Avery Williamson

Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson As a reported visitor whose three game videos I’d already watched, I had a reasonably informed take on Avery Williamson when I wrote up his selection. In watching his games in more detail, I could think more seriously about his specific traits and his potential role on the team (though I still have more Ray Horton ILB watching to do in this area). Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson My basic book on him remains the same, a tackling machine for Kentucky but a box player whose pass defense ability beyond underneath zones is an open question. Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson The more careful viewing showed some encouraging signs for his potential as a strong inside linebacker than I’d seen the first time-taking on a fullback and stuffing the play here, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson avoiding the second level block of the Louisville lineman there-but also some of the plays I wondered about in the NFL, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson like failing to disengage from that Vandy wide receiver (or was he a tight end?) on that screen or some aggressive pursuit angles that opened up cutback lanes for touchdowns or surprising third down conversions. Really, though, my book is the same as it was, and everybody’s else is the same as him. He’s a 34 inside linebacker, so he’s in the right spot. He’ll primarily be a box defender in the NFL. Greg Cosell thought he had plus athleticism and movement, though from the context I think that was in the context of 34 stacked inside linebackers as opposed to, say, Zach Brown athleticism and movement. He can shoot gaps, though one play against Louisville stood out to me as he shot the weakside gap and didn’t make the play. At the same time, he wasn’t Colin McCarthy, heedlessly gap-shooting regardless of whether it made any sense to do so. He went about where he should have been in the draft; the Titans reportedly considered him in the fourth round, which would have seemed a tad early (though if Preston Brown can go in the third round, who knows). People seem to say nice things about him-a team captain like every other Titans draft pick, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson a player who grew up a Titans fan in Milan, TN, Ruston Webster indicated the scouts really liked him and he was happy to draft him (an accolade I didn’t have noted as applying to any other draft pick this year, not to say he wasn’t similarly glad to take them). The most important thing about Williamson is he gives the Titans a different type of linebacker, one they didn’t have on their current roster. Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson Whatever their more specific strengths and weaknesses, Zach Brown, Zaviar Gooden, Colin McCarthy, and Wesley Woodyard are all primarily space players who need to be protected and shouldn’t be expected to have success if they have to consistently take on and fight through defenders. Moving to a 3-4 defense, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson even the Ray Horton one-gap version of it, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson the Titans needed a more physical inside linebacker. Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson Williamson will probably only play situationally as a rookie, though he should be a core special teams player (another consensus point is that he should be a good one). Other things, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson like improved play recognition, better pass coverage drops, a more consistent job of taking on and defeating blocks, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson may or may not come in time. As a fifth-rounder on a team that seems to not value their post-fourth-round picks, even if he remains more or less what he is, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson he’ll have a role on the team. Frankly, given that he is a fifth round pick, his likely role makes him a reasonable value, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson and anything else will be a bonus, Tennessee Titans Avery Williamson.

Daquan Jones in the Tennessee Titans

Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones Watching DaQuan Jones, I wondered, is he more than just a big guy on the defensive line? If he was, Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones how would I tell? Scouting college players is all about projection of player traits to the next level. I’m comfortable with uncertainty in this process; that’s what my post on Bishop Sankey a couple days ago was all about. Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones With Sankey, though, I had my ideas of what I was seeing, and could reasonably specify what issues separated Sankey the fifth-round runner I thought I saw from Sankey the second-round prospect the Titans saw. Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones In my review of Jones, though, it occurred to me that I couldn’t tell you with any detail or confidence why I thought he was a second-round pick or why I thought he was a fifth-round pick. Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones What I can tell is what I saw, and read, and heard. My post when the Titans drafted him was brief, for the simple reason that I had hardly noticed his presence-he wasn’t a reported visitor, wasn’t so highly rated I watched him for general knowledge, hadn’t caught my eye for any other reason, and played on a Penn State football team I hadn’t found interesting enough to watch enough to develop an opinion on any of their defensive linemen. Thus, an initial impression of he’s big (nearly 6’4, 322 pounds). Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones After reviewing those five games, that was a pretty good initial impression. Jones’ defining NFL trait seems likely to be his size. Of course, even among defensive linemen there are gradients of size and bigness. Jones is not “just” a big body to stick in the middle of the line-John Jenkins of Georgia, who went to the Saints in the third round in 2013, or ex-Vol Daniel McCullers, who went to the Steelers in the sixth round this year, are of a different stripe. Jones is more conventionally (by NFL standards) big and correspondingly more mobile. His game, though, struck me as a pretty direct one. He uses that bulk and strength to stand his ground and go forward. It’s a game that worked well at times (Syracuse’s guards will be glad they won’t see him again), less well at others (quiet performance against Ohio State). The first question is, how much more is he than that? His high school coach, Bill Spalik, in a radio interview noted he had good lateral speed for a player of his size. That showed up at some times, but on the whole I didn’t think he was more than just a line of scrimmage player. As Spalik noted, he’s not going to run many plays down from the backside, or even necessarily in the backfield as he’s shooting a backside gap. New defensive coordinator Ray Horton praised the Titans defense he inherited for having big guys that run; that’s definitely an aspect of Jones’ games that will have to be more energetic in the NFL, as he wasn’t an aggressive downfield pursuit player in the games I watched (to be fair, (a) neither was J.J. Watt in 2012 and (b) given Horton’s apparent rotational philosophy, Jones won’t be playing as many snaps and won’t have to conserve energy that way). He has a couple pass rush moves, but not many of them, and didn’t seem like a hard player to prepare for technically (this is true of almost all college defensive linemen). What else? One thing that I’m sure attracted the Titans is he has experience lining up all over the place. He played a lot of 3-tech his senior season, but also spent time at 1-tech, as well as at 5-tech in PSU’s 3-man units. Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones As a reminder, that’s experience at the three alignments of a Ray Horton defensive line. He’s overcome some familial adversity that seems to deeply motivate him (common for NFL players, and a subject significantly larger than my blogging here, let alone just this post). Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones A lot of the scouting reports I read had him as a likely Day 2 pick, Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones and Spalik indicated there was some expectation he’d go on Day 2; I didn’t come up with a great explanation for why, Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones aside from (a) he’s primarily a run-stopper, not a pass-rusher, and (b) week to week consistency may not have been great. Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones I wondered while watching him if he might be a AAAA player like Karl Klug, but that was not a concern others had. In terms of his on-the-field impact, Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones my thought while watching him was the natural comparison would be to Antonio Johnson and that his experience playing every line spot would make him a useful reserve who plays a modest amount at each spot-maybe Ahtyba Rubin last year (whom I noted played both DE and NT), Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones but playing more like 25% of the snaps than Rubin’s team-leading 54%. I still need to spend more time thinking about just how Horton might rotate his DL, though, but that seems like it might be a decent approximation Tennessee Titans Daquan Jones.

Jake Locker change better

Tennessee Titans We've covered the Tennessee Titans QB Jake Locker questions pretty thoroughly in this space. Tennessee Titans And we’ll hit them over and over once training camp starts, looking for any tidbits that offer any new degree of answers. Tennessee Titans In Mike Sando’s thorough run-through that places NFL quarterbacks into tiers based on his conversations with 26 people in the know including general managers, former GMs, evaluators, coordinators and coaches, Tennessee Titans Locker ranked 31st, ahead of only the Jets' Geno Smith. Tennessee Titans "We'll see," a former GM said. Tennessee Titans "Guys like Locker can be run-around guys. To me, Jake's die has been cast." His die has been cast. In other words, we’ve seen what he is a guy who’s a great teammate and worker who can flash, but isn’t always accurate or poised, can try to do too much and tends to get hurt. Tennessee Titans The Titans don’t think his die has been cast, they think he can still blossom into a franchise guy. So what can change him? Tennessee Titans The coaches and scheme: Coach Ken Whisenhunt is regarded as a quarterback guru, but that may be a bit inaccurate. Tennessee Titans Plenty of offensive coaches could have fared well guiding Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner and Philip Rivers, right? Whisenhunt failed to help the Cardinals find and develop a replacement for Warner in his one big test of development. Tennessee Titans He is, however, a very good schemer and playcaller. Perhaps he, offensive coordinator Jason Michael and quarterback coach John McNulty can pull stuff out of Locker we haven’t seen and help him blossom. Health: Say Locker's luck changes and he stays healthy and gives the Titans 16 games. He's not a guy who lacks confidence when you speak with him, but he does seem to get swallowed up by the moment sometimes. Perhaps he can put together a stretch like he did at the start of 2013 when he was getting progressively better. If it’s uninterrupted by an injury, his confidence can grow and a switch can flip. Tennessee Titans The running game: Tennessee Titans The Titans expect to run the ball better without Chris Johnson getting the bulk of their carries. Bishop Sankey is likely the primary back, but they’ve got better situational ability with a group. Dexter McCluster offers a new dimension as a pass-catching back, and Sankey is good at running routes, too. A healthy Shonn Greene can covert short-yardage situations. Tennessee Titans Bob Bostad is the new coach of an underachieving offensive line that now has starting caliber players, which means the group should improve. That should translate into better protection and a better run game, Tennessee Titans two things that can alleviate pressure from Locker. The defense: Coordinator Ray Horton is converting the Titans to a 3-4. If the Titans can rush the passer the way they believe, they can stall more drives and force more turnovers. If the offense gets the ball back more often and with better field position Tennessee Titans an area a good crop of return men can help as well Tennessee Titans things will get easier for the quarterback. Tennessee Titans Most of this, of course, is about making the things around Locker better, so that Locker can be better. Final thoughts ... Tennessee Titans In today's NFL you need more A than B. Tennessee Titans If the Locker die is cast, we’re talking too much about B. Tennessee Titans