Connecting the dots to the Titans most likely rejected draft trade for 7th overall pick

 Despite receiving multiple phone calls from teams interested in moving up, the Tennessee Titans held on to the 7th overall pick in the 2024 NDL Draft and used it to select Alabama OT JC Latham.

The Titans see Latham as a Day 1 starter in their offense and plan to start him out at left tackle .

There’s a lot to like about Latham’s game, but with the perceived depth at offensive tackle in this draft, it’s interesting that Tennessee didn’t trade down before selecting Latham or another offensive tackle.

Curious as to why? Let's walk through what I believe to be the most likely reasons the Titans decided not to trade down and what could have been on the table.

There is an understanding inside the Titans building that Joe Alt would not have made it passed Tennessee’s pick at 7. Alt and Latham were the top two offensive tackles on the Titans’ draft board, likely in that order.

But the Titans had a significant gap between Latham and the next tier of offensive line talent.

We know the Minnesota Vikings were looking at trading up for a quarterback. They jumped up one spot in a deal with the New York Jets for the 10th overall pick to select J.J. McCarthy, and it would make sense that Minnesota was one of the teams calling Tennessee about moving to 7.

But had the Titans made that deal, the Jets - who took offensive tackle Olu Fashanu with their pick and were likely to take the best OT available - would have had the chance to get Latham before Tennessee.

I think the Titans saw a significant difference in Latham and the other offensive tackles, and probably needed to be blown away by a deal in order to move. Their asking price wasn’t met, so they picked. It wasn’t worth the risk of losing Latham to New York.