Tennessee Titans should stop the Quinnen Williams slide

The Tennessee Titans need to consider making a big move up in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The 2019 NFL Draft is almost exactly four weeks away and the Tennessee Titans are lucky enough to be hosting for the first time in history.

Like every other city, Nashville is going to try to leave a lasting impression on the NFL so that they can host this event again sometime in the future. That includes everything from the venue, to the musical events surrounding the draft, to the atmosphere and the experience.

With the atmosphere in mind, it makes me pretty curious on the mindset of the front office and owner heading into April.

I don’t think Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson or Owner Amy Adams Strunk will make any moves solely based on the idea of making a splash, but I wonder if it gives them the courage or push to make an “all in” type move?

If I remember correctly, the only other host city to make a trade up since the draft started going on the road in 2015 was Chicago in 2016 when they moved up a few spots in the first round to grab Leonard Floyd.

What if the Titans really wanted to make a big splash to drive the conversation towards the home team? Like say, moving up to the 6th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

This all came about because there is an idea going around with people like Trevor Sikkema of The NFL Draft Network, that there is a real chance that Alabama DT Quinnen Williams could fall out of the first five picks because of teams reaching for positions of need instead of taking maybe the best player in the draft.

Here is run down of a common picks/positions that need to be addressed by teams in the top-10:

1. Arizona Cardinals: Kyler Murray/Nick Bosa

2. San Francisco 49ers: Nick Bosa/Josh Allen

3. New York Jets: EDGE

4. Oakland Raiders: Kyler Murray/EDGE/WR

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: OL/LB

6. New York Giants: BPA (except we know that Gettleman doesn’t value DTs)

7. Jacksonville Jaguars: EDGE/WR/OL

8. Detroit Lions: EDGE/CB

9. Buffalo Bills: BPA

10. Denver Broncos: QB/LB

The teams highlighted are the teams that I think represent the biggest threat of drafting Quinnen Williams. That is largely because defensive tackle just isn’t highly valued by many teams and honestly that makes sense to me.

If you are a team whose biggest need is DT, then you probably aren’t drafting in the top-10. Conversely, if you are drafting in the top-10 you probably need one of the premium positions.

In a draft with plenty of talent at those positions it makes sense to pass on a player you may have slightly higher on your big board in exchange for someone with a slightly lower grade at a bigger ticket position.

However, that isn’t what the Tennessee Titans should be thinking. After a big free agency period where most of the obvious needs were filled, the Titans are in a position to take a chance on a lower-tier position.

I think the only starting spots on the roster up for grabs right now are 1-tech, right guard and boundary WR. The other idea being that taking an EDGE that can play base downs and develop into an every down player in the future, would be worth a first round pick.

So, assuming that the top-5 focus on their needs at premium positions this is what the draft should look like:

More from Titan Sized

1. Arizona Cardinals: Kyler Murray QB, Oklahoma

2. San Francisco 49ers: Nick Bosa EDGE, Ohio State

3. New York Jets: Josh Allen EDGE, Kentucky

4. Oakland Raiders: Brian Burns EDGE, FSU

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Devin White LB, LSU

6. New York Giants: Montez Sweat EDGE, Mississippi State

7. Jacksonville Jaguars: D.K. Metcalf WR, Ole Miss

8. Detroit Lions: Greedy Williams CB, LSU

9. Buffalo Bills: Quinnen Williams DT, Alabama

10. Denver Broncos: Drew Lock QB, Mizzou

At the beginning of this article I said that the Titans should trade up to the sixth pick to land Quinnen Williams, but you can see that I think the ninth pick is his floor. So, why trade all the way up to sixth?

I don’t know the nice way to say this so I’ll just say it, I think New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman doesn’t know what he is doing and he doesn’t understand how to manage his assets.

There have been questionable decisions since he drafted a running back second overall in the 2018 NFL Draft instead of a contingency plan at QB for a quickly fading Eli Manning.

However, the tipping point has to be trading Odell Beckham Jr., who is on a path towards becoming one of the best receivers in NFL history. We will get to the compensation later, but the fact that he was the one who actually reached out in an attempt to make the trade just screams poor management.

Art Stapleton outlined this issue well in this USA Today article:

"“Gettleman said the only trade call he initiated regarding Beckham was to the Bills, and he reached out to Bills GM Brandon Beane – whom he worked with in Carolina – after the rumored deal for Antonio Brown fell through. He said there were talks with 49ers general manager John Lynch, but those essentially stalled at the early stages. And that Browns general manager John Dorsey was the one who reached out to Gettleman and the Giants to talk Beckham.Gettleman said there was “considerable back and forth” with Cleveland for over 10 hours. Insists it was a football decision. Calls Beckham “a tremendous talent, making him a tremendous asset” and the Giants believe they turned OBJ into three assets.”"

Whew, I have so many issues with this it is easier to just quickly number them off.

1. Don’t trade a Hall of Fame talent in his prime. Ever. Unless you are getting Hall of Fame talent back, you are going to go down as the guy who intentionally made his team worse.

2. If you do trade Hall of Fame talent (which, see #1) it better be because a GM who you have a great relationship with called you and blew you away with a Godfather offer. It can never be you calling a friend and initiating the trade yourself and it can never be for a mid-1st round pick and a late 3rd round pick.

3. How do you make a decision like this over a 10 hour period? This is your defining move as a GM and you don’t even take half a day?

4. Also though not listed here, because of a bad deal made within the last year the Giants are going to owe Odell Beckham Jr. $16 million this year even after the trade.