2014 NFL mock draft: Tre Mason to Tennessee Titans at No. 42

You may or may not have heard that the Tennessee Titans parted ways with running back Chris Johnson this offseason. (Okay, yeah, you’d probably heard.) Shonn Greene is currently atop the team’s depth chart, and free agent addition Dexter McCluster adds some versatility to the backfield, but the Titans are still expected to address the position in the 2014 NFL Draft, potentially as early as the second round. Jimmy Morris of Music City Miracles is leaning that direction with his second mock draft pick of the spring.

“The Titans will most likely have their pick of the running backs here. Tre Mason is the perfect fit for what they need. He is a patient runner with good vision. He isn’t built to be a short-yardage back, but that is not what the Titans are going to ask Mason to do. They are going to ask him to make some explosive plays, which he will be able to do with his good vision and patient running, and to contribute in the passing game. The other plus to Mason is that he doesn’t have any of the character red flags that some of the other top backs in this draft have.”

The choice of a running back – the first one no less – will come down to how teams rate them. For the reasons described above, Mason makes sense for the Titans. But in our running back rankings, there are running backs of a similar style rated higher. Those players would be Bishop Sankey of Washington and Charles Sims of West Virginia. If a team wants a player to contribute in the passing game, Sims in particular makes even more sense.