Titans rookie DT T’Vondre Sweat was downright dominant vs. Texans

Tennessee Titans rookie DT T’Vondre Sweat is playing like a slam-dunk pick

We should have expected Tennessee Titans rookie defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat to put forth a dominant performance against the Houston Texans on Sunday. After all, Sweat hails from nearby Huntsville and attended the University of Texas, which is just hours away from NFG Stadium, the site of Tennessee’s Week 12 victory. Playing in front of family and friends, the second-round pick was a legitimate difference maker.

Sweat recorded the first sack of his professional career, initially defeating a Texans double team before embarrassing the left guard en route to C.J. Stroud.

In total, Sweat recorded three quarterback pressures, matching his season-high mark from last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Pro Football Focus assigned Sweat an overall defensive grade of 73.7, his third highest single-game score of the season. As a pass rusher, it was his second-best showing of the campaign.

Sweat was so dominant that NFL analyst Brian Baldinger featured him on this week’s iteration of “Baldy Breakdowns.”

The Titans received criticism for selecting Sweat with the No. 38 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. There were questions regarding Sweat’s pass-rushing productivity at Texas. Furthermore, his playing weight was also routinely scrutinized with him weighing up to 370 pounds in college. He was also arrested for a DWI in early April.

Fast forward 12 weeks into the 2024 NFL campaign and Sweat has been a model citizen, both on and off the field. Head coach Brian Callahan feels vindicated for the Titans’ process of vetting Sweat throughout the pre-draft process.

“It’s less about debunking [the Sweat narratives] and confirming [our beliefs] for us,” Callahan said about Sweat. “We felt really good about the person and his background. We did our homework. We vetted him very thoroughly. We came away with a player and a person we really like. He’s been everything we thought he’d be when we drafted him. All of the things that were red flagged during the draft process were not things we were as concerned about,” Callahan added.

The early returns on the 2024 draft class have been extremely encouraging for the Titans. They remain in a rebuilding phase, but hitting on picks like JC Latham, Sweat, and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. would certainly accelerate the process. Sweat has been everything the Titans hoped he’d be, and they deserve credit for the hard work done to properly evaluate him.