The Tennessee Titans cannot afford to trade down in the 2024 NFL Draft
By Will Lomas
Unless a team is willing to massively overpay for the Tennessee Titans first-round pick, Ran Carthon shouldn't even pick up the phone.
Flashback to last year, the Tennessee Titans traded up to draft Will Levis. While I was very critical of the move at the time, Levis has shown glimpses of being a franchise quarterback and that is a massive boon for this franchise.
This team will build around Levis this offseason, and that process started when Amy Adams Strunk decided to move on from Mike Vrabel and hire an offensive-minded head coach. After putting together the most impressive coaching staff this team has had in years, the fan base hopes that better days are coming.
Now Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan have to continue to encourage the fan base by attacking free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft. While the Tennessee Titans have more cap space than nearly anyone else in the NFL and a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, there is one small problem.
In that trade-up for Will Levis that I mentioned earlier, the Titans gave up a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. That isn't a huge issue considering that the Titans do have seven total picks including the 7th pick and the 38th pick, it does have some fans and media members suggesting that the Titans should trade down in the first round.
After the scouting combine last week, it should be abundantly clear that any offer for the 7th pick is going to have to be significantly higher than fair market value. Why? Four reasons: Marvin Harrison Jr., Joe Alt, Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze.
The stars are aligning for the Tennessee Titans
The post-combine rumors floating around are that this could be a draft where the first four picks are all spent on quarterbacks. Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels are locks to be drafted with the first three picks and J.J. McCarthy has had top-10 buzz for months now.
Now with rumors coming out that the Las Vegas Raiders are trying to trade up to fifth, sixth, or seventh, all signs point to them making a strong push for McCarthy at some point before the Titans selection.
Even if that isn't true, with the 7th pick in the draft the Tennessee Titans are going to be in a position to draft Harrison Jr., Alt, Nabers, or Odunze.
Because this draft class is so talented at the receiver position and offensive tackle, it is getting harder and harder to find a consensus on who the best players from each group are. Lance Zierlein proved that today when he went completely rogue and mocked J.C. Latham to the New York Giants when Joe Alt was available and Malik Nabers to the Arizona Cardinals while Marvin Harrison Jr. was still on the board.
I don't think that will be a very common opinion, but it just goes to show how different people view this draft class. Despite that, composite draft boards are going to have the four blue-chip players somewhere between 2-6 overall.
The stars have aligned for the Tennessee Titans and there is a 99.9% chance that an elite talent at a position of need, falls right into their laps. Trading down would unnecessarily plunge the Titans into murky waters.
If the Atlanta Falcons want to give the Titans something to move up one spot and take J.J. McCarthy, great. A move like that means that the Titans would still get the same player that they wanted to take at seven, but anything out moves you out of that blue-chip player range.
If Ran Carthon tries to get greedy and trade down to get more picks, they will almost certainly find themselves scrambling for answers with teams like the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, poised to take players the Titans loved.