The Titans Draft: The Other Guys

The Tennessee Titans drafted four other guys in the NFL Draft. Why were they drafted and how do they fit with the team?

Get 20% off forever by clicking the button below.

The Tennessee Titans drafted four other guys in the NFL Draft. I am a fan of their overall draft, but I really like what they did rounds three through six. The seventh round is pretty puzzling, until you watch the tape and hear the interviews.

At the end of the day, overreacting like crazy to the picks in these rounds is insanity. Now, fans I have no real issue with, it’s the media that know better. Well, maybe they just know that fans or audience members will gobble up the emotions. They’re using your fanaticism to their own self-serving end.

However, my subscribers know not to fall for those obvious media thirst traps. We stay strong and keep it 100 here at Stacking the Inbox. I have a big announcement coming later today/early tomorrow morning that is going to improve this product for the better. Super stoked about the future here at StackingTheInbox.com!

Let’s get it.

Tyjae Spears

I am sick and tired of people describing Spears as “injured” or “hurt”. That implies that he is currently not healthy. Like he has a limp or is on crutches at the moment and won’t be able to participate at rookie minicamp. That is inherently false.

Yes, he doesn’t have an ACL in one leg. However, this wasn’t new news. Maybe it was for the general public but analysts/draft nerds should’ve had this on their radar on 4/22/23 at the latest thanks to the hard work by Bob McGinn at GoLongTD.com. In fact, it was on my radar before that because Spears himself has openly talked about it on a podcast.

Now, the way the podcast released the information beforehand and then released the podcast days later was bad form. However, when the tweet popped up several doctors that put themselves out there as football advice accounts, picked up on it.

In short here is what you need to know:

• 2015: Tears his ACL.

• 2020: Tears his ACL again in the same leg.

• 2021: Plays all 12 games

• 2022: Plays all 14 games

He hasn’t missed a game since. If you include the Senior Bowl week, he played in 15 games. This is the point where we just have to stop and ask ourselves: Is it okay to diminish this player, just because it is not the position we wanted to be drafted?

No, we shouldn’t. In fact, I think the Rapoport report made everything seems so sensationalized about the injury. In fact, the way that everything has formed post-injury, it has actually made his knee stable not unstable.

ProFootballDoc says that the full thickness cartilage loss is the end stage of arthritis. So, with how Rapoport presented it, it sounded like two symptoms when it’s really just one symptom turning into another. The bone spurs in the knee are rarely unstable, according to the Doc as well.

I am not saying you shouldn’t have some concern given the medical/injury history. However, it hasn’t truly had an effect on his play for two straight seasons. He hasn’t missed a game. He is electric. He is the Tulane offense. No one has been able to hold him back, much less is the lack of the ACL holding him back.

Here are Spears’s ranks in some stats from 2021 (minimum of 120 attempts):

• Y/A: 4th (6.7)

• YAC/A: 3rd (4.5)

• Breakaway %: 1st (55%)

• Elusiveness Rating: 2nd (161.3)

So, stats that are indicative of putting your ability to cut or break tackles beyond the first touch and gain massive amounts of yards, Spears is one of the best. Reminder that this is 2021. That’s one year removed from his second ACL tear and opting to forego having an ACL.

In his final season he became the focal point of the Tulane offense. Bar none. He was a full-time starter and was used more in the passing game. So, how does he rank among his contemporaries in this NFL Draft class in those same stats:

• Y/A: 4th (6.9)

• YAC/A: 2nd (4.55)

• Breakaway %: 7th (50%)

• Elusiveness Rating: 3rd (145.8)

His breakaway percentage went down and so did his elusiveness rating, but his per carry metrics went up. Important to know he has a much higher breakaway percentage than Bijan Robinson.

Over the last two seasons, without an ACL, he was a top-5 running back in the NCAA. Guess what? He was the fifth running back to be drafted. It is tremendous value for a guy that has pro comps of Aaron Jones and Tony Pollard.

Look, I had Tyler Scott over Tyjae Spears on my big board, by like one or two spots, and I thought that the Titans would too. After all, they spent considerable time with both, but wide receiver would be a bigger need, right? I guess not but it’s not like other teams didn’t tell you the same.

I consider WR one of the more important positions a team needs to have filled with quality players. So, let’s look at the teams between 81 and 133 who need a wide receiver and passed on Tyler Scott for positions less valuable or other wide receivers.

• Los Angeles Rams: DT, QB

• Buffalo Bills: LB

• Arizona Cardinals: Michael Wilson (WR), Guard

• Las Vegas Raiders: Tre Tucker (WR), DB

• Cincinnati Bengals: DB, Charlie Jones (WR)

• Atlanta Falcons: CB

• New England Patriots: Center, Kicker, Guard

• New Orleans Saints: OL, QB

Unfortunately, and for reasons unknown, the NFL and teams that needed a wide receiver weren’t high on Scott. In fact, the Bears passed on Scott with their first of two 4th round picks for a running back as well in Roschon Johnson.

Even if a team wasn’t necessarily needing a wide receiver, most teams would be going “best player available”, so really no one between those picks had Scott that high.

So, in that sense, the Spears pick makes sense. Reaching for need by a wide margin doesn’t typically end up with having a player that amounts to much success. It’s not just the Titans who didn’t value Scott (who should’ve been the best wide receiver available), it was almost every other team and a handful of teams who had a need at wide receiver.

For the third down running back crowd, he is much more than that in the grand scheme of things. In their own words during Friday’s presser, they said he was an every down running back. Now look, I agree, but I thought maybe teams would be dumb and view him as a third down running back only.

They thought of Tony Pollard the same way. They were wrong about him too, in my opinion. Turns out my opinion was correct with Pollard. Will Spears beat out Derrick Henry at camp? Absolutely not. Will he be a contributor on this offense? Absolutely yes.

Here’s the thing, Henry is on his last year, more than likely. The Titans have had every opportunity to try and restructure or extend his deal by now to save money against the salary cap in 2023. Maybe they surprise us and still work something out, it’s possible.

Spears is the first in a new trend for this Tennessee Titans team. A backfield where it’s essentially a college football team. You play for a few years and then the next guy comes in when your contract is up.

Most people will point to San Francisco as the model, and that makes sense to some degree, but in all reality it’s likely to resemble what Alabama has been doing for years under Saban.

They typically have two running backs contributing in big ways every year. One is “the guy”, the player that is going to get drafted fairly high, and the other is his successor. Then it’s just a rotation of who is the guy and who is the successor every year. Obviously, that is an over simplification, but think of the Alabama backfields over the years. Here’s a list. It’s not perfect cause Saban kind of created a logjam in the the mid-2010’s and so the plan kind of got out-of-whack, but the point remains, RBBC.

In the NFL, it’s pretty common that paying running backs a big second contract is a poor use of resources. Outside of like the freak athletes at running back, it’s just common among teams. This is the new way here.

Multiple running backs are going to be used and then let them walk in free agency if they command a massive deal. The Seahawks, in my opinion, just did it the best way. They drafted Kenneth Walker last year in the second round, and this year drafted a Kenneth Walker clone in the second again. Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker are a perfect duo for the next three years.

They get to essentially play Walker, let him run through some defenders. Give him rest and put in Charbonnet and let him run through some defenders. They do not have to adjust anything about their game plan or play calls. It’s kind of ingenious.

I am perfectly fine with this wave of drafting explosive running backs that won’t see a second contract and just keep rotating them in and out. It’s a good use of money and resources and it keeps everyone fresh.

Spears, while not anything like Henry, can keep Henry fresh. Henry has a lot of wear and tear on the tires already, and it’s much better for him and the team if they keep him as fresh as possible for later on in the winter months.

Maybe we can have Spearstember to start the season and DHenber in the winter. Who knows? All I know is that Spears can win one-on-one matchups, be physical between the tackles, and be a reliable playmaker in the passing game.

This was an excellent pick.

Josh Whyle