Edge Rushers Who Fit the Titans Best

By ZACH LYONS, STACKING THE INBOX

We are just one week away from the NFL Draft and it cannot get here quick enough. It has been a long, arduous offseason filled with tired narratives, mock draft analysis and draft scenarios peaking with Drake Maye in two-tone blue. People are running out of things to say, and it is easy to sympathize because the time between the combine and the draft moves at a snail’s pace.

There is draft analysis that has gone a little under the radar this season and that is this class of pass-rushing prospects. The EDGE class isn’t as sexy as years past or maybe we aren’t valuing its importance enough. Either way, the Titans have one clear solution at outside linebacker right now, Harold Landry. Outside of him, the team decision-makers, specifically Brian Callahan, have told you they don’t see much else.

At the latest owner’s meeting, the Titans' head coach talked to Paul Kuharsky about the situation at outside linebacker, and his words made the position sound more dire than the majority previously thought.

“I think good, I think with Harold (Landry) we’ve got a guy with proven ability to rush,” Callahan said. “I think Arden (Key) is a proven situational rusher. I think he played really well last year. I think we still need more. You can never have enough pass rushers, I think we’ve got guys who have proven themselves with the ability to do it.

“You’d like to have three of them. You’d like to have four of them. I think we do have some guys that can rush the passer and we’ll keep trying to add guys to the position.”

I put the important words in bold because sometimes people will just look over everything he said so it can fit their preconceived notions about a player or position group. By telling you that Arden Key is situational, he is telling you they don’t have a starter. By saying they need more, he’d like to have three or four, he’s telling you they don’t believe much will come from Rashad Weaver or fan favorite, Caleb Murphy. All three of those conclusions are the right conclusions to make.

I am a big supporter of Key. I do not think his 2023 campaign was as bad or tepid as people make it out to be, but they do need more from a starter. We all now have enough information from his previous stops and last season to know he is a situational pass rusher and that is perfectly fine for this team…as long as they find another one.

They sort of addressed the pass-rushing by bringing in Kenneth Murray, whose best work is when he is a human torpedo on a seek-and-destroy mission, but that doesn’t make the situation better for the Titans. So, who are some of the EDGE prospects in this upcoming draft that can come in and make an impact for this team without having to use a first-round pick?

Figuring Out What the Titans Look for in EDGE Prospects