The Tennessee Titans need help on their defensive line. Specifically, they need some serious juice at edge rusher. All draft season long, it's been a a top-3 position of need. Luckily for them, this year's crop of trench players on defense is as deep as we've seen in recent memory. 15 of the top 75 players on the Consensus Big Board are EDGE's. With the 35th overall pick, the top edge to fall out of Round 1 has been a popular mock draft decision for the Titans.
But April is all about reading the tea leaves, and the Titans are hinting pretty strongly at the idea that they're just as focus on the interior defensive line as they are on their EDGE deficiencies. 20 of the Titans 30 visits have been reported on at the time of this article, and 4 of them have been used on interior defensive linemen.
So far, we know that the Titans have met with Toledo DL Darius Alexander, South Carolina DL TJ Sanders, Tennessee DL Omar Norman-Lott, and Florida DL Cam'Ron Jackson. Those four are listed as the 48th, 65th, 83rd, and 150th players on the Consensus Big Board respectively.
Not only does the focus on this range of the draft raise eyebrows because of the Titans current lack of a Third Round pick, but it's also curious considering their current roster situation. Could they make a trade that results in them being able to take a DL later on Day 2? Could they stay put and use their only top-100 pick not named Cam Ward on an interior lineman? Their allocation of pre-draft resources makes it seem like a real possibility.
It's not unheard of for teams to decide to double-down on reinforcing existing strengths in the draft. Having one or two position groups that you can hang your hat on and gameplan around is a good strategy. But usually we think of that being a privilege for when you at least don't have flashing red warning lights elsewhere on that side of the ball. The Titans have Jeffery Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat on the inside already. Could they use some depth? Sure. But they wouldn't use a top-100 pick on a DL they expected to be a rotational depth player for long.
And so, it's impossible not to at least wonder what this could theoretically mean about Jeffery Simmons' future with the team. My understanding in February was that he is the one player on this team they had practically no interest in moving. But things change quickly in the NFL, and sometimes decisions about stars aren't entirely in the hands of a front office, despite how they may posture about it.
Do I think Simmons could be on the move based on how things are developing? Not really, not yet at least. But my level of intrigue is admittedly higher than it was a month ago. At the end of the day, there are about as many stud DL prospects in this class as there are stud EDGE prospects. If the Titans take one on Day 2, it may raise a bunch of questions about their roster vision, but it's liable to be a player who is more than worthy of the selection.
