Saffold Offers Blunt Assessment of Rookie's Future With Titans

It was anything but smooth sailing for first-round draft pick Isaiah Wilson.

Veteran offensive lineman Rodger Saffold’s parting message to Isaiah Wilson is simple: Decisions have consequences.

“We have a certain way we do things here. We have a blue-collar mentality here,” Saffold said Monday. “Everything you get, you earn. And sometimes the decisions that you make, you have to live with the consequences.”

Saffold’s words came after a long season of off-the-field distractions by the Titans’ 2020 first-round pick including a DUI arrest, multiple breaches in COVID-19 protocols and a run-in with law enforcement.

Wilson, the 29th overall pick, ultimately finished the season on the Reserve – Non-Football Illness list in order to deal with what the team characterized as “personal issues”. He was removed from the active roster for the final team on Dec. 9, days after he served a one-game suspension for a violation of team policy, and his future with the team has been cloudy ever since.

“Let’s be real: Being a young athlete, there are a lot of challenges that you go through,” Saffold said. “You can either handle it, or you don’t know how to handle it.”

Wilson, a 6-foot-6, 350-pound tackle, was – at 21 years old (he will be 22 in a month) – the Titans’ youngest player in 2020. His missteps have given coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Jon Robinson much to consider as they plot their offseason roster moves.

“I can’t comment on Isaiah,” Vrabel said Monday. “I can’t even begin to eloquently answer that for you.”

Episodes of immaturity, poor decisions and lack of foresight limited Wilson’s production to one game played and three snaps on offense. Only one first-round pick in last year’s draft, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love, saw less action as a rookie. Love, of course, was buried on the depth chart behind the presumed NFL Most Valuable Player, Aaron Rodgers.

Regardless of the Titans’ eventual decision on Wilson, what’s clear is that he needs to learn from his mistakes. And if he finds himself on the outside in when looking at the Titans roster come next season, the reasons are clear.

“Right now, the next decision for his future here all belongs to (Robinson), Coach Vrabel and our staff,” Saffold said.