Four better Second Round Draft options for the Tennessee Titans than what ESPN’s latest mock draft picked at 35 overall
A Guard in Round 2? Not exactly likely for the Titans
ESPN rolled out a monster 7-round mock draft last week, and it proved to be an interesting situational exercise for the Titans.
Authored by Draft Analyst Matt Miller, it’s far from a bad mock. Plenty of projects like this this time of year accidentally unmask over-zealous, under-prepared analysts as unfamiliar with the situation certain teams are actually in. Small market fans like those in Tennessee know exactly how that song and dance goes. But that wasn’t the case with Miller here. There is just one pick I’d like to focus in on, because it’s a useful situation to consider.
After making the obvious pick of Cam Ward at 1 overall, Miller selected Alabama G Tyler Booker at 35. Truthfully, reading the write-up on the pick, I’m not sure Miller even realized the Titans signed G Kevin Zeitler in free agency to a 1 year starter contract. It doesn’t read like he knows that fact, so maybe that’s would’ve changed his approach.
Because as I’ve written and talked about incessantly this spring, the 35th pick is a supremely critical decision for this team. They’ve positioned themselves this offseason to make a selection at the top of the 2nd round that addresses a key need at pass catcher or edge rusher, unless they manage to trade the pick for a couple Day 2 selections. In the realm of ideal and realistic possibilities here, taking a guard is quite low on the list.
In fairness, this could be defended as a BPA (best player available) selection given who was on the board in the mock. Many of the most common EDGE and WR options considered by Titans fans at 35 were already gone, such as WR Luther Burden and EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku. And it wouldn’t be shocking to see Booker as the BPA option on many team boards in this scenario, including Tennessee's.
But there are four options here that are clearly better for the Titans in my eyes. Let’s talk about them:
Trading Back
Before it became clear Cam Ward would be the 1st overall pick, the Titans were seriously considering what a trade-down in the First Round would look like. Now, the possibility of a trade-down in the Second Round is front of mind.
It makes a lot of sense for this team to move down on Day 2 in general. And in this specific mock draft, I think it’s exactly the kind of situation that would spurn that attempt by Titans brass. We saw this exact same pick, 35 overall, traded for a pair of later Day 2 picks last year. You have to find a partner, but the Titans would be better off making some calls in this situation than taking Booker.
James Pearce Jr. | EDGE | Tennessee
Pearce is the 49th player off the board in this mock, which in and of itself is astonishing. Pearce is undoubtedly a top-20 talent. But the concerns surrounding him off the field have him on most draft experts big boards in the top 20, but falling completely out of the First Round in their mock drafts. They know that teams have serious reservations about his makeup.
But in the Second Round, if he’s still available, I just find it really hard to believe he wouldn’t be a better option for the Titans than somebody like Booker. Pearce is easily the more talented player, and at that point it would take tremendously disqualifying makeup concerns to keep me from wanting to take a swing on him anyways.
Jaylin Noel | WR | Iowa St.
Noel was the 47th player off the board in Miller’s mock, and I’d easily prefer him to Booker at 35 as well. Seemingly every year, we see a surprise WR or two go way higher in the top 40 than anticipated. I remember this time last year, when we were all debating whether Texas WR Xavier Worthy would sneak into the First Round. He ended up being the 5th of 7 First Round receivers!
Noel is firmly in play to be that guy who goes higher than you thought they would this year. His smaller physical archetype might be limiting for how he’s deployed at the next level, but he’s an extremely attractive prospect in just about every other category. This is a ready-made impact player whose athleticism is the short area is going to pop on Sundays. The Titans could use somebody like him very badly.
Nic Scourton | EDGE | Texas A&M
Finally, Nic Scourton fell to 60th in this mock and that’s a really surprising fall to me. I think Scourton is somebody that will be firmly in play for teams at the top of the Second Round, Tennessee included. I would easily prefer him to this Booker selection from a need standpoint, and I don’t see Booker as that much more of an upside prospect than Scourton.
Both star Texas A&M pass rushers, Scourton and Shemar Stewart, are strange cases. They each had lackluster final college seasons in terms of counting stats rushing the passer, but there were multiple extenuating circumstances that seemed to contribute to that. When you watch them win, you see NFL wins. They’re so few and far between because, well, the A&M system has them playing in strange roles. They played heavier than they’ll play at the next level, and they were used in run stop and dropping back into coverage much more often than you’d expect as well. It’s just a strange scheme for EDGE players.
Scourton was lighter and showed us what a double digit sack season looked like when he was at Purdue in 2023. That’s the guy you’re expecting to get in the NFL, and the Titans could use him badly.
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