Titans Must Avoid Recent Draft Woes

The Tennessee Titans find themselves with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft for the first time in nine years.

The Titans had the top selection in 2016, but they traded it to the Los Angeles Rams, who took California's Jared Goff at No. 1 overall.

The Titans were able to utilize the haul of picks acquired in that trade, coupled with other shrewd moves to build a team that made it to the AFC Championship in 2019 and the No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2021. Since then, the Titans have yet to have a winning season due to poor draft picks from the previous two general managers.

The Athletic insider Nick Baumgardner believes that those decisions have haunted the Titans over the past few years.

"The Titans are not a quarterback away from being a playoff team. Three of Tennessee’s last five first-round picks (Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley, Treylon Burks) have been busts; two of them (Wilson, Farley) are gone. This team needs a complete teardown, right to the studs. If you start that process with a rookie quarterback — generational prospect or not — it will be very hard on that player and, eventually, on the first-year GM who made the pick," Baumgardner writes.

"It’s going to be difficult for Tennessee to trade this pick, but I’d still be on the phone trying to get a deal done until the very last second. If I couldn’t find one, I’d take the best player on my board. Objectively, Travis Hunter and/or Abdul Carter are going to rank higher than Ward every single time.

"Start your rebuild with a smaller margin for error. That’s my suggestion."

The NFL Draft is set for April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.