Trade Nets Extra Pick, Inside Linebacker
In the third round, the Tennessee Titans got a three-down linebacker.
At least that is how Monty Rice, a Butkus Award finalist last season, sees himself.
“I can run, I can hit, I can cover, you know I can do what a three-down linebacker needs to be able to do,” Rice said. “In today’s NFL you got to be able to run and hit and linebacker, and I do a pretty good job of that.”
The Titans selected Rice, a two-year starter at Georgia, with the 92nd overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft on Friday. He was the second of three defensive players the team chose with its first four picks.
They made the selection after they traded back in the round (from No. 85 overall) with the Green Bay Packers. The deal netted Tennessee an additional pick in the fourth round, No. 135 overall.
Rice (6-foot-1, 235 pounds) started 27 of 47 games played at Georgia, is a powerful linebacker who has good speed at the point of attack. In 2019, he amassed a career-high 89 total tackles and helped limit opponents to just 12.5 points per game. He followed with 49 tackles in nine games last season, when he played through a foot injury.
For his career, he averaged nearly five tackles per contest and recorded two sacks, five passes defensed, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
He now hopes to bring that same intensity and “businessman” attitude to a Titans defense that has one inside linebacker, Jayon Brown, in a contract year and another, Rashaan Evans, whose fifth-year option must be picked up early next week or he will be in a contract year as well.
“Just ready to get to work,” Rice said. “[I just] want to perfect my craft at a high level and do whatever I can do to be a better player. That starts with staying in the weight room and staying strong and mastering the playbook.”
One advantage Rice believes he has is the complexity of the Bulldogs’ defensive scheme under coach Kirby Smart will soften the learning curve in the NFL.
“At Georgia, we got the most complex defense in college football,” Rice said. “So, I feel like I am ready for whatever as far as playbook wise,” Rice said. “I am able to learn any new defense because at Georgia we learned it all.”
He did not dazzle draft analysts with his size, speed or athleticism, but over four years at Georgia he consistently displayed an important trait for any player at his position – an ability to find the football. He reads plays well, keeps himself in position to make a play and reacts decisively at the right moment.
“He kept showing up, kept making plays and the more we talked with him, got to know him, this is a confident player who was willing to lead inside and was productive,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “… Kept tackling the ball. Kept flying around. And I think that this was a player that really grew on us, and me personally I think as a coach in our conversations with him and watching him on film.”
