Tennessee Titans have perfect complement to AJ Brown in Terrace Marshall

It’s a legitimate question. It’s always asked at this time of the year. What should the Tennessee Titans do with their first pick in the NFL Draft? Adding the right prospect can be a surefire way to set any franchise on the right course and give them someone to build around on offense or defense. Making the wrong choice could set the franchise back a few years.

That’s why, if you’re the Titans, you know the goal is to strike gold at 22 when the next NFL Draft gets underway. This team needs an edge rusher. They need a right tackle. Heck, adding a cornerback and a wide receiver would be ideal, but when you scour the landscape of available prospects, one thing begins to come into focus.

It’s true what they say. The draft and the evaluation process that precede it are anything but an exact science.

Terrace Marshall is the perfect selection for the Tennessee Titans at 22.

Here’s where the guessing game comes in, and this is how mock drafts work. Need must be weighed versus the best player available, and you have to factor in who’s probably off of the board when you examine other teams and their needs.

With that being said, we can make the argument that Ja’Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle are off of the board. No one would argue with you if you had Penei Sewell taken long before the Titans are on the clock. There’s no way in Hades that they’re getting Kyle Pitts.

It would be nice. They need a tight end. It isn’t happening though.

There will be edge rushers available at 22 who can play in the 3-4 scheme, possibly Kwity Paye, Jaelan Phillips, or Gregory Rousseau. There should be some tackle prospects that the Tennessee Titans can choose from (Christian Darrisaw and Rashawn Slater). They’ll even have one of the best cornerback prospects on the board, maybe, in Caleb Farley.

However, when you take a deeper look, a few things come to the surface almost immediately. Something feels wrong about Paye. Phillips and Rousseau are huge question marks. Darrisaw and Slater feel like they’re both reaches at 22 and, believe it or not, two guys that may have already been taken. Farley feels like an injury that’s waiting to happen. Plus, if you pay attention to Jon Robinson’s history, he likes guys that played in the SEC anyway.

All of that has been said to say this. The best bang for buck prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft that should be available for the Titans at 22 is Terrace Marshall. He’s six-foot-three. He’s 200 pounds, and he’s every bit as good as his former teammates, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.

The only reason he isn’t going higher is that Chase, Waddle, and Smith are in his draft class.

Marshall and A.J. Brown form an amazing duo for the Tennessee Titans.

It’s difficult to be the best at something, especially in the NFL. Talent is everywhere, but adding Marshall to the starting lineup with Titans Pro Bowler A.J. Brown might give Tennessee the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. Now, when has that ever happened?

Caleb Farley is good. He’s very good, but adding him to the cornerback room doesn’t really make the same thing true about Tennessee’s cover guys. Rousseau, Paye, and Phillips don’t necessarily ensure that the Titans will have the game’s best pass rush.

One of the knocks on the Titans’ offense is that it can be very one-player reliant at times. Brown is great, but he needs help, and adding Marshall to the offense gives Ryan Tannehill another weapon. It also gives opposing defenses something else to think about.

Do they load the box and try to stop Derrick Henry? Do they double-team Marshall or Brown? Marshall, at the moment he steps on the field immediately elevates this Tennessee Titans offense, and even though Brown did a commercial to brag on the achievements of Alabama prospect and Heisman Trophy winner Devonta Smith recently, it could be another talented pass catcher from the SEC that winds up being his teammate. He’ll have a very good one for a long time if that’s the case.