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Michael Griffin This is a bit of a surprise on two fronts. It seemed the Titans would go with a receiver here. It also seemed that Griffin might be selected a bit lower in the first round. He should provide some solid help, especially in run support. He has good coverage skills, but he still has plenty to learn and doesn't always show the greatest instincts.
Chris Henry Henry was a California state sprint champion in high school. He played as a freshman in two games at Arizona, then got hurt. Never started until getting the call four times last season. You're betting on potential here. He was impressive in workouts, but there's not a lot of game tape on him. High risk, high reward. If everything works out, Tennessee can hit a home run here.
Paul Williams He's 6-1 1/4, 205 and he ran a 4.44. He had only 21 catches last season (his team had no QB and he has injured). His brother was a first-round pick with Buffalo.
Leroy Harris Harris, if he were anything but a center, would have gone a round earlier. This is a very, very solid player. This is a good choice right here; he could play in the NFL for a long time.
Chris Davis Davis (5-10 1/4, 181; 4.50) is a real good route runner who had good but not great production. He will be a very dependable receiver for the Titans, but never a No. 1 receiver.
Antonio Johnson A former junior-college player with only five starts at Mississippi State. But in that time, he showed the ability to get upfield and be a one-gap penetrator. He had five sacks and seven tackles for loss. He probably shouldn’t have gone pro early. But with a team with a four-man front, he will find his way into the rotation.
Joel Filani I picked him for the Playboy All-American team. His head coach, Mike Leach, thinks he can be a really good player in the NFL. He’s a possession type of receiver -- think of the way Michael Irvin caught those slants and ran with them. He has 4.57 speed and had 17 bench presses. He had 91 catches last year and scored 13 touchdowns.
Jacob Ford The Titans might use this guy as linebacker with his 4.64 speed. He can rush the passer. He’s a big Robert Mathis.
Ryan Smith He should have stayed in school. He’s kind of an undersized corner (5-10, 168) who has 4.51 speed. He has good cover skills, but he has to bulk up so he can play the run.
Michael Otto He started more games at Purdue than any other OLs in history. He's 6-5, 308 and ran 5.16. He played LT there but I don't think he'll be LT in NFL. However, any time you can start that many games tells us you're pretty good.
With all that now said,
I think we rank 6.5/10 this year because we didn't get a star player from the NCAA that would instantly make an impact, hands down, without further coaching or more diverse development - maybe with the exception of Michael Griffin.
Griffin will certainly produce for us I believe and could fill in some holes for us from time to time and be a heavy hitter that we really need to improve our defense.
The Chris Henry pick could make Jeff Fisher and Mike Reinfeldt look like a genius or make us re-evaluate how we select our running-back class. Henry has boom or bust written all over him. I have heard and seen that is he is a workhorse as it relates to practicing and obviously at the combine - but can that produced-speed and raw ability translate into the NFL?
Paul Williams looks to be another boom or bust - again never a #1 receiver. High on potential and low on results. I just hope we don't have another Tyrone Calico in the making on our hands.
Leroy Harris is a good pick - it never hurts to improve your offensive line for the future - and I think this was a solid move all in all.
Chris Davis may compete for a #2/#3 position in our wide receiver corp of lucky or could be cut before the season starts. I haven't heard much on him other than some of the scouting reports. They say he is pretty capable of being a long-term fixture for most teams and hopefully he pans out.
I can't really speak to the other players because I'm not nearly familiar enough with them and haven't done enough studying to see where they fall in the big picture. |
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