Tennessee Titans 2021 third-round pick and cornerback Elijah Molden stole the show in preseason Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a pair of plays that showed elite instincts on the football field.
Molden first recorded a sack by going under a pair of offensive linemen, and then made a perfect read on a screen pass and walloped Bucs wide receiver Jaydon Mickens in the process.
Like the rest of us, safety Kevin Byard certainly took notice. After practice on Thursday, the veteran safety praised the rookie for his instincts and noted how a game like the one Molden had can be a great confidence booster.
“I can tell he’s had a father that played in the league,” Byard said. “You can just tell by his savviness, the instincts that he plays with, the intensity that he plays with. For him being a young guy, to be able to catch on to the defense as fast as he had and go out there and actually execute in the game, I’m really excited for him this year because I think that preseason game against Tampa Bay was a real big confidence booster. We’re going to need him to play a lot of ball for us, and big ball for us.”
Molden, whose father Alex spent eight years in the NFL, has even drawn a comparison to Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro safety, Tyrann Mathieu, who is also known as “Honey Badger.”
During practice on Thursday, Molden was dubbed “mini-Badger” by left tackle Taylor Lewan, as Jim Wyatt of Titans Online noted in his observations.
“A funny moment took place late, when cornerback Elijah Molden came on a blitz. Left tackle Taylor Lewan noticed him, and said: ‘Way to go, mini-Badger!’ a reference to the Honey Badger, Tyrann Mathieu,” Wyatt wrote.
Interestingly enough, Matthieu himself was quite vocal about Molden after the game against the Bucs, saying that teams will regret not taking the Washington product before the Titans did.
People will regret not drafting him sooner, real football guy https://t.co/2G7gKMYiBF
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) August 22, 2021
The hype surrounding Molden is palpable. It’s very possible he secures the starting slot cornerback job in preseason Week 3, if he hasn’t already.
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