NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans have selected former Texas Longhorns defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat with the 38th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Sweat is a 366-pound beast on the interior defensive line that was a First-team All-American, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and Outland Trophy winner in 2023. 

Sweat's draft stock began to drop after he was arrested and booked on April 7th on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. The Titans hosted Sweat for a Top 30 visit after Sweat posted bail, and now bring him in to team up with Jeffery Simmons.

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Grade: A

People may not like this one. Sweat is a polarizing player and an even more polarizing pick at 38 overall. But I waxed poetic about why Sweat was such a perfect fit for this Titans defense back when I spent time with him at the Senior Bowl, and all of those things still apply today. 

Sweat is disruptive. He covers two gaps on the line just by existing. He ran a 5.27 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and is really well conditioned for his size. He's not someone who is going to be single-blocked and I think he's a lot more than a two-down player at the next level. So do the Titans, and pairing Sweat up with Jeffery Simmons was too good to pass up

"I think he's only growing as a pass rusher. A lot of these guys on the interior, they learn and grow as they get experience in the league, but you see his ability to push the pocket," said Titans head coach Brian Callahan in Friday's press conference. "To me as an offensive coach, the guys that I've always had the most issues with are the guys that can collapse the pocket from the interior. You can deal with edge rushers, but you can't do much inside if you've got two guys pushing the pocket. Jeffery [Simmons] is going to command double teams."

As far as Sweat's "character issues" are concerned…I'm not really worried about it. Character matters to the Titans. That has been especially true under Ran Carthon. Tennessee makes a point of getting to know every prospect they have interest in. They are intentional about meeting with prospects who have off the field issues to identify if it's something that can be worked through.

Carthon spoke to the Titans' approach to these prospects with off the field concerns in a recent press conference.

"You find out what it is that is considered a character concern. I think a lot of these guys are 19-, 20- and 21-year-old kids"…"Sometimes they get unfairly knocked for some of those things. And some of them have real life issues that they're working through that have real difficulties in their home lives growing up. And those are things that they have to work through themselves that are part of the equation. But I think you have to really make sure you're judging the kids on the right things, and doing the homework on the background and making sure that you're not making any assumptions," Carthon said.

"There's a ton of time invested into making sure that that we get whatever those issues might be, ironed out and whether they're real issues that have to be dealt with or they're things that maybe aren't as detrimental as the perception might be."

The Titans have done their homework. They flew to Sweat's hometown to meet with his family and completely vet the situation with the DWI. They're comfortable with what they learned. Titans fans should be too.

Jeffery Simmons is a perfect leader and mentor for Sweat, and Titans defensive tackle Keondre Coburn is a former teammate of Sweat's that Carthon mentioned was a "big brother figure" to him at Texas. The rookie is walking into a really good room.

I love the prospect. I love the pick. It would have been an A+ to me, but an A+ would mean Tennessee traded back and found a way to make this happen. Still, I think Sweat is going to be an awesome player for the Titans and give opposing offensive lines problems. If I'm wrong, I'll go down with the ship. But this is my guy. A.

Titans draft Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat with the 38th overall pick

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans continued to address their roster needs on Friday night. With the 38th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, general manager Ran Carthon added defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat to Tennessee's latest crop of rookies. The theme of the Titans draft so far: BEEF.  Tennessee drafted offensive tackle JC Latham No. 7 overall […]