I just hope we won't see too much of the Titans' final fourth-round pick, LB
Stanford Keglar, except for on special teams. Not right away.
Why? Because if Keglar sees significant playing time, it will be because Keith Bulluck or David Thornton has been injured. Bulluck led the Titans in tackles for five straight years before Thornton replaced him as the leading tackler last year. I won't feel good about losing either one of them and being replaced by a rookie.
Keglar does have some great upside and could eventually turn into a very good player.
Jeff Fisher believes he can eventually become a starter:
"We have a philosophy here and it is not to draft backups. We draft everybody thinking they have a chance at some point with potential and growth a chance to start. That is why we drafted Stanford. He had a great Combine. He was very, very productive. He has good size, speed and change of direction. So we feel like he should immediately come in and be a special team contributor although Ill caution you because not a lot of these guys have done it before. He has the athletic ability to do that but eventually with the height and the 235-238 and the sub-4.6 speed and the change of direction, one would think he would eventually become a starter."
While
Lavelle Hawkins will have some stiff competition for a job this summer, Keglar looks like a lock to make the team.
There's not much depth at OLB after the departures of LeVar Woods and Gilbert Gardner. Josh Stamer was brought in as a free agent, but according to MVN's Buffalo Bills writer Dan Goldman, Stamer should be considered as strictly a special teams guy and
shouldn't be counted on for defense. Likewise, LB/snapper Ken Amato should be considered as primarily a special teamer.
I'm not sure if LB coach Dave McGinnis is planning on using Keglar as Bulluck's or Thornton's backup, but it looks like he would be a better fit on the weak side. Not that the Titans make too much distinction between strong and weak.
I've noticed a few comments about Keglar's "character" because of an incident earlier this year and I'd like to add a little info to that. Keglar was arrested after being involved in a bar fight, and that doesn't sound good. What I've heard though, is that Keglar doesn't drink or smoke and simply went to a nightclub with a few of his Purdue teammates. An altercation occurred and Keglar was simply coming to the aid of one of his teammates, who had been stabbed. That puts things in a different light, and if true, is something admirable.
Keglar and his agent sent this info in letters to all 32 NFL teams prior to the draft and said they were confident the charges would be dismissed. After all the off-the-field problems with one former Titan in the last few years, I've got to think the Titans spent some time investigating this before deciding to draft Keglar.
It's just now been reported that the charges against Keglar are in fact being dropped in exchange for some community service work.
That's a great name, Stanford Keglar. Kind of has a ring to it, like Charles Emerson Winchester III, John Fitzgerald Kennedy or Cortland Finnegan. I hope we'll hear Mike Keith call his name a lot during the next four years. Just not too often right away.
