Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker made this clear at the start of the offseason: Tennessee will explore all options with the No. 1 overall pick, but it won’t pass on a “generational talent.”
It appears that the franchise has found a prospect it deems to be one — and a quarterback at that.
More than a week since the NFL’s legal tampering window opened, the Titans’ free agency moves indicate that they plan to keep the top selection and use it on Miami’s Cam Ward.
Why? They’ve prioritized beefing up their offensive line, first adding former Steeler Dan Moore Jr. (four-year deal worth $82 million, including $50 million guaranteed) to be their new left tackle and then signing veteran right guard Kevin Zeitler (one-year deal worth $9 million, including $8.7 million guaranteed). On paper, the Titans have their best pass-protecting offensive line since at least 2021.
That’s not to say it won’t be without questions. Moore’s deal is pricey given his uneven production. Zeitler is 35, at the tail end of his career. Tennessee is also moving 2024 first-round pick J.C. Latham from left to right tackle, a setback in his development. But Tennessee has certainly achieved competency upfront for a green passer.
“You can have Superman back there, and if you don’t have the protection up front to protect, to be able to run the football, to be able to create balance in the game, that’s the most important part is building through the trenches,” general manager Mike Borgonzi said last month at the NFL Combine.
But maybe the biggest tell is what the Titans have done at quarterback — or rather, what they haven’t done. They let Mason Rudolph walk and gave a one-year deal to Brandon Allen, a career backup who has started just 10 games since being drafted nine years ago in the sixth round. Allen and Will Levis are the only passers on the roster.
From the jump, Tennessee never appeared to be in on any of the viable veteran starting quarterback options (even though publicly the Titans never ruled it out) despite having ample salary cap space. It appears that Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson, the two best and highest-profile quarterbacks still available, will land with two of the Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants.
“I think we’re trying to get the best player, period,” coach Brian Callahan said last month when asked about pursuing a rookie quarterback or a veteran one. “And whatever that looks like for us doesn’t make any difference to me.”
So as the consensus No. 1 quarterback in this year’s draft class, Ward appears to be their guy.
One can argue that Tennessee needs to trade back (if it can), accumulating much-needed premium draft capital in the process to build up its talent-deficient team. But there’s no guarantee that the Titans would still be able to get Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, believed to be the second-best passer in what’s viewed as a two-quarterback draft.
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Without investing in a legitimate veteran starting quarterback via free agency, leaving the draft without a first-round passer would be indefensible.
“At the end of the day, we have to make the best decision at this point for the Titans,” Borgonzi said. “And if we deem taking a quarterback is the most important thing right now, then we’ll do that. But we have to go through this process.
“We’ve gone through the whole evaluation part,” he continued. “Now we’re finally getting to sit down and meet with these guys and talk with them. We’ll have pro days, we’ll have 30 day visits. We have to really go through the whole process really to make that decision.”
To this point, it couldn’t be clearer that Ward is the decision.
Maybe he always was.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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