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Laremy Tunsil, OT, Ole Miss
Usually being the 1st overall pick is a slam dunk. There is always a player who is obviously at the top of everyone's draft board and is a no brainer decision. This year was not so easy. I think at this point that it is accepted that this draft is a fairly weak one in almost every position outside of the defensive line. You can make an argument for the OL as well, but it's not nearly as stacked. This made my decision a hard one.
Do I go with the versatile DB who killed it at the Combine where there is an obvious need or do I go with the LT that killed it at his Pro Day where there is an obvious need? It appears that you can't go wrong either way. But let me justify why I went with Tunsil over Ramsey.
First of all, I don't think it would be controversial to say that the Titans could pick any position outside of QB and it would fill a huge hole on their roster. They were pretty horrible last year with very few players on their roster I could name outside of skill position players. And if I can't name a lot of players on your team, you are doing something horribly wrong.
So let's look at Tunsil for a second. If you are looking for a spider graph for him, you will be disappointed. He did not run the 40 and participated only in position drills, so his spider graph is only his body measurements and that does not tell you much. But what sold me on Tunsil was his pro day. Watch him do the bench press. When I first saw the footage, I thought somebody had sped up the video. Not only did he do 34 reps, he was as explosive as you could possibly be when doing them. Looking at the footage from the Combine, Tunsil looks smooth in his movements and incredibly athletic. So pretty much, he's a natural athlete who will upgrade any OL he is put on.
And now I look to the Titans roster. Tennessee quietly has a solid DB corps. They have Jason McCourty and Perrish Cox at CB and Da'Norris Searcy and Rashad Johnson (which by the way is a sneaky good signing) at S. I'm not saying that Jalen Ramsey couldn't find a way to see the field. In fact, he'd most likely be a starter at least at CB worst case scenario. But the Titans might be more concerned with finding depth at DB than a starter. Meanwhile, look at the OL. They have Taylor Lewan and former 1st rounder Chance Warmack. And I don't even know how good Warmack has done, I just remember him from being on a lot of mock drafts from a past year. So there is little talent in this position overall.
This also plays a little into how I personally like to build a team. To me, a team will only be as good as their trenches. More particularly, I look at the OL. We have seen it with the Eagles, where the team has been good when the OL was playing well and stayed healthy and the team has struggled when the OL has either been subpar overall or overly injured.
The Titans have a franchise QB in former future Eagle Marcus Mariota and a notable RB in former actual Eagle DeMarco Murray. If you can't protect your QB and open holes for your RB, your offense is going to fail miserably. While Tennessee might have a far way to go before they have an OL who can dominate, drafting Tunsil goes a far way towards that goal.
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2016 BGN Mock Draft Order
1) Titans (ablesser88) - Laremy Tunsil, OT, Ole Miss - [Explanation]
2) Browns (EaglesGenius) -
3) Chargers (StoneColeKiller58) -
4) Cowboys (kamjam) -
5) Jaguars (drc242) -
6) Ravens (rohan915) -
7) 49ers (LAOJoe) -
8) Eagles (slickpablovick) -
9) Buccaneers (OneBucFan47) -
10) Giants (Paulie97) -
11) Bears (Kiko's Delivery Service) -
12) Saints (kylebruneault) -
13) Dolphins (wildcatlh) -
14) Raiders (Luxury_Used_Vehicles_By_Braman) -
15) Rams (NowWhat?) -
16) Lions (bri g) -
17) Falcons (thealien2696) -
18) Colts (ei78) -
19) Bills (naderg43) -
20) Jets (Quacking_Eagle) -
21) Washington (TheCoxishere) -
22) Texans (jeppsforst) -
23) Vikings (WScott151) -
24) Bengals (burkhart_b) -
25) Steelers (theaction) -
26) Seahawks (tfrank9811) -
27) Packers (3Trace) -
28) Chiefs (jawmo) -
N/A) Patriots - Cheaters
29) Cardinals (big DUB) -
30) Panthers (zatch2k) -
31) Broncos (JALupowitz) -