Much like NFL Draft grades, declaring someone a "winner" or "loser" the day after the first round is a little bit crazy, but hey, we are a little crazy around here. Mel Kiper of ESPN has his post on winners and losers out this morning. The Titans are one of his winners. Here is what he had to say about the Jack Conklin pick:
I haven't really been hiding my affection for Jack Conklin, the offensive tackle out of Michigan State. He was No. 4 on my final Big Board, and I think he has a high floor. Maybe he's not a future left tackle, but he could be, and he could also be really good on the right side. So Tennessee, a team in desperate need of a tackle, moved down in the draft -- and got a massive haul from the Rams to do so -- and still managed to get the tackle prospect it wanted. Hard to argue with that. Good draft so far for general manager Jon Robinson.
The bottom line here is that Robinson had to come away from this draft with a starter at right tackle. He obviously believes that Conklin can be that guy. We have no reason to doubt Robinson at this point.
The other thing that pick does is free Robinson up to take his best available player from here on out. Like I said, they HAD to get a right tackle. While they have a lot of holes on the roster, they don't have any other spots where they are desperate for a starter. Now it is just about adding quality players to make the team better as a whole.