In the minds of many, Notre Dame’s Joe Alt may as well start deciding on his two-tone blue jersey number for next season.
Picking Alt in the NFL Draft next month would make perfect sense for the Titans, as he is considered by most to be the top left tackle on the board, and Tennessee has a glaring need for a starter to protect quarterback Will Levis.
But what if Alt isn’t available when the Titans make the seventh overall selection of the first round?
One scenario that has picked up steam recently is that the Los Angeles Chargers, perhaps seeking to make a statement under new coach Jim Harbaugh, would take Alt with the No. 5 pick.
Here’s what Harbaugh himself said about building a strong offensive line, telling media at the recently completed NFL owners’ meetings he couldn’t think of a more important position group.
“If I asked you the question, 'What position group depends on no other position group to be good — but every other position group depends on them to be good?’ What position group is that? Offensive line,” Harbaugh said.
“They’re not relying on any other position group to be good. But yet every other position group relies on the offensive line to be good. The D-line, they’ll be the ones that argue back, 'Ah, we don’t need the offensive line to be good.’ [But] do you? Do you like when the offense has a 12-play drive and the field position? 'Yeah, okay, you’re right.’ So building that kind of offensive line, that’s exciting. Can’t wait to do that.”
The Chargers, it should be noted, have a 25-year-old former Pro Bowler at left tackle in 2021 first-round pick Rashawn Slater. Los Angeles also is in desperate need of a wide receiver after having parted ways with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams during the offseason.
But a couple of notable NFL analysts, ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum and the NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks, have the Chargers taking Alt in their recently released mock drafts.
“My whole thing with coach Harbaugh, I think he’s taking offensive linemen because he’s trying to send a statement like, `This is who we’re going to be. We’re going to be about offensive line play,’’” Tannenbaum said on a conference call this week.
So if the Titans had indeed wanted to take Alt, and if he is snatched up by the Chargers, who would the Titans take at No. 7 in that scenario?
One logical move, as illustrated in Brooks’ mock draft, would be to select Penn State’s Olu Fashanu, who is generally considered the second-best tackle available. The 6-6, 312-pound Fashanu didn’t surrender a single sack in 663 pass-blocking snaps over three seasons at Penn State, in part because of his athleticism and quick feet.
But not everyone believes Fashanu is the second-best option at tackle. He struggled at times in the Nittany Lions’ loss to Ohio State last season, and Fashanu isn’t as highly regarded in the run game as he is in pass protection.
Tannenbaum has the Titans taking Alabama tackle J.C. Latham at No. 7. The 6-6, 342-pound Latham, another quick-footed colossus, is rated the No. 21 overall draft prospect by Pro Football Focus (Alt is No. 5, Fashanu is No. 18).
Scouting reports generally give Latham a more favorable run-blocking grade than Fashanu, with the reverse holding true in pass protection. Still, Latham gave up only two sacks in 1,016 pass-blocking snaps over three seasons.
“Latham had a lot of penalties (17 over two seasons), but I think [new Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan] is a guy that really is going to be drilling fundamentals and you can clean that up,” said Tannebaum, who was the New York Jets’ general manager for seven seasons.
“I like both [Latham and Fashanu]. Fashanu has really ideal size. He didn’t play great in the Ohio State game, but I think he’s a plug-and-play player from Day One. I think if you could clean up a couple things about Latham’s game; you could be getting somebody with rare ability to displace somebody. I think Fashanu has the ability. I just thought Latham did it a little bit more consistently. But if you said they drafted Fashanu, that makes a lot of sense as well. I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between those two guys.”
One significant difference between the two is their positional background.
Fashanu played all 1,342 of his college snaps at left tackle, while Latham played 1,753 snaps at right tackle — zero at left tackle.
Would the Titans, in Tannenbaum’s scenario, try to move Latham to the left side to fill the more important need?
“Yeah, I think [Latham] could move there,” Tannenbaum said. “Again, the world of Bill Callahan ... I definitely think you could slide [Latham to left tackle] and I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”
Moving Latham to left tackle would seem to be the only scenario for which the Titans would select him at No. 7.
Otherwise, the team would be right back at square one at left tackle, still in search of a quality starter.