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Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay released their annual dueling mock draft this morning on ESPN.com. They went two rounds, projecting the top 64 picks of the 2018 NFL Draft.
For the Titans, it was a another familiar face at pick 25. Both Kiper and McShay awarded the Titans Harold Landry, the pass rusher out of Boston College.
Here are Kiper’s comments.
Is Landry more like the dominant edge rusher he was in 2016 (16.5 sacks), or is he like the player who underperformed in 2017? He put up great numbers at the combine.
And McShay’s.
Landry has a ton of talent but didn’t put it together last season. This might be a little bit of a reach, but Landry has explosive traits.
As I’ve maintained throughout the draft process, I’m just not buy Landry will be on the board for the Titans to pick at 25. Pass rushers with tools like Landry don’t typically fall. It reminds me of the Vic Beasley projection from a few years back. Both Mel and Todd had him in the second round the week of the draft, then Beasley ended up going top ten.
We spoke to Jon Ledyard of Locked on NFL Draft and NDT Scouting last night on Locked on Titans and he agrees. He doesn’t think that there’s any shot Landry falls to the Titans.
In the second round, Kiper and McShay didn’t agree on the Titans’ pick. Kiper went with guard Austin Corbett, which makes some sense.
Tennessee could upgrade at all three of its interior offensive line positions with the versatile Corbett, who played tackle at Nevada.
The Titans have brought in Xavier Su’a-Filo and Kevin Pamphile while retaining both Josh Kline and Quinton Spain. This wouldn’t make sense from a numbers standpoint, but guys like Pamphile and Su’a-Filo aren’t going to keep you from taking a guard at 57.
McShay went a different direction, giving the Titans Courtland Sutton, a receiver out of SMU.
Sutton would provide Marcus Mariota with another option in an offense that lacks playmakers.
Would the Titans want to add another rookie receiver into the mix with guys like Corey Davis, Taywan Taylor and Tajae Sharpe already on the depth chart? That would be quite a bit of inexperience to rely on. This may be more feasible with the addition of a veteran presence. The Titans certainly need help at receiver, but even still it’s hard to ignore more pressing needs like linebacker and defensive line.