Mike Vrabel: Titans confident in player-evaluation process despite Isaiah Wilson miss

Last offseason, the Tennessee Titans took a couple of big swings that backfired.

The biggest was investing a first-round pick in offensive lineman Isaiah Wilson, who played a grand total of four snaps his rookie season. After multiple off-field issues, the Titans traded Wilson to Miami this offseason. He didn’t last a fortnight with the Dolphins before being cut.

The other big swing and miss was signing Vic Beasley. The veteran edge rusher reported late and was just as invisible on the field before he was waived after just five games.

Part of Tennessee’s issues came with minimal contact with free agents and draft prospects last season due to COVID-19.

Despite the misses, coach Mike Vrabel said it doesn’t change the Titans’ process of evaluating players, particularly in the draft, in the second season of COVID restrictions.

“I think that we have to continue to do our due diligence and then go through our process,” the coach said. “We’re excited about the guys that we have from that draft coming back. Hopefully, we’ll be able to add to that here this year.”

Vrabel has often spoken about adding players who “love ball.” Given their issues, it could have been argued that Wilson and Beasley didn’t match those expectations.

The coach, however, doesn’t believe a different approach was needed this offseason or moving forward after last year’s issues.

“We’re comfortable with the guys that we brought in,” he said. “We’re excited about the additions to the team. Having met these guys and seen them, talked with them, we’re excited about adding them to our football team and helping us win.”

Even with their roster miscues, the Titans still made the postseason, losing to Baltimore on Super Wild Card Weekend.

The hope is that this year’s additions, including Bud Dupree coming off an ACL tear, work out better than 2020.

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