The Tennessee Titans boast a franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota. They also possess the first overall pick in next month’s NFL draft.
So it would stand to reason that the team might seriously consider trading down in order to add a ton of pieces to an otherwise talent-stricken roster.
Maybe doing his best to play the PR game, Titans general manager Jon Robinson attempted to throw that idea out the window by potentially scaring off suitors for the pick:
“There is a group of players that are at the top of the draft, that, you don’t want to move back too far cause you can miss out on one of those guys, and if you do move back that far you want to make sure that you have a king’s ransom, for lack of a better term, to move that far,” Robinson said, via ESPN.com. “I would say that for us to move out of that pick, it’s going to take a substantial amount of picks to do that.”
There are a few things to look at here.
While some of us believe Jared Goff is a franchise quarterback in the making, there isn’t a consensus top guy out there. This is to say, those in the know don’t see Andrew Luck walking up to the podium in Chicago come April.
The other thing to look at here are team needs for those selecting in the top 10. Picking No. 2 overall, the Cleveland Browns are unlikely to move up as a way to secure that top quarterback. Instead, they will probably hedge their bets that Tennessee selects first overall.
Outside of that, the San Francisco 49ers at seven and Philadelphia Eagles at eight could very well be in the market for a young quarterback. Would that be too far for Tennessee to move down?
And if not, would it require too much for those two teams to move up? In regards to that latter question, we already referred you to Robinson’s stance.
Many experts consider this to be a top-heavy draft class with about 10 difference makers. After that, the view is that there simply isn’t much difference from the next three dozen or so prospects. This could further make it difficult for Robinson and the Titans to trade down.
Linked to former Mississippi left tackle Laremy Tunsil throughout the draft process, it stands to reason that will be the direction Tennessee goes. Robinson’s comments add another layer to this.