NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans jumped back into the first round to make a second pick on opening night of the NFL Draft, selecting defensive end Keldric Faulk of Auburn.
They didn't lose any picks in the deal with Buffalo, getting the 31st pick in the first to take Faulk, in addition to No. 69 in the third and No. 169 in the fifth in exchange for 35 in the second, 66 in the third and 101 in the fourth.
Mike Borgonzi said that, given where the Titans had Faulk on their board and how well he fit the defense, making a move to get him made perfect sense.
The Titans added six defensive linemen through free agency or trade for Robert Saleh and Aaron Whitecotton to rebuild the front around Jeffery Simmons -- John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson, Solomon Thomas, Jacob Martin, Jordan Elliott, and Malik Herring, who's hardly a sure thing for the 53-man roster.
Faulk now boosts that group to eight, which is how many linemen the Titans anticipate having active on a game day, though they could stretch to nine.
Mike Borgonzi spoke of Faulk as another versatile inside-outside option and said that while Robert Saleh will bring waves of run defenders and pass rushers, several of them can play the wide-9 rush spot -- a position where they appear lacking based on how big their ends are overall.
Former Titans scout Blake Beddingfield, who contributes to PK.com, offered this mini scouting report: "Size. Length. Upside. Versatile front player. Needs to improve his finish on his rushes. Best as a run defender. Two sacks last year. Late on get-off and needs to develop his rush game, with limited moves. I like the player, but he's not fully developed. Can be a 9, 5, or 3-tech. Similar to Franklin-Meyers. Has an upside to his game. Should be in rotation Day One."
Faulk had 30 pressures but just the two sacks in his final year at Auburn. Borgonzi compared him to Arik Armstead, a 2015 first-rounder who played in San Francisco under Saleh as coordinator there from 2017-2020.
Faulk said criticism about his production was fair.
"My production did go down a little bit last year," he said. "I feel like that was really on me. I've got to finish my plays, I've got to finish on the quarterback a whole lot better than I have been. Going into the next level, that's the biggest thing that I am working on right now..."
"Really just training myself to drive through the quarterback's legs, and stop tackling so high because I'm a taller guy. So I've got to make sure I'm low, and I'm driving through that quarterback to get him on the ground."
Borgonzi said solutions can be coached.
"He's a taller guy, I mentioned Armstead, coming out of college, it's kind of the same thing, you have to learn to play with some of the pad level," Borgonzi said. "Being a guy that's 6-6, we have some really good coaches here. All these guys are still developing."
Faulk basically promised that his NFL career would show off a lot more than his time at Auburn did.
There, he finished with 10 sacks, 19.5 tackles for a loss, four passes defensed and a forced fumble in 37 games.
"I feel like I haven't even touched 40 percent of what I could actually do yet," he said. "And man, that's just me being honest. I feel I've only touched 40 percent of what I can actually do. I feel like, here, being able to develop with the veterans, I could tap into the other 60 percent."
