Titans Ready To Turn Franchise Around

Almost a year ago, the Tennessee Titans selected Marcus Mariota with the second overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft. And to be completely honest, I thought that it was the wrong choice. I believed that the Titans’ best option was to trade for Philip Rivers and let Zach Mettenberger develop until he was ready to take over the franchise.

Sometimes, I still believe that was the right thing to do and that the Titans franchise had no idea what they were doing. But if the Titans’ trade with the Rams has shown us anything, it is that the Titans are ready to climb the ladder of success. The Titans’ decision to grab Mariota last year was a major risk but for now, it seems to have been the right pick.

With their franchise quarterback of the future already on the roster, the Titans looked set to draft a big guy to protect him first overall this year. But neither Laremy Tunsil nor Ronnie Stanley are worthy of the top selection in my opinion and neither come close to the value the Titans received in the trade.

At 15th overall, there will still be plenty of left tackles to choose from for the Nashville-based team. The best way to build a franchise in the NFL is the draft because it’s all but impossible to get some of the most competitive guys on Earth to willingly come to a team that finished dead last during free agency.

The Titans finally seem to have figured that out as they are now set to select six of the top 76 players in this draft. They also own two first round picks in the 2017 and 2018 drafts as of now. This stockpile of draft picks will give them all the flexibility in the world as they rebuild over the next few years.

There is no shortage of holes to fill on the Titans’ roster but over the next few years, there is going to be a surge of young talent funneling into the organization as well. Most valuable of all will be the Rams picks in the next two drafts because neither Jared Goff nor Carson Wentz are worth a fraction of what was given up for the ability to draft one of them.

There are no quarterbacks in this draft that are ready to carry a team right away and while the Rams’ QB learns the ropes, his team’s picks are going to be of no use to them. The world of football has shown us time and time again that trading down, not up, is the secret to success.

The price the Rams paid is nothing short of an atrocity and the LA team will end up at the bottom of the league in a few years as a result. Tennessee’s move down won’t turn heads or exhilarate fans, but it will turn the franchise around. One day soon the Titans will be back on top and it will be in no small part thanks to this trade.