As recently as Tuesday, NFL reporter Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic essentially scoffed at the idea that the Tennessee Titans will trade the first pick of the 2025 draft when they don’t have a franchise quarterback on the roster and could grab Miami signal-caller Cam Ward on the night of April 24.
On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Turron Davenport and Jeremy Fowler shared that “the majority of league personnel surveyed by ESPN” during the NFL Scouting Combine “believe Tennessee prefers to trade out” of the No. 1 selection. However, The Athletic’s Mike Sando revealed on Wednesday that multiple NFL executives think the Titans will spend the first pick on Ward.
“Tennessee is not going to sign a mediocre quarterback in free agency and roll with him as their guy when they have the top pick in the draft,” an executive told Sando.
Some have linked the Titans with Sam Darnold after he guided the 2024 Minnesota Vikings to 14 wins across 16 games before he endured back-to-back nightmare outings.
“I don’t think they are not taking a quarterback,” a different executive said about the Titans. “I don’t think they are trading with anybody. I think they are going to pick Cam Ward and move on.”
Tennessee seemingly plans to hold onto 2023 second-round draft pick Will Levis, but he failed to show over his first two pro seasons that he could become a long-term answer for the franchise before he was benched this past December. Meanwhile, it’s clear following the combine that Ward is the consensus No. 1 quarterback in this year’s draft class ahead of Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
The ESPN story mentioned that “Sanders’ pocket-passing ability as a deft processor is appreciated and will make for an easy NFL transition,” which could make him “a slightly better fit for a Brian Callahan (Titans head coach) offense in Tennessee.” If Callahan and Co. agree with such an assessment, they could look to make a deal with the Cleveland Browns (pick No. 2) or New York Giants (pick No. 3) to acquire additional draft assets and also Sanders.
“Multiple evaluators polled believe a package of picks — say, a future second-rounder and an early Day 3 pick — might be enough for a team such as the Giants to move from No. 3 to No. 1,” Davenport and Fowler said. “Teams picking high might be hesitant to part with a future first-rounder, given that those teams aren’t slam dunks to be in contention a year from now and might hold onto prime positioning in the 2026 draft.”
History shows that a quarterback-needy team passing on a draft’s top signal-caller who falls into that club’s lap is unwise. The Titans should trust that they can develop Ward into becoming at least a winning quarterback at the highest level unless they simply believe he will be a bust.
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