INDIANAPOLIS – In 1999, the Titans lucked into Jevon Kearse at pick No. 16 because some teams ahead of them didn’t know what he was.
They judged him too small to be a 4-3 end, the most popular front at the time, and while he had great speed they worried about how he’d hold up against the run as an outside linebacker.
Tennessee simply saw a player who it believed could get to the passer, putting him at end and coaching him to do so. And he promptly set a rookie record with 14.5 sacks.
The stigma of being a tweener – a player like Kearse who may be a hybrid end/linebacker, now just an “edge” – or a linebacker who can play inside and outside like Cleveland’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah or a safety who plays everywhere like Arizona’s Isaiah Simmons – is a thing of the past.