The Tennessee Titans selected former Michigan State offensive tackle Jack Conklin with the eight pick of the 2016 NFL Draft on Thursday night.
This came after Tennessee initially moved down from the top spot in the draft to No. 15 overall before moving into the top 10 the night of the draft.
Seemingly always linked to an offensive tackle in the first round, the selection of Conklin seems to be an indictment on 2014 first-round pick Taylor Lewan.
And it appears Lewan himself isn’t happy with it:
“To me, honestly, I never thought anything of it because I know I’m not a right tackle. I’m a left tackle,” Lewan said, via The Tennessean. “I knew I was the left tackle for this team and I knew once I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. (Jon) Robinson and Coach (Mike) Mularkey that they would hear my piece and where I was from. And I respect them to the Nth degree. They’re unbelievable. An unbelievable G.M., an unbelievable coach, and I would do a lot for this team.”
Lewan is right in that the Titans selected him 11th overall back in 2014 to play left tackle. Unfortunately, it hasn’t panned out.
Last season saw then rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota sacked 38 times in 12 games. Overall, Titans quarterbacks were taken down a ridiculous 54 times on the season.
“But I know I came in here, I know my worth as a player, and I know that I’m a left tackle,” the offensive tackle continued. “So I think it’s my job now to prove that I can be more consistent this year and do those things. But as far as worrying about it and stuff like that, I never did, because I know the kind of player that I am.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. If Tennessee had exhausted the top overall pick on a tackle, there likely wouldn’t have been much of a competition in camp.
Even with the team going tackle at eight, the assumption here has to be that Lewan will face stiff competition in camp.
Considering there had been some talk about Lewan on the trade block, it’s rather interesting that he would go to these lengths to talk about his value as a left tackle.
Lewan has two more years left on his rookie deal with a team option for the 2018 season. We will know just how much the Titans value him when it comes time for the team to decide whether to pick up said option next spring.