The Tennessee Titans had an interesting draft. On one hand, the team selected players to fill the biggest positions of need. On the other hand, the team didn’t choose the players many people expected.
Mock drafts for months had the Titans picking Joe Alt from Notre Dame. Instead, the Los Angeles Chargers ruined that plan by taking Alt with the fifth pick. However, reports came out that Latham was the preferred choice of offensive line coach Bill Callahan.
Matt Miller of ESPN recently ranked the 100 best picks of the draft. Two of the Titans’ picks were included in the list, with Latham and corner Jarvis Brownlee Jr. making the cut.
Latham was Miller’s 49th-best pick while Brownlee was the 71st. Regarding the Latham pick, Miller offered the following:
The value of the Latham pick wasn’t great on my board, but the fit is understandable, given the Titans’ needs at tackle and the fact that Joe Alt was off the board. New coach Brian Callahan oversaw his former team, the Bengals, sign Orlando Brown Jr. to play left tackle last offseason, and he may see a similar player in Latham. This is a complete projection, though, as Latham never took snaps on the blindside while at Alabama.
And regarding the Brownlee pick, Miller said:
I didn’t love what the Titans did early in this draft, but they made up for it late. Brownlee is one of the best press-man corners in the class and has the quickness and toughness to thrive in the slot. The cornerback room here is crowded with talent now, but Brownlee could carve out a nice role in sub-packages.
While the Latham pick was seen as a reach by some, the pick of Brownlee seems like great value since many mocks had the corner as a third- or fourth-round selection.
