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With the twentieth pick of the 2012 CSC Community Mock Draft, the Tennessee Titans (chosen by shipgoalie05) select...
Luke Kuechly, LB, Boston College
When you're picking in the first round, the goal is to add talent that will immediately help the team. This is especially true for the Tennessee Titans, who were the only team with a winning record to not make the playoffs last year. When you factor in that two teams in their division will likely struggle in the coming years (the rebuilding Colts and the offensively inept Jaguars), the time for the Titans to make a push for the playoffs is now. The best way they can do that is by taking the best player available here in the first round, regardless of need.
Luke Kuechly doesn't fit the Titans biggest needs, but he is one of top 10 or 12 players in the draft, and when you have an opportunity to draft a player as talented as Kuechly with the 20th pick, you have to take it. Kuechly is considered one of the safer picks in the draft because there aren't any negatives in game. He has the elite instincts, athleticism, and tackling ability you'd want from a first round linebacker, while also providing solid pass coverage. His production in college was the charts. The 2011 Butkus Award winner and two time All -American had a staggering 532 tackles (299 solo), 7 INTs (2 returned for TD's), and 17 Passes Defended in his 3 years at Boston College.
The only drawback to drafting Kuechly is that the Titans already have a solid young middle linebacker in Colin McCarthy. While McCarthy excelled at MLB in his rookie season after taking over for Barrett Ruud, he did play at OLB in 3 of his 4 years at the University of Miami. It is also possible that the Titans could move Kuechly to OLB, as his athleticism and instincts should allow him to play any of the 3 linebacker positions. When you add Akeem Ayers, last years second round pick , to Kuechly and McCarthy, the Titans will have the best young linebacking group in the NFL, so the Titans should not pass over an elite player like Kuechly in order to reach for a less talented player who may fill a need.
Below are the complete results from our community mock draft.
Catch up with all of the mock draft selections in our 2012 CSC Community Mock Draft Section.
| Pick | Team | Selection | Team Representative | Approval Rating |
| 1 | Indianapolis Colts | QB Andrew Luck - Stanford | Legatron Morstead | 77% |
| 2 | Washington Redskins | QB Robert Griffin III - Baylor | VAsaintsfan | 78% |
| 3 | Minnesota Vikings | OT Matt Kalil - USC | Hans Petersen | 69% |
| 4 | Cleveland Browns | RB Trent Richardson - Alabama | Fan since the Aints | 81% |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | CB Morris Claiborne - LSU | Alex Swift | 50% |
| 6 | St. Louis Rams | WR Justin Blackmon - Oklahoma St. | GRIZZ | 73% |
| 7 | Jacksonville Jaguars | WR Michael Floyd - Notre Dame | AcquiredPanic | 51% |
| 8 | Miami Dolphins | WR Kendall Wright - Baylor | were gonna need a bigger boat | 16% |
| 9 | Carolina Panthers | DT Michael Brockers - LSU | DatFan | 43% |
| 10 | Buffalo Bills | OT Riley Reiff - Iowa | theprogrammerman | 51% |
| 11 | Kansas City Chiefs | G David DeCastro - Stanford | Jimbo03 | 69% |
| 12 | Seattle Seahawks | DE Melvin Ingram - South Carolina | BASAINT | 57% |
| 13 | Arizona Cardinals | DT Dontari Poe - Memphis | jeremysherwin | 44% |
| 14 | Dallas Cowboys | S Mark Barron - Alabama | Saint for Life | 59% |
| 15 | Philadelphia Eagles | DE Quinton Coples - North Carolina | caominh | 26% |
| 16 | NY Jets | LB Courtney Upshaw - Alabama | GRIZZ | 65% |
| 17 | Cincinnati Bengals | WR Stephen Hill - Georgia Tech | coldpizza | |
| 18 | San Diego Chargers | DE/OLB Nick Perry - USC | Alex Swift | |
| 19 | Chicago Bears | TE Coby Fleener - Stanford | Jay Cutler | |
| 20 | Tennessee Titans | LB Luke Kuelchy - Boston College | shipgoalie05 |