Can the Tennessee Titans land a star with the 38th pick in the draft?
By Will Lomas
One thing that Tennessee Titans fans will get very familiar with in six days is the "best available" tracker that shows up during the broadcast of the NFL Draft.
After the Titans make their first-round pick, it will be a long wait to see which players survive the rest of the first round. Those are the players that fans will salivate over on Thursday night and Friday morning leading up to Day 2.
For one reason or another, some players will fall out of the first round and it will challenge a team like the Titans on whether they want to stick and pick or trade down.
This year teams will be looking for their own Will Levis and that will push these talented prospects right into the Titans lap. The only question is what kind of talent will make it to the second round?
I could shoot in the dark and pick some names that might slip this year, but the truth is that no one knows what will happen at the end of the first round. Instead, I am going to set some realistic expectations based on which players have slipped in recent years.
To do that, I looked at the five highest-ranked players available on Dane Brugler's big board after the first round of each of the last three classes. In two out of the three years, teams at the top of the second round have had a chance to add Pro Bowl-caliber talent if just stick to this list.
Top players available in the 2nd round 2021:
1. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah LB
2. Azeez Ojulari EDGE
3. Christian Barmore DL
4. Landon Dickerson iOL
5. Teven Jenkins OL
J.O.K. and Dickerson have already combined for three Pro Bowls in three seasons and the arrow is pointing up on both of them as long-term building blocks on their roster. Barmore isn't far behind them and has become one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL.
Ojulari has been a decent player for the New York Giants, and Jenkins has struggled with back injuries that have derailed his career. All-in-all, these were all gambles worth taking in the second round and there was much more good than bad here.
Top players available in the 2nd round 2022:
1. Andre Booth CB
2. Arnold Ebiketie EDGE
3. Nakobe Dean LB
4. Malik Willis QB
5. Travis Jones DL
This was a bad draft class. Out of these five names, only Travis Jones has carved out a role as a significant contributor, but this class as a whole has been disappointing.
One big reason why there wasn't much to choose from in the second round was that it was a class with only one quarterback taken in the first round, which means players like Tyler Linderbaum and Zion Johnson weren't pushed down the board.
Top players available in the 2nd round 2023:
1. Will Levis QB
2. Joey Porter Jr. CB
3. Brian Branch S
4. Michael Mayer TE
5. Drew Sanders LB
Another example of why there is great talent at the top of the second round. Excluding Sanders (who finished the season strong), all four of those players looked like first-round picks as rookies. Joey Porter Jr. and Brian Branch look like future Pro Bowlers, while Levis and Mayer look very promising but will have tough competition to make the Pro Bowl because of the AFC's talent at QB and TE.
Trading down is always an option and this is an area where you can get really good value from a team desperate to land someone that they love. However, you can clearly get Pro Bowl talent here and the Titans should strongly consider sticking at 38 unless someone blows them away with an offer.
They can't afford to overvalue a third round pick if it costs them a player like this.