The Tennessee Titans have a new head coach in Ken Whisenhunt, and he landed one of the better assistant coaching hires of the offseason when he brought in Pittsburgh compatriot Ray Horton to coordinate his defense. Horton has a pretty good track record for coaching defense in recent seasons, having turned Arizona, and then Cleveland, into exciting, aggressive units.
The Notebook
To pull that off in Tennessee, however, he might need more help in the pass rushing department -- and Jimmy Morris of Music City Miracles had that idea in mind when he made the No. 11 overall pick in the 2014 SB Nation NFL Writers Mock Draft.
Team | Player | Pos. | Ht | Wt | Class |
11. Titans | Anthony Barr, UCLA | OLB | 6'5 | 255 | SR |
More from our team site
More from our team site
"The Titans are transitioning to a 3-4 and are going to need some edge pass rushers. They added Shaun Phillips in free agency, which will help, but they still need to add a young, dynamic guy to the mix. Anthony Barr fits that mold. He is still raw and might need some time to develop, and that is a luxury the Titans can afford now that Phillips is in the fold."
Dan Kadar, our benevolent NFL Draft analyst, has some thoughts and opinions to share on the Titans' mock draft pick of Barr:
Barr to Tennessee has become a locked-in choice in many mock drafts (including my own on Monday). The fit is a perfect one. Barr is a raw athlete, and a player like Phillips and a coach like Horton can teach him a lot about playing the position. Don't forget, he played just two seasons at the position at UCLA after converting from running back. Barr is a classic boom or bust choice, but if he pays off he can become the cornerstone of a defense.
Next up in the 2014 SB Nation NFL Writers Mock Draft: Ed Valentine and Big Blue View, whose No. 12 overall pick for the New York Giants comes in at noon ET.
Top 5 players remaining
# | Player | Pos. | College | Ht. | Wt. |
8 | Eric Ebron |
TE | North Carolina |
6'4 |
250 |
9 | C.J. Mosley |
LB | Alabama | 6'2 | 234 |
10 | Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix | S | Alabama | 6'1 |
208 |
11 | Taylor Lewan | OT | Michigan | 6'7 | 309 |
12 | Louis Nix | DT | Notre Dame | 6'2 | 326 |
2014 SB Nation NFL writers' mock draft results
Titans picks
Rd | # | Team | Player | Pos. | College |
1 | 11 | Tennessee Titans | Anthony Barr | OLB | UCLA |
2 | 42 | Tennessee Titans |