Tennessee Titans Drafts -- 1998-2002 (Part 1of 3)

In preparation for the upcoming NFL draft, I recently took a long look back at the past five drafts of the Tennessee Titans in an effort to see if I could use history to predict how the Titans might draft this year.

I thought it would be interesting to see which players still remained part of the team from those drafts.

There also were a few questions that I wanted to answer, such as how many number one picks remain with the team now, how many overall picks have remained with the team since 1998 and how many of those picks turned out to be impact players for the Titans?

In this three-part series, I will take a look at the past five Tennessee Titan's drafts (1998-2002) and analyze their impact on the on the team.

I will begin by working up some stats on the past five drafts to help set the stage for the second and third parts to ths series.

After that, I will take a look at a few of the players who have come and gone, tried and succeeded or tried and failed in an attempt to guarantee themselves a solid spot on the Titans roster.

Finally, I will take a look at the players who have had the most impact on the Titan's since joining them through the draft.

I will also share some of my views on the upcoming Titan's draft.

So to start, let's take a look at some of the important numbers relating to the past five Tennessee Titan's drafts.

(Along with each story, I will provide a complete listing of the Titans past drafts broken down by year. Listed below are the past two drafts.)

2002 Draft

Round Pick in Round Pick in Draft Player, Position, College Playing Status*

1 15 15 Albert Haynesworth, DT, Tennessee 1

2 13 45 Tank Williams, DB, Stanford 1

3 12 77 Rocky Calmus, LB, Oklahoma 1

4 12 110 Mike Echols, DB, Wisconsin 1

4 17 115 Tony Beckham, DB, Wisconsin-Stout 1

4 35 133 Rocky Boiman, LB, Notre Dame 1

5 16 151 Jake Schifino, WR, Akron 1

6 15 187 Justin Hartwig, T, Kansas 1

7 14 225 Darrell Hill, WR, Northern Illinois 1

7 29 240 Carlos Hall, DE, Arkansas 1

* Note: Status Key: 1. With the team, 2. Not with the team. 3. With another team. 4. Out of the league.

2001 Draft

Round Pick in Round Pick in Draft Player, position, college Playing Status*

2 29 60 Andre Dyson, DB, Utah 1

3 28 90 Shad Meier, TE, Kansas State 1

4 29 124 Justin McCareins, WR, Northern Illinois 1

5 28 159 Eddie Berlin, WR, No. Iowa 1

6 29 192 Dan Alexander, RB, Nebraska 2/4

6 36 199 Adam Haayer, G, Minnesota 2/4

7 32 232 Keith Adams, LB, Clemson 2/3

* Note: Status Key: 1. With the team, 2. Not with the team. 3. With another team. 4. Out of the league.

From 1998 to 2002, the Titans had a total of 43 picks in the draft. Here is how they break down by round.

Round 1: 5 Round 2: 3 Round 3: 6 Round 4: 9 Round 5: 6 Round 6: 6 Round 7: 8

Out of those 43 picks, 27 of those players are still on the Titan's roster at the time this article is being written. With a current roster of 58 players, the 27 make up 46% of the current roster.

The following is a positional breakdown of the past five drafts.

Draft by Position

Offense Defense Special Teams

QB: 1 DT: 3 K: 0

RB: 2 DE: 3 P: 0

WR: 6 LB: 8

TE: 2 DB: 12

T: 2

G: 3

C: 1

As you can see by the numbers, the Titans have drafted more defensive players (25) than offensive players (17), which shows an interest in constantly improving their defense (mostly out of necessity).

With a depth chart provided by the team, of the players still with the Titan's after the last five drafts, 11 were starters at the end of last season.

If there are any more stats that I have forgotten or you might want to see or know, let me know using the Write the Editor link above, and I will post them in my next two articles.