BBV Community Mock Draft 2011: With The Eighth Pick, Tennessee Selects ...

Da'Quan Bowers, DE, Clemson.

Playing the role of general manager for the Tennessee Titans is 'RealLT.' Here is his rational for the Bowers selection:

So far this offseason, there have been several examples of teams around the NFL going back to the chop shop and gutting old ties to bring in fresh faces and promise for whenever the next football season will be. The Tennessee Titans is not one of these teams. Three years ago, they were the Cinderella story of the AFC South with our old friend Kerry Collins grabbing the reigns from the Vince Young Experiment and leading the oily ones to 13 convincing wins, only to be bounced in the divisional playoffs by the Baltimore Ravens.

The Titans enter this offseason looking quite different from the disappointing 8-8 and 6-10 teams of the past two seasons. Buzz Adams finally decided to let Vince Young loose, as well as main antagonist Jeff Fisher who had coached the team since the Oiler days. His replacement is Mike Munchak, a man who has spent 29 total football years with the Oilers/Titans (12 year career at guard, 17 years with coaching staff). But where exactly will the Titans draft to help this team return to playoff form?

Truth be told, I wanted the Titans pick just to spoil the party for the Cowgirls. This would normally be easy, as Prince Amukamara would be just that pick. He has the potential to be a fantastic all-around corner, which could be considered an area of need as well due to the behavior of talented yet hot-tempered CB Cortland Finnegan. In terms of need, the Titans NEED a QB before operations can continue. Unfortunately, both Gabbert and Newton went early in this draft, and while there are other intriguing QB options (Mallet, Ponder, Locker) none are worthy of a pick at this spot. WR would also be a nice choice to help the upcoming-stud Kenny Britt (especially with the Randy Moss fiasco), but as AJ Green went one spot before and Julio Jones has some injury concerns, that will have to wait as well.

If this were the way the draft were to work out, it seems like an easy pick for the Titans at pick #8: Da’Quan Bowers. It has only been a couple weeks since he was listed as the #1 pick in many mock drafts, but has seen a recent slide with growing knee concerns. Bowers, as some may remember, was just as promising a prospect coming out of high school, voted the consensus No. 1 prospect by ESPN and even being compared to "the closest thing to Reggie White and Bruce Smith" by Rivals.com.

This also serves as filling an area of need for the Titans. DE Jason Babin had a tremendous season for the Titans in 2010 nearly doubling his career sack count with 12.5 sacks on the season. However, he is an unrestricted free agent and most likely will seek another team with the Titans entering rebuilding mode. With Derrick Morgan likely to continue improving, the Bowers pick gives the Titans a nice set of young 4-3 DEs, a very important component in today’s pass-happy NFL offense. As for QBs, just give KC a couple more vodka-cranberries and see if he can’t sling the pigskin for one more year.

My take: Bowers has actually been the No. 1 pick is some mocks I have seen. Hard to argue with taking him here at No. 8. Not that it matters, but ESPN's Mel Kiper also gave the Titans Bowers in his most recent mock.

-- Simms-McConkey is now on the clock with the ninth pick of the draft for the Dallas Cowboys. This one should be fun.

Round 1

Round 2