What we know about Jon Robinson and the draft
During last year’s offseason, the Tennessee Titans decided not to renew Ruston Webster, and hired Tennessee native Jon Robinson to take his place. At the time, no one knew anything about Jon Robinson, but with one offseason under his belt we’ve gotten to know him a little bit better.
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We know that the two main things he’s looking for in players is a physical style of play and he wants them to be smart players on the field. After these two things, he wants the players to fit the team’s system, he wants them to be of good character, to have a team first attitude, and to play consistently. In fact, I’d say potential comes in last among all these, and that’s were he and Ruston Webster differ. Webster would take guys purely based on potential (i.e Justin Hunter, Blidi Wreh-Wilson, DGB, and many more).
Unfortunately, it’s still going to be hard to predict how Jon Robinson is going to approach the draft this coming year. If we look at what he did for us this past year, he turned the team’s weaknesses into strengths. For example, the offensive line and run game and he tried juicing up the receiving core as well. So will he try and look mostly at defensive backs and receivers in the coming draft? These are the team’s main weaknesses today.
On the other side of history, Jon Robinson came from the New England Patriots who always spend their early round picks on players who play in the trenches, such as offensive and defensive linemen and linebackers. While that was a major weakness last year, this year two of the three of those are strengths of the team. During the offseason, he added a combined five new offensive linemen, one defensive lineman, and four linebackers.
Another thing Robinson likes to do that the Patriots do a lot of also is trade. In his first offseason, he made four trades. One brought in DeMarco Murray, one sent DGB to Philly, one was trading back in the draft for extra picks, and another was to trade up in the draft to pick up Jack Conklin. I expect Jon Robinson to trade one of these first round picks for a mid-to late first round pick depending on what the order is, in order to regain a second round pick and some change. With this draft being deep at quarterback and defensive back, which the Titans need, I believe trading is the best option. Let’s do a few little mock drafts to see how these examples could look.
Example 1:
Pick 8 overall: Jabrill Peppers, S, Michigan.
Pick 12 overall: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson.
Pick 72 overall: Cameron Sutton, CB, Tennessee
Pick 76 overall: Alex Anzalone, ILB, Florida
Example 2.
Pick 8 overall: Johnathan Allen, DE, Alabama
Pick 12 overall: Reuben Foster, ILB, Alabama
Pick 72 overall: Jordan Leggett, TE, Clemson
Pick 76: overall: Kai Nacua, S, BYU
Example 3.
Pick 12 overall: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
pick 17 overall (via MIA): Desmond King, CB, Iowa
pick 49 overall (via MIA): Pat Elfein, C/G, Ohio State
Pick 72 overall: Alex Anzalone, ILB, Florida
Pick 76 overall: Kia Nacua, S, BYU
Pick 113 overall (via MIA): Dalvin Tomlinson, NT, Alabama
Which of these draft strategies do you like best? After seeing Jon Robinson in action for a year, what strategy do you see him taking? I don’t know the character for all these guys, but they all play consistently, which is one of the big things on Jon Robinson’s list.
Some of my personal favorites here include Johnathan Allen, he’s big and athletic. He would instantly take this defense to the next level. Cameron Sutton, he plays physical and could be a true number one corner back in the NFL, I really love him in the third round. Alex Anzalone is the embodiment of a team first player, even while he was out all of 2015 his team mates and coaches still considered him a team leader. He and Avery Williamson would make a good pair of young interior linebackers. Kia Nacua, he’s a physical safety who isn’t afraid to stick his nose in to make a tackle. Like a rookie safety on the Titans team this year, he’s a ball hawk. He had six picks last year and four in the first two games of this season.