The focus for the Tennessee Titans shifts gears now, as it does for most teams this time of year.
Free agency will take a back seat now to the work that is upcoming regarding the draft.
Titans scouts are scheduled to be in next week to begin the final preparation process and to help analyze and set the team's draft board.
Tennessee has also been busy hosting its 30 pre-draft visitors, and not surprisingly that group includes plenty of defensive players.
The Titans have played host to a number of defensive end prospects, since that is a still a position of need, even with the signing of Kamerion Wimbley late last month to help bolster the pass rush.
Among those who are in the group of prospects eyed by the Titans staff include Illinois' Whitney Mercilus, South Carolina's Melvin Ingram, West Virginia's Bruce Irvin, and Alabama's Courtney Upshaw, whom many see as a 3-4 outside linebacker, but could still fit a 4-3 scheme like Tennessee runs as a defensive end.
Defensive end, however, isn't the only position that will be a target on that side of the ball in the draft. Tennessee has been scouring through the linebackers available and have reportedly had prospects like Alabama's Dont'a Hightower and Luke Kuechly of Boston College on the radar, as they try to figure out what to do with the 20th overall pick in the draft.
The Titans would like to add a difference-maker somewhere on the defense if at all possible with the first pick, and though they will look hard at the defensive end position and hope that a pure pass rusher slips to them, the secondary is also an area where Tennessee could find both value and a playmaker.
The Titans have hosted cornerbacks Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama and Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina, and would probably be OK with either of those players being their top pick as well. Safety Mark Barron is another player who visited that will be worthy of consideration.
But just to have their bases covered as they seek the best player available, the Titans have had four wide receivers visit them in the pre-draft process. Those include Georgia Tech's Stephen Hill, Notre Dame's Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright of Baylor and Alshon Jeffrey of South Carolina.
While receiver is not a definitive need, if a playmaker at that position is far and away the best player on Tennessee's draft board, the Titans could take a flier early in round one or two and put that player with Kenny Britt, Nate Washington and tight end Jared Cook to make the passing game even stronger for Matt Hasselbeck and/or Jake Locker.
NOTES, QUOTES
-The Titans hosted restricted free-agent linebacker Jonathan Casillas of the New Orleans Saints this past week. Casillas fits the bill of the type of restricted free agents the Titans have gone after in the past. He was originally undrafted, tendered at the lowest level, and therefore would not cost Tennessee a draft pick.
It remains to be seen if the Titans are sufficiently impressed with the 24-year-old linebacker to sign him to an offer sheet, but in the past, they picked up useful parts like Ryan Fowler and Chris Carr using this method. Thus far, the Titans have not shown an inclination to sign Casillas to an offer sheet.
-Titans safety Jordan Babineaux, who attended the NFL's Hollywood Boot Camp, has some experience in film as he and his brother Jonathan of the Atlanta Falcons have their own production company called Two Brothers production. Babineaux said he went to the boot camp wanting to direct, but wound up acting in a short film the players produced.
"It triggered something else," Babineaux said. "I was thinking that I wanted to produce and direct, but now I have seen a different aspect and I'm looking into taking some acting classes."
-Defensive end Dave Ball, who told TitanInsider.com last week that contract talks with the Titans had been in the works, agreed to a one-year deal to stay with the club. The contract is worth just over $1.2 million, and brings him back to the team for a fifth season. Ball is a blue-collar success story as he had bounced around the NFL with three different teams and was out of the league in 2007 before coming to camp with the Titans in '08 and finding a home in Tennessee.
-While Ball is back, the Titans did lose another end, William Hayes, to the St. Louis Rams where he will be reunited with former Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher. Hayes agreed to a one-year deal with the Rams worth $900,000. Hayes has been a part of the rotation since being drafted by the Titans in 2008 in the fourth round.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
TEAM NEEDS
1. Cornerback: Cortland Finnegan's departure as a free agent leaves Tennessee with just two experienced cornerbacks in Alterraun Verner and Jason McCourty. There is nothing but inexperience behind those two with neither Tommie Campbell nor Chris Hawkins having played a lot other than special teams. A draft pick who impresses or a free agent could help.
2. Defensive end: The Titans benefited in a big way when the Oakland Raiders released Kamerion Wimbley late last week. The Titans acted quickly, signing Wimbley to a five-year, $35 million deal, but still need numbers at the position with only two true ends - Wimbley and Derrick Morgan - on the roster.
3. Linebacker: Tennessee likes young linebackers Akeem Ayers and Colin McCarthy, but would like one more younger linebacker to complement those two and compete with veteran Will Witherspoon for a starting role on the weak side.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"If they're of the mindset that they're looking for another Cortland Finnegan type who will be aggressive, then I think (Dre) Kirkpatrick is that type of guy." -- Draft analyst Rob Rang on the Titans need at cornerback since the free-agent departure of Cortland Finnegan to the Rams.
