The Tennessee Titans Must Draft 1 of These 4 Players in the First Round
By Will Lomas
Second-year Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon said on Tuesday that he defines a blue player as someone who stands out as an NFL player in every game, not just someone who has a few standout games.
He went on to define that player further as someone who will come in and be an impact starter immediately.
Last year when the Titans were drafting 11th, Carthon said that when you pick that high you have to come away with a blue player, and if he believed that last year then he should believe it now.
If that is the standard for a blue player, then it should be easy to identify since this is a category reserved for players that everyone should be able to agree on. So, why not look at a consensus big board to see which players are ranked the highest and where the clear drop-off is?
Luckily, Marcus Mosher has created a board just like this that uses the rankings of Nate Tice, Eric Edholm, Dane Brugler, Daniel Jeremiah, Mel Kiper Jr., Field Yates, PFF, and Jordan Reid.
No matter how deep the class or how talented a class is at the top, I think everyone can agree that a blue chip player should be a unanimous top-10 player. On that consensus board, there are only 7 players who never fall outside of the top 10 in any of those rankings.
1. Caleb Williams QB, USC
2. Marvin Harrison Jr. WR, Ohio State
3. Drake Maye QB, UNC
4. Malik Nabers WR, LSU
5. Rome Odunze WR, Washington
6. Joe Alt OT, Notre Dame
7. Brock Bowers TE, Georgia
So what does that mean for the Tennessee Titans at 7?
With seven elite prospects, the math is easy for the Titans. Knowing that Ran Carthon thinks that you build a team with blue players when you have the chance, there is no way that the Titans can leave this draft without one of those seven players.
Regardless of who falls tonight, the Tennessee Titans are not drafting a quarterback in the first round, so you can take them out of the mix. That leaves the three receivers, Joe Alt, and Brock Bowers.
For all of Brock Bowers' collegiate greatness, there isn't a team in the last decade that has been happy with a tight end that they drafted in the top 10. When you look at that, and the bad history for rookies who come into the NFL the year after tightrope surgery, he has to be off of the board for the Titans at 7.
With three quarterbacks guaranteed to go in the top 3, that means the Titans are guaranteed to have one of the blue players (Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze, and Joe Alt) on the board when they pick a 7.
Look, let's be honest here. You can talk yourself into other players with this pick, but that is a defense mechanism that Titans fans have developed because they have gotten so used to making dumb choices.
Sure, if Bill Callahan says that he can make something out of Olu Fashanu or J.C. Latham, great you have to trust that he knows what he is doing. But you are betting against the consensus and that is something that the Titans have tried and failed in the past.
Maybe Ran Carthon rolls the dice tonight and goes against the groupthink, but fans should be very disappointed if they do that. If they make an outside-of-the-box move, this will be on Carthon and this coaching staff to prove that they were right, and if they can't, they should be grilled for it.
A blue player at a position of need will be there for the Titans at 7, it is up to them to prove that they won't screw it up.