clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The 2001 Titans Draft

The Titans did not have a first round pick in 2001 because they traded it to the St. Louis Rams for DE Kevin Carter.  Carter and Jevon Kearse were supposed to be the greatest defensive end combo in the history of the league.  It didn't exactly work out that way but Carter was a really good player for the Titans and was a cap casualty after the 2003 season.

Here is the entire Titans draft from 2001:

2nd Round

Pick #60 Andre Dyson CB

3rd Round

Pick #90 Shad Meier TE

4th Round

Pick #124 Justin McCareins WR

5th Round

Pick #159 Eddie Berlin WR

6th Round

Pick #192 Dan Alexander RB
Pick #199 Adam Haayer T

7th Round

Pick #232 Keith Adams OLB

The only word I can think of to describe this draft is blah.  After Andre Dyson who was a pretty good corner here for a few years, there isn't much else in this draft.  Dyson had 16 picks in 4 years for the Titans and was probably a better corner than Titans fans gave him credit for being.  (considering he had 6 picks in his first 2 years and through a year and a half Adam Jones has none)

Shad Meier was a fill in guy. Justin McCareins had a good year in 2003 with 813 yards and 7 TDs.  He was traded to the New York Jets in 2004 for a mid-round draft pick.  Eddie Berlin was on the roster for a few years but that is about all.  The 7th round pick Keith Adams has bounced around the league a little bit but he never played for the Titans.

You look at the stats on McCareins and think, "Well that is not a terrible 4th round pick."  You are correct, BUT when you look at the entire draft you see that Panthers WR Steve Smith went in the 3rd round (#74) and Bengals WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh went in the 7th round (#204).  I would dare say both of those guys are better than McCareins.  Now obviously a lot of teams missed on both of those guys, especially Housh, but not the Bengals.  Not only did they get Housh in the 7th round, they also drafted WR Chad Johnson in the 2nd round (#36) and RB Rudi Johnson in the 4th round (#100).  This was a good draft for the Bengals until you see they drafted DE Justin Smith 4th overall.  (decent player but not a 4 overall)  Drafting is definitely an inexact science.

Draft grade C-.