Having Options

Is there reason to panic if the Titans don’t draft a quarterback in round one? I know it’s very likely that the Titans take Matt Leinert or Vince Young with the number three overall pick. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that they don’t. The Titans could take Mario Williams, the top defensive end, or D`Brickashaw Ferguson, the top tackle. The Titans need a quarterback of the future. They also need help in other places. With a pick so high, the Titans might feel like they need a high-profile guy like Young or Leinert. At the same time, shoring up the OL with Ferguson or the DL with Williams could help the team more.

Ferguson is somewhat undersized for an offensive tackle. The Titans have slotted Michael Roos at left tackle, although Roos played right tackle all last year. A stronger offensive line would help a shaky running game and give a quarterback, even Steve McNair, better protection. Ferguson put on weight in college, so he could gain another 30 pounds and be ready for opening day. Right now the only other experienced OT prospect on the Titans is Jacob Bell. Bell has been primarily a guard, although he played right tackle last year. The Titans averaged 3.8 yards per carry last year, down from 4.4. Their failures in short-yardage situations are legendary.

Williams has moved up in the draft lately. He’s a physical freak with a Kearse-esque wingspan. The Titans drafted three defensive ends two years ago. Kyle Vanden Bosch was the best free-agent bargain in the league last year. He signed an extension, which takes care of one end. Adding a pass-rusher like Williams would really help a defense that was one of the worst units in the league last year.

There’s no lesser chance of failure in taking a defensive end or offensive tackle instead of a quarterback with the number three overall pick. The question is whether other needs could be addressed with the selection. If the Titans don’t take a quarterback in the first round, that might help work out a deal with Steve McNair. Heck, they could take someone like Omar Jacobs in the second round to fill the QB of the future role. Jacobs had a crazy 10-1 TD/Interception ratio as a sophomore at Bowling Green, although he suffered through some injuries as a senior. It’s always good to have options.

Know it all

The NFL Draft (love the initial caps) makes the season seem closer than it actually is. That’s always a benefit in my book. It is an excuse to get friends together to watch, although in my case we need to have a poker game going because of the 15-minute time slot for each pick. One benefit to that long break between picks is the incessant banter of the draft experts. OK, Chris Berman is as much of a draft expert as I am, but his personality is welcome, especially since this keeps him away from announcing baseball. Fair-haired Mel Kiper Jr. will be sure of everything he says, even though his mock first-round draft changed about 400 times between December and now.

The best part of the NFL draft is that we don’t know.

When the Redskins drafted Patrick Ramsey (get exact pick) near the end of the first round of the 2003 draft, he looked like the quarterback of the future. He played in a pro-style offense at Tulane and had all the tools. Two years later, it’s hard to say that we know much more about Ramsey, since every time he made one mistake he got yanked like a bad stand-up comic. The Jets traded a fourth-round pick (check this) for Ramsey. In Ramsey’s case, knowing a few things was a bad thing.

Regardless of whether the Titans select Matt Leinart, Vince Young, or someone completely different, I will have no idea how things will turn out. When Paul Tagliabue strides to the podium and announces the selection, I will be excited about the pick. Most likely, it’s all downhill from there (or immediately in the case of Pacman Jones last year), but I don’t really know that yet. Not knowing means that my team could have drafted their savior, a saavy leader who will lead the franchise to untold glory and an eventual ugly yellow jacket at the Hall of Fame. It’s the only way to react because deep down, we all want to be the optimistic about everything.

In two or three years we will know and some enterprising sports writer will post a “what were they thinking?” article and we’ll all laugh. Or cry. Most of us won’t remember that at the time, we didn’t know. We didn’t know about Ryan Leaf. We didn’t know about Akili Smith (although I had a feeling). We certainly didn’t know about Ki-Jana Carter. We weren’t ready for Jevon Kearse or late-round gems like Tom Brady, Terrell Davis, and Marc Bulger. We didn’t know that a college basketball player named Antonio Gates would become the top tight end in the game, or that an undrafted free agent running back named Willie Parker would set the record for longest touchdown run in Super Bowl history.

On Saturday, and for the die-hards, Sunday as well, we’ll know nothing. And we’ll like it that way.

Banned from loyalty

It’s well documented that the Titans barred Steve McNair from entering the team facility yesterday. It’s a hard thing for long-time Titan fans to handle, and it puts in question a lot of unwritten rules about being a fan. It stared with long-term but older players like Blaine Bishop and Randall Godfrey getting the boot a few years ago. Then the team released Eddie George in 2003 after telling him that they wouldn’t do so. Jevon Kearse left without a contract offer. Last year top players like Antrel Rolle and Derrick Mason were signed by the hated Ravens, and the Titans didn’t even get draft-pick compensation since both players were released. What’s a fan to do?

Ditch the jerseys. My dad bought a Yancey Thigpen jersey when the Titans moved to town. I think Roydell Williams has the number now. His solution was to rip the name plate off the jersey, which is one way to do it. A couple of years ago the NFL switched to Reebok to supply jerseys, and the price for a replica went from $50 to $75. I tend to find mine on ebay but I’m going to stop buying current player jerseys. Don’t paint me as anti-ownership, though. The players can share the blame for the epidemic of musical teams.

The Titans created this monster of a $23 million salary cap number for McNair by repeatedly moving his money around to save cap room in years past. It worked brilliantly, except for the team playing like a pile of garbage for most of the past two years. It only makes sense that if McNair were to lessen the salary cap hit, he should get something in return. That’s why his agent Bus Cook is playing hardball and the Titans felt reduced to making the bush-league move of keeping McNair from practicing with his teammates.

McNair has been a model teammate, despite his documented brittle nature. Colt fans may whine about it, but McNair deserved his co-MVP in 2003. The Titans finished one Drew Bennett drop from taking out the mighty Patriots while Manning got to dissect one of the worst playoff defenses ever in the Kansas City Chiefs. Only due to the rapid decline of Eddie George was McNair allowed to use his considerable gifts as a field general. While he may be past his prime, he’s far from finished.

The current salary cap system is partially to blame for this situation as well. Players want guaranteed money, and that comes only in the form of a signing bonus. The signing bonus is a large portion of an extended contract, but generally speaking those contracts are back-loaded to the point that it’s not cost-effective for teams to let them play out. Remember Eddie George in that regard. It’s sort of like credit-card debt. You can put it off but eventually you have to pay. That’s the situation that the Titans and Steve McNair are in. It’s too bad that a deal couldn’t have been made in the spirit of their long time working together.

Speaking of the situation, why didn’t McNair make more of a fuss when he was sidetracked at the door of the Baptist Sports Complex? Do you really think the team would have forcefully taken him off the premises had he refused to go?

As a fan, I refuse to buy another jersey for a current player in this climate. It’s apparent that fans have to think of their team much like a fantasy squad. Every guy is expendable. The Patriots have to deal without Adam Vinatieri, and Titan fans might have to watch Steve McNair throwing passes to Derrick Mason in a Ravens uniform. And we have to pretend that we’re numb to the whole situation.

Well defended

The White Sox started their title defense with a 10-4 pounding of the Indians last night. I watched the first four innings and was well asleep by the time the extended rain delay was over. I didn't see too much of note, other than Buehrle giving up a homer to Eduardo Perez. He isn't an ace like Johan Santana, and generally he's going to give up three runs in his seven innings. Brian Anderson looked like he belonged at the plate and on the field. Thome hit one out. It was nice.

Speaking of the Sox, I saw them twice in person over the weekend. As my three readers know, I live in Atlanta, so a White Sox visit is very rare. I saw them get crushed 14-3 when they visited three years ago. On Friday I tailgated with a couple of friends and saw the game from the nice outfield seats. The game as a whole was kind of boring with the middling knuckleballer Charles Haeger starting for the Sox. Jim Thome hit a home run in the ninth to help the Sox put the game away.

On the way to the game my wife called me to say that she got tickets for the Saturday game. The key to this is that they were company tickets, and not just any company tickets, we're talking evil lawyer tickets. I rounded up some friends. It rained most of the night but by the time we arrived it was sunny and quite warm. We discovered that our sixth row seats were actually right on the dugout. Not only were they great seats, we had personal food service. The Millers were so glad to get the seats that they bought food and drink for me and Mrs. Law for the entire game. Everyone had a great time, except for young Madeline Miller, who considered a brief appearance on the JumboTron to be a personal affront. Turner Field features a 100-foot-tall plasma screen TV. I'd pay for season tickets to watch NFL Sunday Ticket on that sucker.

The icing on the cake was that the Sox won both games. I can even forgive that my middle relief dark horse for my dynasty team Oscar Villarreal got shelled in the second game. To even my karma, I dropped Brad Wilkerson for Jim Thome in my Yahoo league and took advantage of his 2.75 OPS last night.