Draft Coverage

What bothers me more than them drastically reaching in the past 2 drafts is that they have the audacity to scoff and dismiss the overwhelming criticism from EVERYONE...fans, draft experts (former scouts, GM's, star NFL players, etc). Fine dismiss criticism...WHEN YOU HAVE A TRACK RECORD THAT BACKS UP YOUR POSITION!!!
The facts and statistics clearly reveal that you have none! This team has had a glaring need for at least one play-making WR for years and years! And true to form, they just go into denial-mode. Whether a 1st Rd WR is a risky prospect or not...IT'S FAR MORE RISKY TO EXPECT TO FIND ONE IN THE LATER ROUNDS!!! Want proof? Look at your own track record, again.
Good grief, Fisher! When will you ever wake up and treat this position with the urgency it so desperately needs. Your approach hasn't paid off a single time in your entire tenure!!! And yet you poke fun at those "Outside the staff" for pointing this out. The cold hard, ruthless facts show that, in reality, everybody get's it...but you. Having an optimistic view of your current roster isn't taking stern measures to rectify a LONG-STANDING weakness. Who doesn't want value...but sometimes, you have to pay the piper to get what you need. The Titans staff has stubbornly refused to do so, and it has cost us dearly.

1) You have the most talented player remaining on the board drift right up under your nose (R. Mendenhall...who should have been gone at 15)...a true 3-down feature back (with 4.4 speed)...would've made L.White a nice trading prospect...and would've taken the Titans running game to a whole 'nother level (power, speed, vision, and elusive). What do you do? SIT ON YOUR HANDS!!!You could've easily called Jerry Jones and offered him the 4th RD pick he gave us for Pacman, and if necessary, the 6th rd he would owe us next year...for the 22nd pick. Getting Mendenhall was well worth a 4th RD pick to move up 2 spots!!! Then you'd have a TRUE franchise RB to go with a Franchise QB (VY). Also, you don't have to worry about L. White's weight problem and can use him as a valuable trading piece to shore up or upgrade other positions of need...like WR! How novel?

As for getting a speed guy, Mendenhall gives you explosive speed at 4.4, so no need for a "change of pace" guy!!! You could have gotten your "Speed Guy" in Dexter Jackson later in the draft as both a WR and kick/punt return specialist. If Chris Henry pans out, there you have two RB's with both size and speed...a luxury few if any teams have. If Mendenhall doesn't drift so close to us at 24, I'm with you on Chris Johnson. I doubt he would be around much longer afterward. But Mendenhall is everything you want in a RB, and he proved himself at the highest level in college...unlike Chris Henry.

2)OK...so, we lost a golden opportunity to get Mendenhall and the franchise RB we have been chasing after since Eddie George...Chris Johnson helped make up for that to some degree...although, it's as a 3rd down back, when you could have easily moved to get an EVERY down back. Nevertheless, letting other teams in front of us make a run on WR's in the 2nd Rd, without us at least moving up a few spots to get Sweed is just downright inexcusable...especially when you waste a 5th on a relatively unheard-of DE later in the 4th. I noticed that Fisher stated "other teams called your AFTERWARD" and said they were about to pick him....Yeah, R-I-G-H-T!!! Sure they were. Sweed will be a No.1 WR for the Steelers within 2-3yrs, just you watch.
Is it because you are afraid of paying the going rate for a top tier WR? A number of teams have been willing and it seems to work out for them. Honestly, where would the Patriots have been last year without Moss, or the Giants without Burress? Neither team makes it to the Superbowl without their game-changing contributions.

Titans get a D grade when you look at what they passed up in relation to what they got. Chris Johnson was a B+, Stevens a B- (since they didn't make any previous trades they could have cheaply moved up in the 3rd to get Brad Cottam who is almost 6'8" and runs a 4.63 at TE...an excellent blocking TE with great hands and gives the Titans what they desperately need...another EXTREMELY TALL red-zone weapon).
Regardless of all of this, the mere fact that, once again, they waited until the second day to address such a desparate need shows you how inept this staff really is...or maybe they are just too cheap and afraid to pay a top WR what they are worth. Albert Haynesworth is worth 2 DL and they are too cheap to pay him what he's OBVIOUSLY worth. I haven't seen a more dominating DL than he is and for them to screw around and risk losing him speaks volumes about this bunch.

I saw Fisher's comments about how people should judge a draft 4 years later. I agree you cannot tell how good of a pick it is until they actually play a game in the NFL, but if this team takes a step backwards this year and misses the playoffs Jeff Fisher and staff will not be around that long.

As for Fisher being positive after the draft...what team isn't going to be positive about thier own picks. Like he is going to come on after the draft and say, "Our draft was horrible and we are not confident in our picks this year."

I hope I and what seems like the rest of the world is wrong about the Titans picks, but I highly doubt we are. I guess like Fisher said, we will have to wait until four years from now to judge this draft. The question is, will he still be here?

I really do like the Johnson pick... just not in the first round. Every year we try to get the blockbuster hidden gem from some unknown small school, throw them all against a wall and see what sticks. We're not aggresive in the daft... instead of going to get a player that we want, we sit back and take whats left. We need to get rid of the " Quantity " instead of " Qualitiy " mindset with a roster full of second tier, average, mid-level players. That being said... I do like how the Titans' go about FA and agree thats how it should be done, but if your not going to be big players in FA, you have to be aggresive in the draft.

I think the main issue most folks have is that they think a WR in this draft would solve all of the Titans problems. None of the WR in this draft would have made a hill of beans difference for the 2008 team.

Have any of you guys actually seen any of these picks in person? Seen them play? Seen them even run? I doubt Mel Kiper even has seen most of these guys play. Watching on TV isn't even that good of indication. Washburn doesn't appear to be a sucker on talent.

1) Titans don't need another #2 receiver. Looks like there were not any #1 receivers in this draft. If there was, why were zero picked in 1st round. The best indication of value on WR's this year is that the teams that have to pay 1st round money didn't think any were worth 1st round money.
2) We needed DL help. Does anyone remember how terrible we were in run defense with Albert out. (Laboy and Odom were terrible against the run) If one of these guys hits we did ok there.
3) We need TE blocking for Fisher Ball.
4) LB and CB depth make sense.
5) getting someone with the speed of Johnson is a great thing. Dinger will get him involved and some.


Doesn't look like a homerun of a draft by any means but it was not as bad as everyone thinks...just because we didn't get a WR in an earlier round.

Any of you folks want to sell me your tickets or psl's just ask...I'll take them off of your whiny butts.

Brian, I am also displeased with our draft picks for 2008. I don't understand what Fisher and Reinfeldt were thinking about. They had the chance to pick a WR at #24. Instead they pick a RB that is undersized at best. Maybe they'll convert him to WR I don't know.The second round pick was just as bad in my opinion a classic tweener too slow to be a DE and too small to be a DT. The third round pick was not the greatest however we could use some depth at TE. The worst pick came in the fourth round when they traded two picks to Washington for a undersized DE out of all places Winston Salem State. After that pick I gave The Titans a big fat "F". I only wish I could give a lower grade like an "H" or a "J".

Since noone else picked a WR from 25-32, it would have been a big stretch to pick a WR at 24. Could have traded into 2nd round the 24 pick and move down and still be the 1st to pick a WR

I don't think there was a number one receiver in this draft but if you are going to give away picks to draft a kid you could have signed as a free agent then you might as well throw one of those wide outs against the wall and see if they stick.

I do like the Johnson pick, The only other option was to trade down in my opinion. #24 was a horrible spot for us with Dallas and Pittsburgh sitting right before us and looking at the same positions we were.

Brian, great article! It's very refreshing to know that someone affiliated with the Titans is sharing our pain and is actually not afraid to criticize the organization. Sorry if I repeat what someone has said earlier in this post or if it seems like I expect too much from this team, but I have a few comments:

First, I had heard a statement from someone in the Titans front office that was along the lines of: we won't draft another guy (character-wise) like Pacman. After hearing that and now reading about what Stanford Keglar has reportedly done within the last month, I think someone definitely needs to provide an answer for why this pick was made. Assault, false informing, and disorderly conduct all in 1 night have gotten this guy well on his way to being the next Pacman if he manages to stay around Nashville that long (which, again, will make us and Cincinnati the "Jailblazers" of the NFL again). I would like to believe this guy can straighten up and be productive here, and maybe he will be. A brief history during which I believed in Pacman tells me otherwise though (I actually defended him for a few weeks. Embarrassing now, I know). On top of these seemingly unimportant character issues of his, he obviously doesn't have the talent to come in and be a difference maker (hence the #134 pick we used on him), unless he turns out to be a huge surprise.

I'm honestly thinking Reinfeldt could be the wrong man for the job. Before you jump on me for "not giving him time," here's whats happened since he got here: big-name signings have been Kearse (like that because we got him at a bargain price, if he can regain his old form) Jake Scott (like this too; I think he'll pretty much just replace Jacob Bell as a solid OL) and McCareins (this was a pathetic attempt if they expect him to somehow be our #1 or even #2 guy). Key losses: Jacob Bell, Antwan Odom, Travis LaBoy, Randy Starks. I can understand signing Scott while letting Bell and Starks go, what I can't understand is why we didn't at least make a competitive offer to either of the DE's (from what I read, we never made them an offer in the neighborhood of what they ended up getting paid). Is his reasoning that Vanden Bosch and Haynesworth (who's also unhappy over not getting re-signed to a huge deal and could be gone by 2009) can get consistent pressure on teams like Indy with them being the only proven presence on the line? I don't understand.

On top of the free agency casualties, we've been ranked towards the bottom of the draft rankings the past 2 years. It can even be argued that we'd be very lucky to get 2 or 3 good players from a single draft, like Floyd Reese seemed to accomplish most years. We already had 2 second-round picks at running back on our roster and not a single receiver that could even be a solid #2 guy almost anywhere else, so of course, we make the most logical decision to draft a running back from East Carolina in the first round, followed by a DE from Eastern Michigan who was called "THE reach of the second round" by one analyst during the second round. Titans management: are you kidding me??? I honestly thought those 2 first picks were a joke until I woke up Sunday morning and convinced myself that the draft on Saturday wasn't all a crazy dream, it had actually happened, and we had shot ourself in the foot once again.

Sorry for such a long post, but if anyone sees a guy running a 4.3 forty in a park, while running from the cops, or anywhere else in the vicinity of a D-II or D-III college, go ahead and inform them that they're a "workout warrior" and will have a contract with the Titans by next April. It doesn't even matter if he never was a starter in college, or if he went to a school you thought could possibly be imaginary and played powerhouse football programs such as UNC, Houston, UTEP and Marshall. You can already tell how great that Chris Henry pick is working out by the way we just reached up 10 spots and drafted a guy very similar to him (very fast and very unproven in big game roles against legitimate competition). Sorry for the sarcastic remarks also, but I hope you understand that all we're doing now is covering up the perceived mistake we made on reaching up 10-20 spots for Chris Henry by possibly making a much larger one, this time on a pick that could have been used in much much much better ways than on another quick RB.

Thanks for listening to my rant, I'm just another frustrated and disappointed Titans fan that's tired of what has been happening with this franchise since we cut all those veteran guys after the 2003 season (Mason, Rolle, Carter specifically). Message to anybody who cares: You can't build a successful football team around so-called "athletes" or "workout warriors" that run a 4.2 or a 4.3 and have never had any major accomplishments on a surface other than that of the combine turf. Draft football players, guys who love to play football and actually show up, give it everything they have and possess that killer instinct to do whatever it takes to win. Where did guys like McNair, Lorenzo Neal, and Bruce Matthews go? Unfortunately, we seem to be having a very hard time finding anyone (other than Keith Bulluck) even close to these guy's level.

I agree that we lack the toughness that this team used to be all about. When we lost McNair it made it a lot easier to sit when you are a little nicked up. McNair would play with his arm stapled to his body and it made it impossible for guys who weren't wheeled into the stadium to say they were too hurt to play. The truth is that we are not a high octane offense and most likely won't be anytime soon. We have always been either bad or over-achievers on the offensive side of the ball. Our defense was solid enough to get us 10 wins with an absolutely atrocious offense that can't possibly be that bad this year. It will take everything the team has to get a playoff spot and it will all come down to winning the close games. If we can win the games decided by 3 points or less then we will be playing in the post season.

Chris Johnson will score 3 TDs on kickoff returns this season. Call me crazy! Go ahead, call me crazy!

I would really like to believe that...I'm really hoping his receiving skills are even better than what I've been hearing, and in that case, this would be a solid pick. The only reason I have to be skeptical is I remember hearing alot of the same things about Chris Henry as I heard on draft day this year. I'm worried he's too much like Chris Henry (where his speed alone can't get him past the faster NFL secondaries) and I really think that lack of down-field threats will lead to everyone stacking the line up and committing to stopping the run. In that case, I don't think Vince is far enough along yet to be able to beat a team with his arm when the run is completely stopped up (AND, he doesn't have the weapons he needs anyways).

This is off-topic, but speaking of McNair...what's the likelihood that he will sign a one-day contract and retire as a Titan? I'm at school in Knoxville now, and the Titans coverage is pretty bad everywhere in East Tennessee, so sorry if he did sign a one-day deal and I just didn't hear about it. I know the incident with him being locked out of the training facility a couple of years ago caused a rift between him and the organization. I know it's only a symbolic thing, but I think it'd be a shame to see Steve retire as anything other than a Titan (and especially retire as a Raven!)

I honestly have no idea how McNair feels about the way he was ousted from Nashville but he seems to have a lot of pride in everything that he does and as sad as it is he probably has no problems going into retirement or the Hall of Fame as a Baltimore Raven.

I have said from day one that Chris Henry made no sense. He never did anything as a player on any level. He is just fast.