The Tennessee Titans selected Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat with the 38th pick in the 2024 NFL draft. From a pure talent perspective, Sweat appears to be good value for a second-round selection.
However, the story around Sweat as of late has been his off-the-field conduct. On April 7, Sweat was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Coincidentally, this arrest came right before Sweat met with the Titans.
Naturally, the possible off-field issues have many fans nervous. When asked about the situation, Sweat didn’t talk about it, saying his arrest was a legal issue and that he wouldn’t be commenting on the matter. Sweat did say that he appreciated the Titans believing in him.
T'Vondre Sweat said the DUI was a legal issue and he won't be commenting about it.
— Terry McCormick (@terrymc13) April 27, 2024
“They believed in me, and I was ready to ride the road and go to Tennessee,” Sweat said, per Terry McCormick of Titan Insider. “I felt great about it when they came down to Houston to meet with me and my mom, and I knew they believed in me and they seen something in me that when they told me they were coming. I was excited just to let them know who I truly am and what I’m all about.”
General manager Ran Carthon mentioned that Sweat took responsibility for his role in the incident and the team felt comfortable keeping him on their board after discussing the issue with him.
“We were his first visit after the incident occurred and so we brought him in and spent the day with him,” Carthon said. “If you know him, he’s a jovial kid. He’s got a great personality, fun-loving. But you could see he was extremely affected when we brought him in. We spent a lot of time talking about it. I know he was ready to talk about it with anybody that wanted to listen, and he was forthright and honest. But something that’s not documented or has not been reported is we actually went down to visit with him and the family, because we wanted to know more and actually spend time not just with him, but his family and see the people he surrounds himself with.
“We flew down to his hometown and spent the morning with him, his mom, his brother and his grandfather and really got to know him as a person and what the expectations would be for us if he was here and kind of put that one line,” Carthon continued. “We had some tough conversations while we were there, tough conversations not only with him but tough conversations with his family in the room with the understanding that it’s going to take all of us, just like it would be with any other player.”
“You could see that he recognized his mistake and the part that he played in it,” Carthon added.
Sweat, who is one of the best run-stuffers in this draft and is likely to slot in next to Jeffery Simmons immediately, was incredibly productive at Texas in his final season. The former Longhorn racked up 45 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two sacks.
Based on the comments from Carthon and Sweat, it seems like the latter has learned a lesson. Now, it’s time for Sweat to move forward and prepare for his NFL career.
