A look at a Dontari Poe, a great player at a position of need for the Tennessee Titans.
I don’t always agree with analytics, but there are two guys that I really believe know what to pay attention to and how to get the most out of the numbers and they are Jim Cobern and Justis Mosqueda.
Cobern asked twitter for free agents for him to analyze heading into free agency and one of the ones I was very interested in was Dontari Poe.
I promise it isn’t intentional but there has been a theme in some of the free agents I am most interested in this year. Eric Berry, Dont’a Hightower and Dontari Poe are all either from Tennessee or played in the state during their college career.
So when I know that the Titans need help at nose tackle in a defense that should have some more 3-4 elements in it this year in Dick LeBeau’s 3rd season with the Titans, second as DC.
Jim Cobern happily obliged and this is some of what he had to say on Dontari Poe.
(Go read the full breakdown at the link above that goes into much better detail and shows where he is pulling his information from.)
“Poe’s profile suggests a player with tremendous peaks and the occasional valleys. And whether you want to pay top dollar for the valleys is up to you. Ride the athleticism, or be a bit more cautious. I side with being a bit more cautious, but Poe does deserve to be paid an above average salary for nose tackles.”
I don’t know how you don’t throw money at a guy like this if you are the Tennessee Titans. Think about it, with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans also likely in the market for a defensive tackle why wouldn’t you take that away from them while making this team better?
While Cobern has his own price for what he would pay the former Memphis product, using the cap this is the number I came up with. 6 years, $48 million, $22 million guaranteed.
That way you get Dontari Poe until he is 32 years old which isn’t old for a nose tackle. He would become the second highest paid NT in the NFL behind Marcell Dareus who has an insane contract where he makes more than 3 times as much as the next highest paid nose tackle according to OTC.
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This would put Poe around double the contract of the current number 2 nose tackle. He deserves that based on what the market will be for him and what the cap will probably looke like in a few years.
A great 3-4 defense has almost always been very strong up the pillar, meaning the nose tackle, inside linebacker and safety. With potential additions at both other positions this offseason (and Kevin Byard/Wesley Woodyard even if they don’t) this move could be the start of a new young core for the Tennessee Titans.
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