Tennessee Titans agree to terms with Carolina Panthers S Xavier Woods: 5 things to know

The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms on a free-agent deal with Carolina Panthers safety Xavier Woods on Tuesday. The deal will be made official when the league’s new year begins on Wednesday afternoon.

Here are five things to know about the newest member of the Titans.

Size

Although strong safeties come in all different sizes, Woods comes in slightly smaller than the prototypical strong safety at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds.

College career

Woods was a multi-sport athlete at West Monroe High School in West Monroe, Louisiana. Upon graduation, he accepted a scholarship from Louisiana Tech University. At Tech, he was a four-year starter, collecting 181 tackles (20.5 for loss), 14 interceptions, 18 passes defensed, 4 sacks, 6 forced fumbles and 325 interception return yards.

Pre-draft numbers

Woods was one of the top performers at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine, finishing seventh among safeties in the 40-yard dash (4.54 S), second in the three-cone drill (6.72 S), tied for third among in the bench press (19 reps), and sixth in the broad jump (10ft 2in). He finished the combine ranked 10th with a 7.68 RAS Score.

He backed those numbers up with a solid Pro Day, during which he improved his stock. He finished the pre-draft process as the seventh-best strong safety prospect heading into the draft.

NFL stats

Woods started his NFL career as a sixth round (191st overall) selection by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2017 NFL draft. He stayed with the Cowboys for four years before leaving for the Minnesota Vikings. After one season with the Vikings, he headed to the Carolina Panthers, signing a three-year $15.75 million contract. For his career, he has 621 combined tackles (408 solo) with one sack, five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, and 13 interceptions.

PFF data

Woods ranked 125th out of 170 eligible safeties by Pro Football Focus last season with a grade of 57. In all, he played 1216 snaps with a 53.5 pass rush grade, a 59.7 run defense grade and a 55.4 pass coverage grade.

This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Titans agree to terms with Panthers S Xavier Woods: 5 things to know

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