This year it looks very promising as there is a deep class of edge players who have value around our pick. Obviously in hindsight you could argue anyone besides Wilson could have been a better pick last year. Unfortunate our 2nd and 3rd round picks were hurt a big part of the year.
Picking in the draft isn't like going to Walmart. You don't take a guy just because there is a need. I also give JRob a huge amount of credit for paying to keep Kelly and even with Lewan going down Sambrailo and Quiz filled in pretty well (Henry ran for 2000 despite a significant drop in talent at both OT spots from a year ago). Those are the kind of things that get overlooked. Add in David Long filling in for Brown and JRob doesn't get enough credit for taking both of those guys in the draft. Lot of value where he got them.
Now Clowney and Beasley were risky. That is why they only got one year deals. Those of us who argued about Clowney (low production and injury) were berated by those who insisted the guy was a stud and you can't look at sack numbers. Well, Clowney didn't get many sacks nor did he help the defense much in other ways and he got hurt. Reviewing the FA pool and what players actually were productive there really wasn't much to choose from.
Still, the draft is a crap shoot and we have Nate Orchard on our team just to prove that point. 2nd round pick who had 18.5 sacks his Sr. year at Utah and has 6 career sacks in 6 seasons and 3 of those came in his rookie season. I'm actually happy we don't have a bunch of huge gaps to fill but any team is going to suffer when you have the injuries we had.
Picking in the draft isn't like going to Walmart. You don't take a guy just because there is a need. I also give JRob a huge amount of credit for paying to keep Kelly and even with Lewan going down Sambrailo and Quiz filled in pretty well (Henry ran for 2000 despite a significant drop in talent at both OT spots from a year ago). Those are the kind of things that get overlooked. Add in David Long filling in for Brown and JRob doesn't get enough credit for taking both of those guys in the draft. Lot of value where he got them.
Now Clowney and Beasley were risky. That is why they only got one year deals. Those of us who argued about Clowney (low production and injury) were berated by those who insisted the guy was a stud and you can't look at sack numbers. Well, Clowney didn't get many sacks nor did he help the defense much in other ways and he got hurt. Reviewing the FA pool and what players actually were productive there really wasn't much to choose from.
Still, the draft is a crap shoot and we have Nate Orchard on our team just to prove that point. 2nd round pick who had 18.5 sacks his Sr. year at Utah and has 6 career sacks in 6 seasons and 3 of those came in his rookie season. I'm actually happy we don't have a bunch of huge gaps to fill but any team is going to suffer when you have the injuries we had.
Id be keen to see that chart with those figures split between - drafted by the team, acquired in free agency, and acquired via trade.
I'm not trying to paint this last offseason as a success, it wasn't. But, overall jrob has done better than most other NFL gms. I still think this last draft wasn't that bad outside the 1st pick, time will tell, but evans, fulton and the dlineman (idk how to spell his name) will contribute to this team next season
We have a good team now when compared to 5 or 6 years ago. Its harder for a draft pick to come in and become a starter, or even a rotational guy because there are good players ahead of them at many positions. It makes sense that it would take more time to know if a draft pick will pay off under these circumstances. Good problem to have.
Having said that, we have some holes to fill due to some high picks that crashed and burned, and FA signings that didn't work. I hope Robinson makes some better decisions on Tackle and Edge this year. Would hate to see our lineup weakness grow worse each year.
Having said that, we have some holes to fill due to some high picks that crashed and burned, and FA signings that didn't work. I hope Robinson makes some better decisions on Tackle and Edge this year. Would hate to see our lineup weakness grow worse each year.
this would suggest JR is doing just fine
NFL Team Spending In Free Agency | Over the Cap
only 8 teams doing better win/loss wise in FA since 2017
NFL Team Spending In Free Agency | Over the Cap
only 8 teams doing better win/loss wise in FA since 2017
Nate Davis actually got multiple All Pro votes too!
Tier Tart and Westbrook-Ikhine looked like solid contributors too.
Author suggested that their data supported that “bad” teams spent more in free agency that year. Don’t know how directly applies to us.
I think in time Westbrook-Ikhine can be solid. He definitely showed flashes.
We can use All Pro selections if you’d like but you aren’t going to like those facts either.
He’s also delivered a deep playoff run for us. If winning a SB is the only thing that makes someone great then LOL. We all want a SB but it might be the hardest trophy to win in all of sports.
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Here’s an interesting factoid, Westbrook-Ikhine had the best run blocking grade on the whole team (Brewer was second). At 84.3 run blocking grade on 173 snaps, Westbrook-Ikhine rated 9th in the league among WRs.
Lewan and Tannehill are the only Titans not drafted by JRob.
Russell Dean Pees left this team as the DC in 2019 and now he's the DC for the Falcons. How did our GM let that happen? I think Pees made our defensive talent look a lot better than what they were! We have to draft better players and that's on JR.
Pees retired from the Ravens first. He clearly is unsure from year to year what he wants. I can’t blame Vrabel for not wanting someone who can not commit to the team. Bowen? Well, we all are uncertain about him as well. We do need a more thoughtful approach to FA and more drafts like 2019 and less like 2020. On the clock? I’d rather have him on the phone. Calling good players to join our team.
From all accounts Bowen was doing it last year, and the results were terrible. Yes we had some player issues, but there was plenty of coaching issues. Playing 10 yards and farther, off the wr's. When we were not getting any pressure not blitzing. Pees clearly has a better feel for defensive play calling and masking our weakness. We need an overall to talent on defense, players and coaching, lets hope we get 50 percent of that. It appears more of the same with coaching.
The defense wasn’t that much better under Pees wind and the stats prove that. Talent matters. When you don’t have much it doesn’t matter who is coaching.
You think the Chiefs win a Super Bowl with Mariota at QB? IF it’s coaching why didn’t the Patriots end up in the SB again?
Bowen may suck, I’m not defending him. But brushing off the lack of talent and the injuries of last season is obtuse and silly. Having talent matters.
This whole argument about playing 10 yards off a WRs is BS. That’s call off man coverage and most MFL teams deploy it. It today’s league they take away the deep ball and concede the short pass. The Titans are forced to play off coverage because of the lack of speed on defense ( talent ) on defense. IMHO it boils down to 2 things. Lack of practice or coaching time due to COVID and a pass rush. If you have a pass rush you don’t need to worry as much about the deep ball because the QB just doesn’t have time and the DBs can play more man or press coverage.
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Yeah in the last 5 years. Maybe Kern if he made one but I can’t remember if he did or not.
But JRob extended all those guys and traded a 4th for Tannehill so he should still get some credit.
I agree with most of your post. However, we did seem to play farther off wr than most teams. Case in point was the Pittsburgh game, Big Ben killed us ( as many teams did) with slants and quick screens to wr. The second half we did better because we blitzed and tightened that up at least some. The Browns game we played off and just let Baker do what he wanted. I do believe the defense was better under Pees we were ranked 12th in the nfl in 2019 giving 20.7 points per game. This year 2020 we gave up nearly 31 points a game and nearly last against the pass, and last in sacks. I do agree players and injury played a part but the defense was better under Pees to me and by the stats.
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