B/R top 1000 Tennessee Titans: defensive tackles

Matt Miller is publishing his "B/R NFL 1000" rankings, where he goes over film and meticulously ranks and grades the performances of nearly every contributing member of each NFL team. This is a refreshing change from PFF rankings, which I enjoy but some people don't fully believe in.

This is his ranking of the Tennessee Titans defensive tackles, and some commentary on each player:

Al Woods: #37

Woods is one of the newest members of the Tennessee Titans and he actually ranks pretty highly despite playing limited snaps behind Sammie Hill and the rest of the stacked Tennessee Titans DL. Woods never stood out to me, but Matt Miller likes his potential as a run stopper despite his physical short comings:

"Al Woods has been solid against the run as an undersized nose tackle. He doesn’t have ideal size or strength for the position but uses his hands well to free himself from blockers. Woods can eat up blocks and clog lanes."

Oddly enough he has Woods with a tied grade of 77/100 with Dontari Poe.

Speaking of oddly enough, Woods is the only player on this list for the Titans. I am not sure if this means that Sammie Hill is ranked below the top 55 or if he is classified as a different position, but that is strange. Woods is a decent role player in my opinion, but the Titans will need a few more people on this list if the Titans are going to successfully run the Dick LeBeau defense.

In that scheme, defensive linemen need to be able to occupy defenders while speedy linebackers penetrate and disrupt in the backfield. However, the also need to have agile players that can drop into coverage. Athletic players like Angelo Blackson and Mike Martin (the new skinny version) may separate themselves from traditional DTs like Sammie Hill who, while being good as a run defender, lacks "wiggle".