still the number one need. But Ed Rusher, you know, after round one of the draft, is still the number one need. But inside linebacker was in the conversation among just other positions really on defense that the Titans needed to upgrade at. Rashawn Evans was a guy that was mocked to the Titans

in a lot of spots. That pick makes sense from the standpoint of you've got Wesley Woodyard, who played really well in 2017, but he's nearing the end of his career. I don't think he – I mean, I just don't think it's a good bet to make that he is as good in 18 as he was in 17. So from that standpoint, you need to upgrade there. You've got Jayon Brown, who did some good things in 2017, so there's a little bit of build on there.

But, you know, they lost Avery Williamson, a guy who played a pretty significant role for this defense in 2017. So, again, the Rashawn Evans pick makes sense from that standpoint. Now, he doesn't address the pass rushing need, which I think for both of us is still the biggest concern that we have here. But, you know, with the way the draft played out and kind of how it all went down, I don't think you can be disappointed in the Evans pick. No, and, you know, first instinct for me was I was underwhelmed.

You know, we had talked so much about edge rusher. Harold Landry is there. Apparently there's something going on with his knee. He didn't get through medicals. he can't control that kind of stuff same kind of deal with Josh Sweat you look at what was there I'm not sure where else

they're going to go there's not a pass rusher right there that would make sense to take that early you're not going to take Sam Hubbard that early so I get it i understand it uh i think we talked about linebacker being somewhat of a need not a huge need maybe we weren't as high as other people were on linebacker being a need but uh evans is an interesting guy he's a versatile guy that did a lot of different things for Alabama, but never quite mastered one.

So I think he gives you some pass rush. We've seen some doozies of a comment tonight that say he's going to fix your pass rush and fix your linebacker spot. Well, he's not going to do both. I think he can give you some reps off the edge as a speed rusher. He lacks that length to be dominant out there. But he does have a good burst and can get off the line of scrimmage. So maybe he can give you some third down pass rushing reps.

He's a guy that's really physical. A guy that comes down to the line of scrimmage and jacks people up. So that's exciting. Fans are going to love to see that. But he didn't run his 40. Scouts were concerned with his long speed. He's fine in a short area, but he doesn't really show you that long speed, that ability to hang with running backs, that ability to hang with tight ends.

So that would be my concern. But if you're going to use him in a pass-rushing role on third down, that might not be so big of an issue. And you've still got Jayon Brown on the team who's going to handle a bunch of the coverage stuff. So interesting pick, not where I thought they'd end up going. Not the best pick in my eyes, not the worst pick in my eyes. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you in the standpoint that it's ridiculous to say

that the Titans have, you know, filled their pass rushing need with Evans. Now, like I said, he's a guy that played outside linebacker, actually for the majority of his career at Alabama, and really just switched inside last season and was able to get, you know, to get some pressure there. And, I mean, I think that is something that he could bring to the table. last season um and was able to get you know you know to get some pressure there and i mean i think that is something he could bring to the table but he's not a guy that you just you know you feel great about now you've got you know him behind a rack pulling morgan and you know i've seen

comments tonight that well they got kevin dodd and this new staff is gonna fix kevin dodd and you don't need a rush i mean like to me, if you're counting on that, which I 100% don't think John Robinson is, but to count on Kevin Dodd at this point would be insanity. But I just think with the way the draft fell, you had your two guys in Chubb and Davenport, just the edge rushers that were, you know, the consensus first-round picks,

obviously, without medical concerns. I mean, again, I think that's a conversation we have to have here. There's obviously something going on medically with Harold Landry, because if there's not, I can't see any scenario where he makes it all the way out of the first round, which is what we saw tonight. So I think there has to be some concern there. I would say the same thing probably for Josh Sweat. Now, I think if we're looking at prospects,

just evaluating them, Landry is ahead of Sweat. So not surprised to see Sweat still on the board with Landry not being picked. But I think both of those guys have some medical concerns. I think that's why we saw them not get picked in the first round. And so, again, with the way it played out, I just think, you know, the Titans need help with depth at a couple of different positions, and we talked about that.

Inside linebacker's one of them. I still say safety's one of them. You know, we talked about corner with, you know, the Logan Ryan contract situation after the 2018 season. So, I mean, none of those places would have surprised me. I was a little bit surprised when the Titans traded up that it wasn't Harold Landry that was the pick. But, again, once you see the way the rest of the draft plays out,

I mean, I think it makes sense there. I think they jumped to the Patriots. I think they were concerned that the Patriots were going to take Evans. As we know, obviously the relationship between Belichick and Saban, and Belichick tends to like the type of guys. A lot of the reports with Evans is that he's a really smart guy, understands the game, spent a lot of time with Saban, learning the mental aspect of playing linebacker,

and all those kind of intangibles and we'll see i mean there's something to that but you can't get by solely on intangibles in the nfl yeah and to build on your point about jumping over the patriots uh it sounds like the uh steelers were trying to come up for evans as well so uh So John Robinson has that feel of the draft, and he knows when to go pull the trigger. He knows when to go get the guy he wants. So that's pretty cool. I mean, if you're going to go hop over two teams for a guy,

Patriots and Steelers are two of the best to go do that for. But, yeah, I think we need to address the Bama stigma here. You know, we were talking about this before. It's weird it just seems like nick saban seems to max out his guys at alabama they that for whatever reason they just aren't the same players when they get to the league you don't see many dominant players coming from alabama and that's just bizarre uh so i think part of that is uh linebackers playing behind three five star

defensive linemen they're just going to eat up every block so Evans had a lot of alleys wide open for him to run through what happens when that's not the case in Nashville with the Titans so that's one of my concerns and I know

it's stupid to lump schools in and say I don't like players from this school. But Alabama is the only place that I really do that with because there's a proven track record with those guys, and you can speak on it more than I can. Yeah, I was going to say, for those of you who don't know, I am an Alabama fan, but I try to pride myself on not being the typical Alabama fan that thinks every player that comes out of there is the greatest player to ever play football.

But you get the concern because, again, there's so much talent on those defenses that it's hard to evaluate individual players. And we have seen so many of these guys that get drafted in the first round, defensive linemen, linebackers, cornerbacks, that end up not making the impact that you would expect from a first-round player. Now, I would say cornerback probably has the highest miss rate. There's a whole handful, the Dean Milners, the Dre Kirkpatricks, I mean, guys like that that we've seen that have just underwhelmed the NFL level. The last couple of linebackers, you look at C.J. Mosley, he's been a solid player. I don't think he's been great, but he's been good.

Obviously, Reuben Foster, off the field stuff notwithstanding, he was really good, made a huge impact on that San Francisco defense last year. Dudes of linemen, again, kind of hit or miss there. But it's hard to evaluate these guys because, like you said, there's just so much talent all around them, and especially with linebackers in front of them, that it's a whole lot easier, like you said, to play linebacker when you're running free all over the field.

And is that going to be the case with the Titans? I mean, you hope that is, but it typically doesn't play out that way in the NFL. So, again, I think with the way the draft shook out i i don't i don't hate the way that it went down and again i think that you know we we talked about how we were pretty sure it was going to be a defensive player thought it would be an edge rusher because that's the need that they that they really have but if you have the medical medical concerns on the guys that are there, if Evans is the best player on your board,

then that's what you do. And like you said, I don't know. It makes you feel a little bit better, maybe, that, again, we think they're probably trying to get ahead of the Patriots. You hear the news that the Seahawks are trying to trade up to get the guy. So obviously there are other teams interested in Evans as well. I don't know

what that really means long term but i think it makes you feel a little bit better it's not like you were the only team that was that was interested in getting that guy so um this is somewhat of a consensus from the league that this guy's going to be a good player so you know and again we talked a little bit about this before we jumped on too i trust john robinson and maybe i don don't know, we all have opinions and whatever, but for the most part, the things that John Robinson has done have worked out well. We saw two years ago, Jack Conklin was this guy. He traded up to get him.

There was some concern about Conklin and what you saw from him at Michigan State. He turned out to be a pretty good player for them. what you saw from him at Michigan State, he turned out to be a pretty good player for them. So when he's got a guy that he kind of zeroes in on, so far that's been a pretty good thing. So I don't know. My first instinct is to trust him more than be really concerned with some of the other things that you read about a guy or whatever.

Yeah, the more I kind of sit here and marinate on it, the better it sounds. And it helps that Harold Landry and Josh Sweat didn't go immediately after. Right. So you see those guys falling down the board. You know, Lord only knows where they're going to go. It seems like every year we see a couple of guys just absolutely fall to the fourth or fifth round. So I'm not saying that's going to be the case here,

but, I mean, it seems to happen every year. Maybe we get a similar situation to Carl Lawson last year. So, yeah, I mean, personally, that makes me feel better because I thought Jimmy made a good point. Who are you picking if it's not Evans there? Who's the pick? I can't honestly answer that question uh with any confidence uh i'd probably go james daniel the center who was reported that the titans had a

private meeting with uh but yeah i just i don't know if there's anybody high up on the titans board they're worth picking at 25 uh if you don't go evans there yeah and i think again i don't go Evans there. Yeah, and I think, again, I don't know if that's a good way of evaluating things or not. But like you said, if Harold Landry goes 23, then you're like, well, crap, what were they doing? If Landry goes 23 and then Josh Sweat goes in the next couple of picks, you're like, well, I mean, they had a huge need for those guys, and obviously other teams graded them highly. That wasn't the case. So like you said, are we really – I don't know, James Daniels, are we really more excited about that pick if he's the pick?

Because again, he's not – if you draft Daniels, he's probably not going to start in 2018. Could he be a Doc Quentin Spain? Maybe. A guy that can play probably all three of those interior positions. I think he absolutely could take over for Ben Jones in 2019. But with Rashawn Evans, I think you look to see how that plays out in camp and what the snap distribution is between him and Wesley Woodyard. Because to me it's a similar type of deal.

And last year they wanted Avery Williamson to be that guy and he couldn't stay on the field over Woodyard. Will Evans be able to do that? I mean, I think that's kind of the biggest indicator that we're going to see. Because right now you basically traded, know you let every williamson walk and you trade it up to to get his replacement in rashaun evans are we i mean i don't know i think my evaluation of the pick will be based on can evans get woodyard fulfilled which is something that williamson couldn't do last year yeah i just like just like his versatility. The more I think about it, he's not the answer at edge. He's probably your answer at inside linebacker.

But is he your new Eric Walton? That's possible. He could come down the line of scrimmage and take those third down passing situation reps. So I think the value's fine. More so, really, with me, I'm just kind of disappointed with how the board played out and really the injuries to Josh Sweat and Harold Landry, guys that I watched a ton of, guys that I kind of fell for,

just to see them kind of tumble down the board, that's disappointing. But, you know, Titans might come back and have a shot at them in the second round, maybe even the third round. You just don't know how the injury situation is going to play out. Yeah, and I think that is probably a conversation that would be well served to have in the next couple of weeks is just looking at this draft as a whole and kind of evaluating what was there and how much really top-end talent was really available in this draft. Because I think once we kind of step back and look at it,

like you said, with injury concerns to these other guys, I don't know. I just think there wasn't a lot of top-end players that teams were really excited to get. And so I think that's kind of why we saw it play out the way that it did um towards the back half of the first round all right so coming up we'll take a we'll take a little bit of a preview on guys that are still available on day two and kind of what we think the titans will be thinking about so like we said from the top biggest need is still edge rusher the good news is you've got

as we've mentioned harold andrews josh sweat sam hubbard i mean there's plenty of guys that are still available now now it's still a long time until titans pick i mean they don't pick it they don't pick until 57 um, there's a possibility that all three of those guys could be gone by the time that they're on the clock. But, you know, the way we've talked about this draft, if they end up walking away with

Rashawn Evans in the first, and then you know, Landry, Sweat, Hubbard, one of those three guys in the second, I mean, I think you have to consider this a success, right? I would totally agree. If you can get your linebacker of the future, your pass rusher of the future, you hope. Yeah, it's absolutely a success.

It doesn't really matter where they come off the board. The concern, of course, is, I've gotten this on Twitter all night long, you can get a pass rusher later in the draft. The odds are greatly stacked against you. Those elite athletes don't stay on the board too long. If they do, they're banged up. They've got some medical issues.

I'm not waiting too much longer. If I'm John Robinson, I'm pulling that trigger if there's someone even close to value on my board at 57 i just think it's a spot that that you can't neglect anymore you know you missed on on kevin dodd you've now got rashaun evans who's going to help out and sub packages you still don't have that answer for next year uh so that's kind of a scary deal going into the season where Morgan and Arakpo could potentially be gone. So, yeah, that's first and foremost on my list.

But as we've seen, you're not going to force it. John Robinson's not going to force it. So I think you could see a receiver. You could see a safety. You could see an interior lineman. The options are still wide open for him. Yeah, I agree. And like we said, we thought that it would be more wide open

if they took an edge rusher in the first round because then there really is kind of anywhere they could go. Like you said, you mentioned the options and interior lineman, wide receiver. I mean, we'd be talking about inside linebacker, obviously, if they would have taken an edge guy in the first round. So, I don't know. There's a lot of places he can go. And, again, this speaks to the job that he's done,

that John Robinson has done in rebuilding this roster, that they don't have the huge needs that they had a couple of years ago. But, I don't know i i'm with you i'm a little bit concerned that they haven't addressed the the past situation yet because you know what happens if if all three of the guys that we've mentioned are off the board by the time they come up again um and then they you know go a different direction interior office or whatever in the second round then you're in the third round or you're going to find a guy that's going to be an impact player there? And then if you don't find that guy in this draft, then you head into, you know,

if Morgan and Iraq Post stay healthy again in 2018, you know, that's great. Then you head into 2019 where, I mean, odds are fairly decent that either one of them is on this team. Then you hope you're picking late in the draft again because that would mean you've been successful and you still have the need. So that's kind of my concern with not getting a guy already. And again, hopefully they get a guy that we'll feel comfortable with at 57,

and so that will kind of alleviate some of this. Yeah, I'd just like to have some sort of future plan in place. some of this yeah i'd just like to have some sort of uh future plan in place yeah sam hubbard even at 57 as the standalone edge rusher you get that would be a little disappointing that would be underwhelming to me uh just not the athlete not the level of athlete that i'd want as my potentially primary pass rusher you know going into the future so yeah's so obvious right now what the need is. I'm really fascinated to see if John Robinson moves up. You've already seen him give up a fourth-round pick today. Would he give up a two and a three to go get that guy

if he's still out there somewhere in the 40s? That's interesting to me. He doesn't seem like a guy that would give up too many picks. It's kind of surprising that he moved up the way he did, but again, he had the right instinct there. But yeah, I think he's done moving up. I don't think he'd want to give up any of his picks, which he seems to value a lot. But at the same time, you've got to go get that pass rusher of the future. So it's a really interesting situation for John Robinson. Yeah, absolutely.

So we'll keep an eye on how it all plays out tomorrow. But, you know, obviously for tonight, the Titans have gotten their inside linebacker, and so we'll see kind of where it goes from there. So between now and then, obviously check out musicallymiracles.com. We'll have a lot more on the Evans pick, best players available, draft grades, all that kind of stuff that everybody's interested in between now and then. So you can check us out there.

And again, follow us on Twitter at jmorrismcm, at tlimbertfb. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.