The Tennessee Titans have been involved in dozens of rumors leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft, but there are two rumors that would be franchise-altering decisions.
Something that has been buzzing around since Monti Ossenfort was hired to be the GM of the Arizona Cardinals, is that the Tennessee Titans could be interested in trading up to the third overall pick in the draft.
If the rumors of the Houston Texans potentially passing on C.J. Stroud with the second pick in the draft are true, then this rumor would make sense for everyone involved.
After hearing Ran Carthon talk about Mike Vrabel and Tim Kelly spending time with C.J. Stroud at his Pro Day and feeling comfortable with him as a person and as a player, it makes sense why the Tennessee Titans might not feel the need to telegraph their interest in Stroud by bringing him in for a private visit.
Based on all of the rumors flying around right now and how those rumors check out with what we have heard for months, it seems like a real possibility that the Tennessee Titans could have their quarterback of the future in about six hours.
Don't get used to the idea of Stroud sitting behind Ryan Tannehill and learning though. In fact, we might have seen Ryan Tannehill play his last game for the Tennessee Titans if another rumor floating around is true.
We have heard that Ryan Tannehill could be traded or cut for a while now, but those rumors were always tied to freeing up more cap space. In truth, the Tennessee Titans wouldn't do much with more cap space if they had it at this point in the offseason and they already have plenty of cap space in 2024 and beyond so that never felt like enough of a motivating factor to trade one of the most successful quarterbacks in franchise history.
However, if the Tennessee Titans trade up to three to get a quarterback then suddenly moving on from Ryan Tannehill becomes much more likely. Not only will you have a fan base that will be ravenous and borderline toxic until they get to see the rookie start, but a trade of that magnitude is going to require picks and the Titans don't have many of those to space.
Peter Schrager posted his final mock draft this morning and it involved the Tennessee Titans trading up from 11 to 3 for a dream price. He proposed that the Titans give up their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2023 and a 3rd round pick in 2024 in exchange for the Arizona Cardinals' 1st and 4th round picks this year.
The Titans should sprint to the phones to make that deal, but it could get even better for Tennessee if they are able to get a deal done with one of two teams that could use Tannehill.
Right now the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers are a quarterback away from competing in 2023.
The Falcons would be competing to win the NFC South and make sure that Arthur Smith is locked in as the head coach for a few more years. Since the Falcons have added several former Tennessee Titans to their roster over the years, and since Smith's best offense had Ryan Tannehill at quarterback, it might be a good time to make a deal.
Atlanta has 5 of the first 113 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft so they could spare a Day 2 pick for a quarterback that juices up their offense. Coming out of the draft with an offense that has Ryan Tannehill, Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Jonathan Mingo, and Kyle Pitts would be incredibly similar to the offense that Tannehill and Smith had that scored 30 points per game.
Another team to watch is the San Francisco 49ers. I don't know how it would work from a cap standpoint, but if you are the 49ers you can't go into the 2023 season knowing that Sam Darnold is your starting quarterback.
They desperately need to get an upgrade at QB before the season starts, but their first pick in the draft is the 99th overall selection.
So, they don't have much money to make a deal and they don't have any picks to draft a quarterback with. Adding Tannehill would be a no-brainer for the 49ers and the Titans would probably be willing to take a 2024 pick in exchange for him.