Highly touted defensive end Whitney Mercilus from Illinois and offensive guard David DeCastro from Stanford were both available at the Titans' pick and one was expected to end the night in a Titan uniform. The front office stunned the Music City community with picking neither player, nor addressing the defense or offensive line. Instead, the Titans chose to address a skill position to give young quarterback Jake Locker another offensive threat to develop with.
Wright's selection wasn't the first time the Titans have gone against what the popular opinion was. In 2006, Matt Leinart was projected to be Tennessee's pick, they went with Vince Young. In 2008 coming off of Young's playoff appearance quite a few draft boards had Tennessee selecting Limas Sweed, Young's favorite college target or Devin Thomas from Michigan State, again the Titans refused to back off their scouting reports and selected Chris Johnson...no need to explain how that turned out. Even as early as the 2011 draft, Nebraska corner back Prince Amukamara was anticipated to be the selection and the Titans stuck by their day one prospect affection in quarterback Jake Locker.
Needless to say that if the Titan front office and scouts have their minds set on a specific prospect, it's almost guaranteed that no one will know who it is and that that player will usually be available.
Wright brings a ton to the offense, the ability to stretch the field with Britt on the opposite end, freeing up lanes for Chris Johnson and not to mention taking a bunch of pressure off of Nate Washington who took a beating last season game after game. A lot of publicity has been made about his 4.61 40 time at the NFL Combine however, as someone who has seen Wright make big time plays on big stages, there is no need to panic. Wright could easily turn out to be a Mike Wallace type of player who will have defensive coordinators on edge, that teamed with Britt's overall exceptional talent creates quite possibly the most athletic and explosive receiving duo the Titans have ever had.
The remainder of the 2012 draft class no doubt has to consist of pass rushers and offensive line help for the front office to justify taking Wright over the other very appealing prospects available at the time. Wide receiver coach Dave Ragone did an excellent job with the unit after Britt's injury, Damian Williams and Lavelle Hawkins both played above their usual level thanks in big part to Ragone. But both are still incredibly flawed players, Wright makes up for their lack of consistent production with huge upside and instant impact in the deep ball game.
2012 should be a very interesting season for the Titans, Munchak is going to be expected to make a playoff run, two losses to Houston won't cut it in year two with a full off-season to work the young players into the system on both offense and defense. Chris Palmer has done an excellent job with the offense thus far and in the development of Jake Locker, fans should expect great things this upcoming season. Welcome to the Titans, Kendall Wright!
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