Titans Second-Round Draft Pick (#52): North Carolina LB Zach Brown

Is he really that bad of a tackler? I mean, did he not lead UNC in tackles? I am asking, I don't know. Even so, guy has a ton of tackles, I wouldn't say he is soft. Sounds like he just has bad form and could be coached up.

 

He doesn't wrap up well and kinda takes a high angle on some of his tackles or lunges forward like a take down instead of a tackle. He will whiff against someone with good agility.

I think it's a mentality and technique thing. Needs to be coached up to be aggressive at the poa and wrap up. I'm not so much worried about his tackling mainly because he is going to be in coverage and playing in space.

 

It seems that most of his tackles were running people from behind from crazy angles. I watched 4 or 5 UNC games last year and I think he rarely tried. If he couldn't run someone down in open space, he basically did what he could to avoid getting blocked, even if it meant running away from the play.

If you search my posts about the guy, I think you will find that I initially liked him --- but then I watched him play. The bowl game was an embarassment.

I don't think he even played against Georgia Tech.

 

Do we not need a guy who can run down wide open TE's?

Gronk in week 1 will need to be ran down. Brown might not be a Lion with power, but if he can act like a Hyena grab the prey and wait for help then he will be just fine.

 

UNC had a lot of trouble with guys putting forth "effort". I think when SOOOO many had a problem with effort it tells more about the coaching than the actual players

 

There are 6 games where we play top 10 TE's. Not to mention luck to his old TE buddy which COULD make 2 more games where the TE being covered is a huge deal.


People say it wasnt a need, but its actually a huge need imo.

Even if his tackling isnt how everyone likes him to tackle, that can be taught. Im sure the coaches agree or they wouldnt have wasted a 2nd round pick on him. not saying they will be right, but i see why this was an easy pick to like.

 

I really hope that is the case. There is nothing more I'd love to see than him running all over the place, blowing up plays, forcing turnovers, etc..... but it is really tough for me to get excited about him until I see how showing some effort.

 

This guy is someone who can turn into a star IF he listens to the coaches.

UNC coaches should have never let him sniff playing time until he displayed proper fundamentals. The fact that they didnt shows that they are a sorry bunch.

Ive got no problem with the pick as long as we see a reasonable amount of results ths year.

 

Some of this negative stuff has to be overblown... he had over 100 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, three picks and four breakups last year. Over a 13 game season, that's pretty freaking impressive.

He was ACC all conference. Hopefully we can light a fire under his butt and get him to really get it going. Maybe pointing out what a top end second contract might look like will do it.

 

I don't like to compare guys to former players because they never seem to live up to it, but Bulluck came into the league with many of the same knocks on his game. He had speed (I believe played safety at Syracuse) but lacked physicality. Throughout this career his main problem was getting off blocks, but he was really good in coverage and turned into a really good player for the better part of a decade. Hopefully what Brown lacks in physicality he will make up for in aggressiveness like KB was able to do.

In that same vein of thought, people forget that Bulluck was one of the all-time pile-jumpers in the Titans' brief history. He got a lot of tackles because he helped teammates and/or held onto or slowed the ball carrier down as well as his solo tackles.

The fact is that Brown's strength's fill a need and that's covering tight ends or backs out of the backfield. Maybe they are trying to find a KB-type player in Brown.