With just below a month till the 2025 NFL Draft we now have a reasonably good thought of who the Titans are going to take with the No. 1 total choose. All indicators are pointing to Miami QB Cam Ward having his identify referred to as first, with the Titans spending ample time with Ward at his professional day on Monday, paired with the compulsory dinner with the prospect — all issues that occur when a staff is zeroing in on a participant.
Consequently Ward is now the runaway favourite to be the No. 1 choose, being given -750 odds on Fanduel, with Abdul Carter being the next-closest choose at +500.
Deciding on Ward is the apparent choose. The clear choice. It’s additionally completely the incorrect transfer, and the Titans are going to screw this up. What is going to ensue is a spin marketing campaign to speak up Ward, and the Titans desperately attempt to transfer away from their now-infamous remark that the staff wouldn’t move on a “generational expertise” with the No. 1 choose. Truly they’ll move on two in Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter, as a substitute reaching for arguably the worst quarterback prospect taken with a No. 1 total choose — possibly ever.
None of that is to say that Ward will likely be a foul NFL quarterback. In truth, there’s each likelihood he could possibly be fairly good. The issue is that you just don’t draft “fairly good” with the No. 1 choose. It’s a must to discover a transformative expertise that may flip a franchise round, and Cam Ward merely isn’t it — however that is patently on model for a Titans staff adept at whiffing on ability place gamers with their early picks.
Regardless of having 4 normal managers within the final twenty years, the Titans can solely boast early spherical success with three ability place gamers since 2005: RB Chris Johnson in 2008, RB Derrick Henry in 2016, and WR A.J. Brown in 2019. The remainder is a veritable who’s-who of mediocrity.
- QB Will Levis
- WR Treylon Burks
- WR Corey Davis
- QB Marcus Mariota
- WR Dorial Inexperienced-Beckham
- RB Bishop Sankey
- WR Justin Hunter
- WR Kendall Wright
- QB Jake Locker
- WR Kenny Britt
- RB Chris Henry
- QB Vince Younger
- RB LenDale White
Unhealthy groups aren’t created just by making dangerous draft picks, but in addition persistently discovering mediocrity. Whereas the Titans have been fairly good at drafting linemen and linebackers to bolster their system, one thing has been persistently rotten with this staff’s ability place scouting, which leads the group to taking large bets on gamers that don’t have any enterprise being taken as excessive as they do.
The largest difficulty with the Marcus Mariota choose a decade in the past was that Mariota was a scheme-dependent quarterback who had the bodily instruments, however we actually had no thought if he had the flexibility to translate into the NFL after enjoying in an QB-friendly Oregon offense. That by no means materialized, so he struggled.
That is precisely the problem with Cam Ward as properly. A participant who was functionally tremendous, however spent his total school profession operating an Air Raid in Washington State and Miami. It’s an offensive system that routinely places up large school numbers and lets a QB exhibit — however gamers routinely fail who come out of Air Raids into the professionals. Now one goes to go along with the No. 1 total choose.
This quote from Ward can be setting off some main alarm bells.
“I simply suppose the playbooks match up not just for there, however Cleveland and New York. Numerous these three groups did the identical issues that we did in Miami. So I feel it’ll be plug and play.”
Whereas it’s clear Ward himself is attempting to speak about his play in a manner that he can solidify his draft spot, I additionally actually, actually hope he doesn’t imagine this to be true. There aren’t any similarities between the West Coast offenses these three NFL groups run, and the Air Raid he led in Miami. It gained’t be “plug and play,” however take a big quantity of labor to study an NFL system. If a younger QB is downplaying how tough it’s going to be, properly, that issues me.
There’s additionally merely a uncooked expertise difficulty right here too. Ward can be the worst quarterback prospect taken within the High 3 primarily based on the NFL’s scouting studies because the league posted its personal expertise grades in 2011.
- Andrew Luck: 7.90
- Cam Newton: 7.50
- Robert Griffin III: 7.50
- Trevor Lawrence: 7.40
- Sam Darnold: 7.10
- Joe Burrow: 7.07
- Jameis Winston: 7.00
- Jared Goff: 7.00
- Mitchell Trubisky: 7.00
- Bryce Younger: 6.82
- Blake Bortles: 6.80
- Marcus Mariota: 6.80
- Kyler Murray: 6.80
- Caleb Williams: 6.74
- Jayden Daniels: 6.73
- C.J. Stroud: 6.70
- Carson Wentz: 6.70
- Baker Mayfield: 6.70
- Zach Wilson: 6.50
- Drake Maye: 6.50
- Trey Lance: 6.47
- Cam Ward: 6.39
Granted this is only one expertise evaluator’s rubric — but it surely’s merely astonishing to see what an outlier Ward is amongst his friends who have been taken with high picks within the final 15 years. There’s actually nothing to point that he’s a “generational expertise,” just like the Titans assured everybody they have been going to be taking with the No. 1 total choose.
That is the place this all will get difficult. Clearly quarterback is the only most-impactful improve the Titans could make. Hell, final 12 months they benched Will Levis and performed Mason Rudolph for god’s sake. The difficulty is that whereas Ward would possibly make Tennessee a greater staff instantly, they’re as soon as once more shedding sight of the forest for the bushes. A really generational expertise, somebody like Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter may not result in extra wins instantly — however they’re definitely the absolute best gamers. Guys who might help construct a basis for achievement. From there the staff can look to strike in a a lot better QB draft as we’ll see in 2026, when Arch Manning, Garrett Nussmeier, and Drew Allar will enter the NFL.
As a substitute the Titans are going to make the identical mistake as they did a decade in the past in taking Marcus Mariota. Ready for his to blossom, then realizing it wasn’t going to occur. It wasn’t simply that Mariota wasn’t good, but it surely led to the Titans attempting to place expertise round him in 2017, hoping he might nonetheless be nice. In that draft Tennessee took WR Corey Davis with the No. 5 total choose. The subsequent QB off the board that might have been theirs? Patrick Mahomes.
That is going to be a large number, regardless of how the Titans attempt to spin this choose.