The 2025 Senior Bowl is here and the few Tennessee Titans fans that weren't already focusing on the 2025 NFL Draft have started to take a look ahead to a critical offseason.
New GM Mike Borgonzi is in charge now, though current president Chad Brinker will collaborate with him on the notable decisions. The new regime has made it clear that their plan to rebuild this team is going to take multiple years. That means there will be a strong emphasis put on drafting and developing players, but it also means that it is going to require some patience.
The Titans will still make moves in free agency, especially if the right player hits the market, but for the most part, the goal seems to be to attack holes on the roster through the draft and to give those guys a real chance to succeed in the NFL without veterans blocking their path.
That brings us back to the 2025 Senior Bowl and the prospects practicing and playing in front of GMs, scouts, and coaches in Mobile this week.
Interestingly enough, since 2015 when Borgonzi took a prominent role in the Kansas City Chiefs' front office, there hasn't been a massive influx of Senior Bowl alumni heading to Arrowhead.
One notable exception to this, especially in more recent years, is second-round draft picks.
Since 2021, the Chiefs have spent three second-round picks on Senior Bowl players and that has worked out pretty well for them.
First, they drafted center Creed Humphrey. Since being drafted, Humphrey has been a stalwart for that offensive line and they recently gave him a massive contract worth $18 million per year. That AAV makes his deal the most expensive deal that a center has ever signed.
Off-the-field issues aside, Rashee Rice put together an impressive rookie season before getting hurt early in his 2024 campaign. Rice was the team's second-round pick in 2023 and he was one of the better receivers in very talented draft class.
It hasn't all been perfect for the Chiefs though. The third second-round selection that the team used on a former Senior Bowl player was Kingsley Suamataia who had a disappointing rookie campaign this year. There is still time for a developmental player like that to take a step forward, but the early returns on that investment have been nonexistent.
The Senior Bowl roster is shaping up to have several intriguing prospects that could fall to the second round. Titans fans should hope that Borgonzi and the team's front office can hit another home run like they did with Humphrey and off-field evaluation aside, Rice. If they can, it would go a long way toward selling the "draft and develop" mantra to a fickle ownership group.