The Inside Slant: Tom Gower of TotalTitans Reflects on the Draft

The Inside Slant is back, and today we welcome in Tom Gower of the FootballOutsiders and TotalTitans.com.

Tom took a break from writing up the Chargers and Raiders for the Football Outsiders 2012 Almanac (FOA) to answer some questions. FOA 2012 will be available for purchase around the beginning of July. It's an annual must read for football fans.

BR: The Titans didn't improve the pass rush via the draft. Does this mean:

a. They didn't see as as big of a need as fans/media did?

b. The right player just wasn't available?

c. They plan on picking up a pass-rusher before the season?

Or something else entirely?

TG: I wrote before the draft that it didn't seem like the Titans thought defensive end was as much of need as most people thought it was, and the way the draft shook out, there wasn't a situation where a defensive end was clearly the best player on the board. Maybe if they really liked Chandler Jones, he would've been an option in the first round, but I really think they're satisfied with starting Kamerion Wimbley and Derrick Morgan plus the rotational depth behind them.

BR: Were you satisfied with the Titans' draft? I know your initial impressions were negative, do you still feel that way?

TG: This was Ruston Webster's first draft as general manager, and it was an interesting one. In some ways, it was a throwback to the Floyd Reese era when the Titans drafted better athletes than football players. Zach Brown, Coty Sensabaugh, and Taylor Thompson especially, were all Reese-style picks. Heck, they drafted Thompson to play a position (TE) he didn't play at all in college.

That's not something that's been their MO the last couple years, when they drafted players who were multi-year starters but didn't necessarily have outstanding physical tools. Mike Martin from this year's draft fits that mold. It's really hard for me to square philosophically Brown in the second round and Martin in the third round. Then again, Webster indicated at the start of the offseason they wanted to get younger on the offensive line and they signed 34-year-old Steve Hutchinson and didn't draft an O-lineman.

I wrote before the draft that I didn't think the Titans should draft a receiver in the first round, and I'm still struggling to come to terms with the Kendall Wright pick. The obvious "let's overreact to recent events" camp has the Wright pick indicating a philosophical change towards passing, but I think they'll try to do a lot of the same things they did last year. I'll be happy if Wright can run a quick slant against press coverage, since after Kenny Britt went out they didn't have anybody who could do that reliably.

Obviously, we'll see how things play out, and I'll pass judgment on this class after my normal six-year waiting period.

BR: Did the Titans do enough in this offseason to catch the Texans? Is there anything else they could do now to close the gap?

TG:  If the Titans got closer to the Texans this offseason, it's more the result of what the Texans did or more precisely didn't do than anything the Titans did. Unless Kam Wimbley helps completely reinvigorate a stagnant pass rush, I see the Titans regressing defensively. You could reasonably expect the offense to be a little better, but it's hard for me to see the Titans exceeding 2011's 9 wins.

Will that be enough to win the division? I'd suggest sticking pins in a voodoo doll of any or all of Matt Schaub, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Brian Cushing, or Johnathan Joseph to improve their chances.