Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans 2017 Draft Class Review: Overall Impact, Pick Grades & 'What Ifs'

Episode Date: May 26, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, today's episode is brought to you by Bilt Bar. Bilt Bars are the best tasting protein bars on the market. Go to BiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off your first order. Yesterday, we kicked off our draft class review series and broke down the 2016 draft class general manager John Robinson's first on the job for the Titans. And today we are going to continue our series and take a look at the 2017 draft class.

We just got some big news in regards to the first round rookies from the 2017 draft class with Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson in their fifth year options. So we are going to talk about that and how that factors in to how we have to view this 2017 draft class that was a big opportunity for John Robinson. Another draft like 2016 with a lot of picks and a lot of movement up and down the board. with a lot of picks and a lot of movement up and down the board. So really excited to break the 2017 draft class down with you guys as we did on yesterday's episode. We are going to take a look at the draft class overall,

look at all of the selections, look at their statistical impact on the Titans, and then of course look at all the movement that John Robinson had. Like I said, four trades in this draft, and five if you continue to add on the two picks that he got from the Rams in the 2016 first overall pick trade. So a lot of movement from John Robinson as he tried to turn over that Titans roster. We will break down the overall draft class as a whole, and then we will move forward and assign grades to each pick now that all of these players have had three seasons in the league and are going into their fourth.

Well, at least for some of the players who are still active. So we will assign a grade to each player in each pick and then we will end out the show with a little bit of a what-if segment. I don't like to go back and judge too harshly in terms of you could have picked this player, could have picked this player here, but it's only right that we go back and take a look at what could have been and some of the bigger what ifs of the picks that John Robinson made in 2017. So really excited to get into this series with you. If you haven't listened to Monday's episode in the breakdown of 2016's Draft Class, John

Robinson's first, make sure you go back and check that out. And while you're there, subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple Podcast. Follow us on Spotify. Wherever you stream your podcast, make sure that you're locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. So really excited to get into anything and everything 2017 Draft class. Let's get it. Robinson's second draft class as Titans general manager came with the luxury of having an extra first round pick number five overall and an extra first round pick, number five overall,

and an extra third round pick, number 100 overall, due to the 2016 trade with the Rams, where he traded back from number one overall to number 15 overall. So Robinson had a bounty of picks going into his second draft, and he used those picks to be aggressive, not only going up the board but also going down the board and targeting certain players that he clearly had an eye on and not all of these prospects worked out that he had an eye on but overall a decent draft class for John Robinson and started off with the fifth overall pick and at the time it was pretty obvious that the Titans offense needed another threat and needed

a dynamic number one receiver you heard names like Mike Williams from Clemson John Ross III from Washington and Corey Davis from Central Michigan and Corey Davis was eventually the pick at number five overall Corey Davis has played in 42 games for the Titans in his three seasons, had 142 catches, 1,867 yards, and six touchdowns. Has also had some very good performances in the playoffs for the Titans as well, but overall, when you look at other top five or top six wide receiver picks in the last eight to nine years, you'll see names like Amari Cooper, Sammy Watkins, Justin Blackman, AJ Green, and Julio Jones. Justin Blackman, of course, was a complete bust. Sammy Watkins had a very productive, more productive than Corey Davis first two seasons, and then the other three, of course,

Amari Cooper, AJ Green, and Julio Jones began to be NFL superstars and still are to this day. So Corey Davis falls somewhere in between all of these players, but it's obvious at this moment in time that he has not lived up to the value that you need from a fifth overall pick, despite being a good teammate and an excellent blocker at the wide receiver position. When you look at the other names you hope to get in Amari Cooper, A.J. Green, or Julio Jones level player, and Corey Davis is simply not that. The Titans have turned down his fifth year option, so he will enter free agency after this upcoming season, and that tells us all that we need to know about how John Robinson feels about the Corey Davis pick at 5.

At 18 overall in the first round, the Titans picked Adoree Jackson. Adoree has played in 43 games for the Titans, 188 tackles, two interceptions, and 33 passes defended. Adoree has been very good as a cornerback, not necessarily great, not necessarily a pro bowler, an all-star, but a very good cog to the Titans' defense, and his fifth-year option was picked up for $10.6 million in 2021. Adoree has been an above-a average starter for the Titans in a worthy first round pick. With the 72nd overall pick in the third round, the Titans selected Taewon Taylor. Taylor was a complete disappointment for the Titans. Only played in 29 games in two seasons, had 53 catches,

697 yards, and two touchdowns. Simply did not have the work ethic or the hands necessary to make it in the NFL. John Robinson traded up for Tyjuan Taylor, so that is a very disappointing pick for Robinson in the third round, but he rebounded with the 100th overall pick in the third round, and that was Jonu Smith. Jonu has 73 catches, 854 yards, and eight touchdowns in his career. In his first three seasons, his snap count percentage on offense has gone up steadily from 54% to 62% to 71% in 2019. John New has not had quite the statistical output you would hope for his first three seasons, but he did play behind Delaney

Walker for the majority of that and now with a more permanent role in the offense, looks to take a step up. The next selection came in the fifth round, pick 155. A trade up to get linebacker Jayon Brown. Jayon Brown has 254 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss in his 46 games with the Titans. He has become one of the best pass coverage linebackers in the NFL and a great pick in the fifth round. The next four picks for John Robinson had little to no impact whatsoever in the NFL. We saw Corey Levin in the sixth round who only played 140 snaps for the Titans and in the NFL in general. And then Josh Carraway, Brad Seaton, and Kalfani Mohamed, none of which ever played more than

three total snaps in their NFL career. Other than the miss on all of the late round picks and the really bad pick of Taewon Taylor in the third round, Robinson did add four major contributors in Davis, Jackson, Smith, and Brown with this 2017 class. And if you need a major contributor to your morning, your workout, or your healthy lifestyle, you have to check out Built Bar. Built Bars are the best tasting protein bars ever. I've told you guys about some of my favorite flavors. The salted caramel chocolate, the peanut butter brownie, the banana nut bread is

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Titans fans, I hope those red markers did not go dry yesterday. Go ahead and pull those back out because it is time to hand out some draft grades for the 2017 draft class. Now that we've seen these players for three total seasons, seems like a good opportunity to go back and take a look at those picks and how they've panned out here. And we will, of course, go in the order that the picks came in and we will talk about each player. And then I will assign a grade to the overall draft process. It's not necessarily all about just the players. The Titans made some trades here and there and set themselves up for the future. So not as much so as the 2016 draft with the two extra picks. But still, you know, the Titans moved up and down the board and we need to draft not only

the picks of the players, but how they moved up and down the board and, you know, where they got those players. So we will take a look at how Robinson did as a whole in his second draft as Titans GM. So let's start with Corey Davis, the number five overall pick. And I talked about Corey Davis the most in our first segment because I feel that's what's most interesting about this 2017 draft class. So I'm not going to hammer home my point again. But as I mentioned, for the fifth overall pick, even though Corey Davis is a great teammate, he plays hard,

he does everything the team asks him, as far as we know, he's a great blocker, he shows good effort helping his teammates, and Mike Vrabel has echoed those sentiments that he's a great teammate. But at some point in time with the fifth overall pick in the draft you need more than just a great teammate and a hard worker you need somebody to produce out on the field and A.J. Brown has already you know taken that place as the number one most productive receiver on the team and I think for Corey Davis's perspective from Corey Davis's perspective that can't feel great. John Robinson declined the fifth-year option, and quite frankly, that tells us what we need

to know. So at this moment in time, I'm going to give the Corey Davis pick a C-. If you wanted me to be nice, I guess I could call it a C. He has been a contributor on this team for the last three seasons in both the playoff runs. He did perform in the playoffs, but it's not just about how much Corey Davis has produced and who he is as a player that gets a C-. It's that John Robinson used the fifth overall pick on Corey Davis. And if you remember at the time, Corey Davis didn't participate in the combine. He didn't do much in terms of a pro day

because he was coming back from injuries. There was a video that got released of him running routes and what that was supposed to be used by his agent, his team to make a point that he is healthy and ready to go. And while I don't think that the health issues have dampened Corey Davis's career that much or enough to really change how I feel about him as a player. So I don't blame John Robinson there. The injuries didn't come to be the problem, but he just hasn't been the explosive athlete that we thought that he was pre-draft and hasn't been productive enough to justify a first overall pick. So a C- for that. Moving into the Adoree Jackson pick. While Adoree was considered more of a raw athlete who needed to have technique work to become a full-time starter in the NFL. I feel like he's really progressed in his technique, and he was the best corner on the

Titans last year, and he's a valuable piece moving forward. His fifth-year option was accepted, so you know, we can take my evaluation for whatever it's worth, but John Robinson tells you how he feels about these two players with those two fifth-year options, so Adoree Jackson has been a solid player. I'm going to give that a B as a first round pick. There were some other options at cornerback that turned out to be better players that we will talk about later that were probably safer picks that had less development required, but less overall elite athleticism. So I'm going to give that a B, but we'll talk more about those what ifs and those other options that were available in our next segment when we do that what if segment so we will talk about that here later in the episode but I will give the Adoree Jackson pick a B

overall he hasn't been a superstar as a first round pick but he hasn't been a bust by any means a solid NFL starter was still some good upside ahead, a B for a Dory Jackson. Then we have Taewon Taylor. So I'm not going to crush the pick any more than I did in the first segment. I already made it very clear how I feel. It's not quite as bad as the Kevin Dodd pick, of course. But not only did John Robinson waste a pick on Taewon Taylor, but he traded up to do so with the Patriots. So that in fact, right there makes, makes it even worse. So I have to give this a D another player

for the Titans who, I mean, he got the Titans traded him somehow got a pick out of Taewon Taylor to Taewon Taylor to the Browns. Ands, and that's a great move from John Robinson's perspective to get something back for this terrible investment, but Taylor didn't do much with the Browns and is probably going to be out of the league forever now, so another player who, after he left the Titans earlier than his fourth season, never really got a shot in the NFL after that, and that's a pretty bad draft pick in my opinion.

The next pick, though, is a great one, and that's Jonu Smith. Here's one thing to keep in mind. I read his production in the first segment, 73 catches, 854 yards, eight touchdowns. Not a lot of production for three seasons, but Jonu didn't have the role that he's going to have now, so I think it's not as fair to evaluate that pick right now because Jonu hasn't really been given the opportunity that he needs to shine. But we are going to see this year. It's all on the table. He said it himself.

He's tied in one. So it's all on Jonu Smith to prove that he can be the type of player that everyone thinks he can from last year's performance where he really broke out. I'm going to give the Jonu Smith pick a B+. I think right now that looks like a very solid pick, and Jonu has been a productive role player for the Titans and now a productive starter, so he's got to continue that. I'll give a better evaluation on that particular pick probably next year after we see what Jonu does this year. The next pick

is one of my favorite picks of the entire John Robinson era. It's one of the best picks of his entire tenure, and that's Jayon Brown. The Titans traded up for Jayon Brown to 155 as well with the Eagles. 254 tackles. He's all over the field. He started out his rookie season only 45% of the snaps playing behind Wesley Woodyard. Then it increased to 81% of the snaps in 2018 as he became a starter. 75% last year as he did miss two games. Only played in 14 games, so that's why that was the way it was. But Jayon Brown's one of the best

pass coverage linebackers in the NFL, and John Robinson took a chance on an undersized guy who was a smart and productive player in college, and it has turned out, and I hope that Jayon Brown can be a part of this team for quite a long time. I'm going to give that pick an A-. It would be an A- if Jayon Brown had turned into a pro bowler of some kind, and while he's not that, he's still an above-average NFL starter. So an A- for a fifth-round undersized linebacker becoming a full-time NFL starter. The next four picks, quite honestly, it's just another year in a row of John Robinson completely wasting his sixth

and seventh round picks. Corey Levin played in 140 snaps in 2018 on offense for the Titans, but after that never played another snap in his career. He had different stints with other teams, two different teams on practice squads, but never really manifested any kind of career after that. Josh Carraway had two special team snaps in his entire career, floated around a couple other different teams. I believe the Giants and the Rams took a chance on him, but he never actually got on an NFL roster ever again. So I'm going to give both of those picks D's.

I mean, you take a chance on those guys there. At least they played some snaps in the NFL in some capacity. The next two picks, my gosh, Brad Seaton, the large 6'9 offensive tackle, never played a snap in the NFL, went and was on a practice squad or had a cup of coffee with the Buccaneers and the Browns but never saw a snap, never saw a career game whatsoever in the NFL. That's an F.

You're drafting people who aren't even NFL players at that point. Same thing with Kalfani Muhammad, the running back out of UCLA with the next pick. He spent some time with the Pats and the Broncos, but never actually made an NFL roster again after his time with the Titans. Played zero snaps in the NFL. Was a complete waste. That's an F as well.

Just a complete waste of a draft pick at that point. Not only is the guy not going to impact the Titans, but they didn't even play another snap ever. Or didn't play a snap ever in the NFL in those last two and never played another snap for another team with the first two, Corey Levin and Josh Carraway. So you take all of that into account that the back half of that draft is just complete waste. You got to hope to get some kind of productive player at least out of one of those picks and then it wouldn't be so bad. But overall, when you look at the draft in totality, John Robinson was aggressive with the picks that he had. He traded up twice with New England to get Tywon Taylor. That one hurts. I like the aggressiveness, but a bad pick there. We'll talk about more why that was so bad in our next talk in the What If segment.

But he also traded up with the Eagles to 155 to get Jayon. That's a great trade up. Perfect move. Targeting a guy. Made two trade backs in the sixth round to collect more seventh round picks. traded up with the Eagles to 155 to get Jay on that's a great trade up perfect move targeting a guy made two trade backs in the sixth round to collect more seventh round picks with the Giants and the Bengals but then completely wasted them on players who weren't really NFL players whatsoever so you take all of that into account Corey Davis at fifth overall being productive in three seasons but probably going to leave the Titans after next year now that his option was declined and not good value for a fifth pick. And then they're going to have Adoree Jackson

around, going to have Jonu Smith around, going to have Jayon Brown around, and they were all very productive in the last three seasons for the Titans in two playoff runs as well. So overall, you look at this draft class and the Titans at max are going to have Jonu, Jayon, and Adoree hang around. They're going to lose their fifth overall pick that wasn't worth it. They're going to lose the, they already lost the third round pick that they traded up for in Taylor, who only played 29 games in his NFL career. And then the last four picks of the class were absolute waste. So, I have to be

honest here I hate to say that I'm skewing awfully negative but this is a C draft at best and another kind of wasted opportunity for John Robinson if he had really hit in those first two drafts that we talked about yesterday and today the Titans may have been a Super Bowl team in 2019 or 2017, but he was unable to really hit a home run in those drafts. They're solid drafts that made the team into a contending roster, a competitive roster, but it could have been better. But John Robinson's first two seasons as a general manager, he's learning on the job. He's gaining experience. And the next few drafts, he really got some fantastic players and

made some great moves so we are going to continue breaking down the rest of these draft classes throughout the rest of the week make sure that you are subscribed so that you are getting those episodes as they come out but we have a little bit more to talk about about this 2017 class it is time to go into our what if segment and of course anytime you're looking at things with hindsight it's it's easy to act like you have it all figured out but I want to be fair here and just look at some logical what ifs a couple in the first round a couple in the third and then a you know one in the fifth and just say hey Robinson definitely missed and and what if the Titans would have gone this direction

instead so we'll talk about that next. Titans fans, it is time to ask yourself, what if? What if John Robinson had selected someone else with the draft selections that he had? What if he picked some other prospect in lieu of some other guys who he eventually did take that could have been more productive players and could have helped out the Titans a little bit more? Of course, like I mentioned throughout the show, hindsight is 20-20 and it's not fair to go back and say that he should have taken this guy or that guy in the moment with the Titans roster the way that it was.

The picks make sense, and I've acknowledged that, but it's only fair to go back and at least take a look at what could have been. So let's dive in with that, and of course, we are going to start with the fifth overall pick of Corey Davis. going to start with the fifth overall pick of Corey Davis. It's obvious that Corey Davis was a reach at that pick. That's not good enough value for the fifth overall pick, even though the Titans did need a wide receiver and some other players that got taken directly after who turned into much better players than Corey Davis. Ultimately, first off, Jamal Adams, safety, who went to the Jets. And there's an argument to be made that Adams is the best safety in the NFL at this moment in time the Titans had Jonathan Ciprian at strong safety to go along with Kevin Byard from the 2016 draft there's no reason that Ciprian should have prevented them from drafting Adams so at that moment in time Adams would have been a better pick than Corey Davis even with the need

at wide receiver for the Titans and then there was Christian McCaffrey. I know that the Titans had DeMarco Murray, but imagine if the Titans had Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry at this moment in time. They could use McCaffrey as a wide receiver in the slot, out of the backfield, have them both on the field together at the same time. It would be incredible. And then, of course, you have to mention the two quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

I think it's fair to give a pass there. And then, of course, you have to mention the two quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. I think it's fair to give a pass there. Once again, Marcus was going into his third season. It wasn't a great time to totally flip things on him and get a quarterback. While those guys are much better, they were still college prospects who weren't guaranteed at the time. It just makes your heart hurt. That's all. You can't really blame John Robinson for passing on quarterback but Marshawn Lattimore, Marlon Humphrey, Josh Allen the defensive lineman for the Redskins, Tredavious White the cornerback for the Bills I mean the combination that John

Robinson could have put together here rather than going with Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson. He could have done Christian McCaffrey and Tredavious White. Or you could flip that around. He could have went with Marshawn Lattimore with the fifth overall pick or Marlon Humphreys with the fifth overall pick and then followed that up with a Juju Smith-Schuster with the 18th pick. And Juju fell to the 62nd pick overall. So maybe that's not necessarily fair either.

But just saying, if you look at a wide receiver-cornerback combo that the Titans could have had other than Corey and Adoree, they could have had Marshawn Lattimore and Juju Smith-Schuster, which ultimately probably would have been a better combo. So once again, I know it's not necessarily fair to do that with hindsight, but I think that Corey Davis was a bit of a mystery at that time, as I mentioned in our first and second segment with the pre-draft process surrounding Corey Davis. He was a bit of a mystery, and John Robinson took a risk with that extra fifth round pick, and it didn't turn out. And now Corey Davis is probably going to leave the team after his fourth season.

So if it would have been a Jamal Adams or a Christian McCaffrey or a Marshawn Lattimore instead of Corey Davis, then ultimately that would have worked out better for the Titans, and they were less risky prospects at the time of the draft as well. And with Christian McCaffrey's ability to help in the receiving game, I don't see why he wasn't an option either I get why the pick for Corey Davis was there they were trying to go all in for Marcus get him a number one receiver but with the risk associated with Corey Davis due

to his pre-draft process I think it's fair to criticize that pick and say that the only what if here that that makes sense is to say you know a Christian McCaffrey or Jamal Adams or Marshawn Lattimore what if John Robinson would have gone with one of those three players instead then we move to the third round the pick of Taewon Taylor 72 overall here's two wide receivers who went after Taewon Taylor Chris Godwin and Kenny Galladay it's's inexcusable. The Taewon Taylor pick is inexcusable. It's like the Kevin Dodd pick. The guy wasn't even an NFL player, and if not for him being such a high pick and the Titans trading up for him, he would have never been on the roster as long as he was for two seasons anyway. He never would have played the 29 games. The Titans gave him so many opportunities,

and he was still dropping passes in the preseason leading up to his third season that got him traded to the Browns anyway. So Taewon Taylor, sorry, I know that triggers some people, but Taewon Taylor was given all the rope possible by the Titans organization and still wasn't able to climb it whatsoever. And that's a huge miss for John Robinson with a third-round pick that he traded up. He sacrificed other picks to trade up and get Taylor, and just a complete disaster of a pick there.

And as I mentioned in our last segment, I gave that a D, but Chris Godwin and Kenny Galladay being on the board at that pick and John Robinson passing on them in lieu of Taylor, it makes it hurt even more. So that's a what-if that really stings. And then finally uh George Kittle was taken in the fifth round of this draft after Johnnie Smith I love Johnnie Smith in the third round I like Johnnie but George Kittle guys so obviously like I mentioned yesterday situation and circumstance have so much to do with a player's outcome in his career so if you put George Kittle

on the Titans behind Delaney Walker who's to say he becomes what he is now but hey just pointing that out I mean those are things that that I'm sure keep certain general managers up at night and I want to make sure to point those out but that is going to do it for today's episode a total review of the 2017 draft class we are going to get you know more information on this draft class as this season, their fourth season plays out, and we are going to make sure to monitor that. And I'll be reviewing the class again next summer after we have more information. But I wanted to make sure that we broke this down now as we got a lot of good information on how the team feels about these

players with the fifth year options of Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson, but we are going to be back tomorrow with the 2018 draft class, and as we progress down the path, obviously the evaluation becomes a little murkier. It becomes a little less fair, but now is a perfect time with not much going on in the offseason to go back and take a look at things with a couple of years removed, so we're still going to keep going through to the 2019 NFL draft. So tomorrow will be 2018. Make sure that you guys tune into that. Make sure that you're subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform that you do stream your podcast. Now that you are done with today's episode of the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure that you

check out the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast. Never too early to get started on your fantasy football preparation. That is going to do it for me, though. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked On Titans.