87. Jurrell Casey, DT, Titans

The Titans' Jurrell Casey has shown incredible versatility for his size.

87. Jurrell Casey, DT, Titans

Casey has been one of the more overlooked interior defenders over the last couple of years. His early fans may have worried when the Titans decided to switch to a gap-diverse system with more 3–4 looks last season. After all, the general assumption is that tackles who stand 6' 1" and weigh around 300 pounds aren’t tall enough to get the right kind of leverage at the end position, nor are they heavy enough to beat blockers at the point of attack as nose tackles. But Casey was able to dispel these concerns, showing his versatility at multiple positions more than ever last season. He played his usual pass-rushing tackle position very well, but he also showed a real knack for getting pressure as a stand-up rusher. Casey’s most dominant trait is probably his lateral agility—he can zip across multiple gaps in a hurry, making him a stellar stunt defender. Casey made the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2015, but it’s time for more people to know his name and understand how great he really is.

Published Jun 22, 2016

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.