Why Derrick Morgan Is the Tennessee Titans' Most Pleasant Surprise After 3 Weeks

After starting the season with a dominant victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Tennessee Titans have lost their last two games by a combined score of 59-17. Let's go ahead a take a glass half-full approach in this article and focus on a positive.

Derrick Morgan was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft with the 16th overall pick out of Georgia Tech. Morgan was touted as a polished defensive end who would immediately be ready to contribute for the Titans.

Here's what NFL.com draft analysts had to say about Morgan:

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Morgan has been an extremely productive starter for the Yellow Jackets over the past two seasons. He has a good combination of size and athleticism for a 4-3 defensive end. He doesn’t appear to have the overall athleticism to project him as an outside backer in a 3-4 scheme. Morgan has improved his overall hand use and counter moves as a pass rusher with good quickness to close to the quarterback. He needs to improve his pad level and power at the point as a run defender but gives consistent effort in this phase of the game. Morgan is an excellent that should test out well for his dimensions and likely be highly touted in the 2010 draft. 

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The promising defensive end suffered an injury early in his rookie year and missed the rest of the season. Since the injury, Morgan has been a solid but middling talent at getting to the quarterback. He racked up 16 sacks over the 2012-13 seasons.

With defensive coordinator Ray Horton being brought on board during the offseason, there was warranted concern about Morgan being able to handle the transition from a 4-3 end to a 3-4 outside linebacker.

However, through three weeks, Morgan has been among the 10 best 3-4 outside linebackers in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).  

Opponent	Overall Rating	Run Def. Rating	Pass Rush Rating	Pass Cov. Rating	QB Sks/Hits/Hur.	Tk.	Targ./Rec./Yds. Allowed
Kansas City	8.3	0.3	6.5	1.3	0/1/6	3	2/1/6
Dallas	0.8	-0.3	0.8	0.0	0/1/2	3	1/1/5
Cinncinnati	-4.3	-3.0	-1.5	0.0	0/0/0	1	0/0/0

Like the team, Morgan's overall play seems to have ebbed and flowed from week to week, but the perception of him as a defensive liability appears to have been overstated. Morgan has continued to play just as well as previous seasons, showing his versatility.

Morgan was practically invisible against the Cincinnati Bengals, unable to generate any kind of pressure on Andy Dalton throughout the game or ever making an impactful play. It's tough to say if anyone had a solid outing in Week 3, but Morgan is more expected to produce than other linebackers on the team.

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Still, his play in last week's game will likely be a rarity based on his improvements. It's clear that Morgan is still incapable of being the Titans' main pass-rushing threat, but he remains a valuable defensive piece. The fifth-year talent has always been a bit of a liability in run defense, consistently scoring less than minus-four on PFF.

One of the more surprising statistics for Morgan this year is that quarterbacks have only attempted four passes against his coverage with very poor results. In fact, as a whole, the Titans have performed well in coverage so far, with Shaun Phillips proving to be the weakest link so far.

Overall, Morgan must at the very least create pressure on opposing quarterbacks consistently or risk being a defensive liability in run defense with no reward on pass plays. For the most part, Morgan's been able to do just that, dispelling concerns about his ability to adjust to playing linebacker.