The Tennessee Titans took 21-year old DT Jurrell Casey out of USC with the 77th overall pick (3rd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Casey is 6’1″, 305 pounds and he’s pretty mean.  Casey hits through the ball carrier and he has a lot of speed inside which gives guards and centers big trouble.  Casey played in 13 games (all starts) for USC last year and he had 67 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, batted down 2 passes and he recovered 1 fumble.  Casey played in 38 games (26 starts) in his three years with the Trojans and he had 138 tackles, 22 tackles for a loss, 9 sacks, batted down 3 passes, forced 3 fumbles and he recovered 4 fumbles.  This was a solid pick for the Titans as Casey should help them right away.

The Tennessee Titans picked 22-year old OLB Akeem Ayers out of UCLA with the 39th overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Ayers is a big guy at 6’3″, 255 pounds and he runs a 4.65 40, so he’s a great athlete.  Ayers slipped a little bit as he was projected to maybe go in the first round.  He played in 12 games (all starts) for UCLA last year and he had 68 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 4 sacks, he broke up 4 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Ayers played in 37 games (28 starts) in his three years with the Bruins and he had 183 tackles, 29.5 tackles for a loss, 14 sacks, broke up 10 passes and he had 6 interceptions.  Ayers is a playmaker, so I like this pick for the Titans.

The Tennessee Titans picked 23-year old QB Jake Locker out of Washington with the 8th overall pick in the NFL Draft last night.  Locker is a big guy at 6’2″, 228 pounds and he’s a fast runner (4.55) which makes him a nice dual threat with the football.  Locker has problems with accuracy but he also has a rifle arm that allows him to complete passes that other QBs can’t.  Plus he has good mobility to either by time to throw the ball or take off running out of the pocket.  Locker played in 12 games (all starts) for Washington last season and he completed 184 of 332 passes (55.4%) for 2,265 yards with 17 TD passes and 9 INTs.  He played in 40 games (all starts) in his four years with the Huskies and he completed 619 of 1,148 passes (53.9%) for 7,639 yards with 53 TD passes and 35 INTs.  If anyone thought the Titans might think of bringing back Vince Young in 2011, the pick of Locker ends all of that speculation.

The Titans need to reload on defense while also finding a QB next weekend.  Here’s a look at who the Titans picked up in my mock draft:

1st round (#8 overall) – Robert Quinn, DE, North Carolina

2nd round (#39 overall) – Christian Ponder, QB, Florida State

3rd round (#77 overall) – Kenrick Ellis, DT, Hampton

4th round (#109 overall) – K.J. Wright, OLB, Mississippi State

4th round (#130 overall) – Cliff Matthews, DE, South Carolina

5th round (#142 overall) – Austin Pettis, WR, Boise State

6th round (#175 overall) – Ugo Chinasa, DE, Oklahoma State

7th round (#212 overall) – Rob Housler, TE, Florida Atlantic

7th round (#251 overall) – Ben Chappell, QB, Indiana

The Titans would be really happy with this kind of draft as they would get an impact pass rusher (Quinn) and a QB of the future (Ponder) in the first two rounds and quite a bit of help for the defense later on.