Molden Bounces Back After Tough NFL Baptism With Titans

The former UW defensive back got beat a couple of times early in the season and had to sit down.

If memory serves, Elijah Molden never got beat for a touchdown pass at the University of Washington.

Oh, maybe once.

As an NFL rookie, however, this happened to him twice in his first two weeks in the league with the Tennessee Titans and he wasn't sure what hit him. He got benched after the second scoring strike went over his head, in Seattle, of all places. 

“In college, the quarterbacks I faced, their arm talent isn’t like what it is at this level,” Molden said. “So, you didn’t necessarily have to worry about the vertical shots. But now you have that at any point, so it’s just kind of knowing formations and keeping everything in front of you.”

Ah, but the beauty of this 5-foot-10, 192-pound defensive back from West Linn, Oregon, is he's extremely savvy and determined to succeed as a pro football player.

He took his lumps as a new player in the league and stayed ready to redeem himself. Before he knew it, first-round draft pick Caleb Farley tore up a knee and was lost for the season after six games and veteran cornerback Kristian Fulton more recently pulled a hamstring severe enough to land him on injured reserve. 

He returned to the lineup and did well against Buffalo and Kansas City, two of the league's better teams, by piling up 17 tackles and doing his due diligence in pass coverage. He feels much more comfortable.

Tennessee, off to a 5-2 start with impressive victories over the Bills and Chiefs, has liked his game from the beginning, but the Titans need Molden to step up more than ever now. 

He underwent a learning curve at the UW, too, waiting for others ahead of him to graduate before becoming a two-time All-Pac-12 secondary selection, but this level is so much more intense and unforgiving.

As the son of Alex Molden, a former Oregon and NFL cornerback, this Molden believes he got beat for a reason, but there are more reasons left. 

“It was going to happen one way or the other,” Molden said. “That’s something I felt like, in the moment,  it was terrible. But I also felt like that was a defining moment of my career. A couple years down the road, I’ll say I’m glad it happened.”

You can read a full story on Molden on Sports Illustrated's Tennessee Titans website by accessing this link. 

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