Tennessee Titans draft: Perception vs Value of a 1st round pick

Some people don’t understand what the Tennessee Titans have.

For some reason, people have no idea what the Tennessee Titans should be doing with their first round pick.

Look at what some people have the Titans doing:

-Charley Casserly: Billy Price IOL, Ohio State

-Mojo: Harrison Phillips DT, Stanford

-Lance Zeirlein: Hayden Hurst TE, South Carolina

-Todd McShay: Dallas Goedert TE, South Dakota State

-Daniel Jeremiah/Bryan Fischer: James Daniel IOL

-Will Brinson: Da’Ron Payne DT, Alabama

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Not only are all of these the wrong position, but most of them aren’t even first round players. It is lazy and the Titans are just a box they have to check off before they move onto the next team.

They always say that these guys are “picks for the future” or “great depth”, but that isn’t what you do with a first round pick.

Sure, if you are picking at 2 and you have Eli Manning and take a QB you are technically taking depth, but there is a good chance that guy is a starter before the year is over. Taking an IOL who won’t play more than six games this year at best is asinine.

Likewise taking a nose tackle or a bad tight end isn’t a good idea or a pressing need either.

All of this made me realize that these people don’t really have a good idea of what a first round pick is. It isn’t someone to just sit and be an above average player down the road, it is someone that comes in and makes an impact for your team immediately and in the future.

That is the value of a first round pick and honestly, if you don’t get that value then just trade the pick.

I will give you a great example, Earl Thomas is probably going to go to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2nd round pick. Yep, you heard that right one of the top safeties in the NFL with at least 3 good years left is going to be moved for a 2nd round pick.

So if that is the kind of value you can get in a trade for a second round pick, what can you get for a 1st round pick?

Well, let’s look at players who have been moved for a first in the past and what they had done in the recent history before they were traded:

2000: Keyshawn Johnson (at that time was a two-time consecutive Pro-Bowler)

2000: Joey Galloway (3 1,000 yard seasons in his 5 year career at that point)

2001: Trent Green

2002: Kevin Carter (coming off of a 3-year stint where he averaged 13 sacks and once was the league leader)

2002: Ricky Williams (where he became a 1st team All-Pro)

2003: Drew Bledsoe (after leading the Patriots to the playoffs)

2005: Randy Moss

2006: John Abraham (after 20 sacks in the last two seasons)

2006: Deion Branch (after a 1,000 yard season as Tom Brady’s WR1)

2008: Jared Allen (top-5 EDGE in the last decade?)

2009: Jason Peters (Pro Bowler before, All-Pro after)

2009: Jay Cutler (after his Pro Bowl season)

2009: Richard Seymour

2011: Carson Palmer

2013: Darrell Revis

2014: Trent Richardson

2017: Sam Bradford

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So what you need to see from that list is the power of the 1st round pick. Almost all of those players were either coming off of great seasons/careers, or were highly thought of young players.

With a first round pick you can get an impact player, whether that means through the draft or through a trade. Don’t settle for taking a backup without elite potential, and don’t let anyone tell you that is the “safe” or “right” move.

If Jon Robinson does it I will agree because he has done an excellent job building a contender in Tennessee, but until that happens I will keep thinking that those who use the Titans draft slot as a way to dump off players or just through some random name in there, don’t know what they are talking about.

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