Titans-Dolphins Trade: Tennessee Trades Up for TE Taylor Thompson in Round 5

The Tennessee Titans made a trade with the Miami Dolphins to get SMU tight end/former defensive end Taylor Thompson.

It's the fifth round, which means you're hoping to get a player who can contribute. The tight end position feels like one of the Titans' strongest, which makes the pick and trading up for it a bit befuddling.

Who is Taylor Thompson? He's a tall, rangy defensive end from SMU who transitioned to tight end his senior year. A position switch so late in a college career usually doesn't lead to becoming an NFL player. 

The Zach Brown pick showed that the Titans are looking for athletes, and Thompson is that. He's listed in the 6'6", 260-pound range with 4.6 40 speed. That makes him two inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than Jared Cook.

It's a curious pick, though.

It's also a fifth-round pick, and the Titans liked Thompson so much that they traded away their seventh-round pick to move up to get him. Tennessee recently signed blocking tight end Craig Stevens to a four-year extension. Cook is in the last year of his deal, and if he has a breakout 2012 season as many predict, he could be an expensive player to re-sign in 2013.

Overall, the pick feels like a reach. At the same time, the seventh-rounder the Titans traded to move up is almost certain to not be an impact player, even though the Titans have done well with their seventh-rounders in the past; Pro Bowlers Cortland Finnegan and Marc Mariani come to mind.