Robert Saleh’s biggest pass rush problem might already be solved by a free agent signing nobody is giving the Titans enough credit for
The Titans need a speed rusher to complete Robert Saleh’s four man pass rush… but is he already on the roster? The Athletic Football Show made an argument for why Jacob Martin deserves more respect.
I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say it: I do not know that Jacob Martin is the answer to Robert Saleh’s final DL question. But there is an argument to be made that I am, in fact, wrong about that,
Martin is the EDGE signing who is penciled-in to be that speed rusher, DPR wide-9 archetype along the new Tennessee front. So much of our spring conversation this year was driven by the hunt for a strong option to slot into that role. But Dave Helman made an argument for Martin as one of the under-the-radar signings of the offseason, and I think it’s worth hearing him out.
How Jacob Martin completes the Titans pass rush
On a recent episode of The Athletic Football Show, Helman chose Martin as a sneaky signing worth discussing.
“One guy that I think they got really solid value on for 2 years, $9 million is Jacob Martin,” Helman began, “who was with the Washington Commanders last year. Had a career year!”
Martin has been in pro football longer than you may realize. This will be his 9th and age 31 season in the NFL, having bounced around to seven teams before Tennessee became his eight. But it was just last season at age 30 when he recorded a career-best 5.5 sacks and 18 QB hits.
“Seven different teams over the course of his career, but he has 27 career sacks, which is pretty impressive production for a guy who’s bounced around as much as he has. He lands in Washington, career year, 5.5 sacks, 45 pressures. The problem is Washington’s defense was beat to **** last year.”
Martin managed to put up a career-best campaign despite playing 700+ snaps in a situation where he was never supposed to be that guy.
“Like Jacob Martin just wasn’t supposed to be a down-in, down-out star on your defense,” Helman explained. “but I thought he played pretty well and I went back and watched a lot of his pass rush snaps today just to make sure I wasn’t crazy. And like I said, this isn’t a calculus-changing signing, but he’s got a great motor. He’s versatile. Washington played him on both sides. They kicked him inside in certain situations. And I just think adding him to a pass rush where he’s a piece of a larger whole, I think it’ll be really good.”
The Titans have the rest of this front built out pretty impressively. Jeffery Simmons is the crown jewel of the unit, surrounded by John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson, Femi Oladejo, and Keldric Faulk amongst others. It sure feels on paper like they’re a speedy DPR-type away from being one of the most menacing front fours in the league. So if Martin can provide at least the minimum of what they need to succeed without blitzing like Saleh is want to do, then they could be cooking with gas.
“Jacob Martin being a small part of that, instead of how he turned into basically a load-bearing player over the second half of the season for Washington. And that’s just, that wasn’t supposed to happen. And so putting him back into a more familiar role for him after that season, I think could pay dividends and the price is nothing anyway.”
I’m going to remain dubious of Martin being enough in that role until I see more from him. But coming off the heels of a career year speaks for itself… go prove me wrong!