The national media loves the Tennessee Titans going into 2017

The Tennessee Titans are many media members’ 2017 sleeper team.

The hype for the Tennessee Titans continues to grow, and for good reason. The team has added key pieces at nearly every position over the past two years, are coming off a 9-7 season, and have a general manager and head coach that are in perfect sync. They’ve begun to catch the eye of the “Big Media” that covers the NFL.

Heading into the 2016 season, the Titans were one of the NFL.com Around the League Podcast’s sleeper teams. Chris Wesseling went so far as to dub them the #TeamofATL. They were forced to abandon them as their main team after a porous start to the season, but their initial hype was confirmed and they jumped back on the bandwagon as the Titans went 8-4 during the final 12 games.

Going through the entire AFC landscape on their podcast just a few weeks ago, the crew showered praise for the team and are excited about their 2017 outlook.

"Marc Sessler: “They are ready now (to win the division)…You’re talking about winning the division, getting into the playoffs and winning a playoff game potentially at home, yes they can. And I would be surprised if they didn’t make one of these types of leaps.”Gregg Rosenthal: “My initial instinct is this team will come back a little…but that’s just contrarian thinking, this is the right team (to win the division), this is the right roster, and the draft put it over the top.”"

Also of NFL.com, Gil Brandt believes the Titans were one of five teams with the best offseason. Here’s a clip of what he had to say.

"This will be the year Marcus Mariota breaks through to stardom — and the Titans have set him up well…The Titans are a young team that was successful last year, tying the Texans for the best record in the AFC South, and they really helped themselves with the draft and in free agency."

Perhaps one of the biggest advocates for the Titans winning the division in 2017, even starting to talk about the inevitability since the end of last season, Mike Clay recently came out with his predictions and projections for the upcoming NFL season. He has the AFC South being among the most competitive divisions in football, with the Titans taking the crown and getting a three seed in the playoffs.

Can the season get here already? This team is going to be fun to watch as they take the next step in their winning process.