The Tennessee Titans own the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. A massive offseason awaits. President of football operations Chad Brinker has been named de-facto decision maker after the team fired previous general manager Ran Carthon last week. The Titans just conducted their first round of interviews with nine GM candidates, and an early favorite has apparently emerged.
Though Brinker now possesses final say on personnel-related decisions, the hiring of a GM will usher Tennessee forward in the first step of their offseason. Head coach Brian Callahan is being retained, according to owner Amy Adams Strunk. Together, in some collaborative sense, Brinker, the new GM, and Callahan will begin setting a plan for the 2025 season.
What to do with the draft's top selection is a decision that will dictate Tennessee's offseason. The Titans essentially have three options. They can choose a quarterback (Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward), trade down, or stick-and-pick a better prospect at a less important position than QB (Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter).
Tennessee's new power structure appears muddied and unique. The decision to retain Callahan as head coach was made before a general manager was hired. Even if Brinker played a prominent role alongside Carthon in appointing Callahan, there's probably enough wiggle room for Brinker to stick his hands up and avoid blame by saying, "hey, I didn't hire him," if Tennessee's 2025 campaign goes haywire.
Should the Titans be drafting a quarterback at all if Brinker and the next GM aren't aligned alongside Callahan as their head coach? It's worth noting Sanders and Ward aren't exactly Caleb Williams-like prospects that any coaching candidates would be happy to inherit next offseason. Neither is viewed as a slam-dunk QB prospect.
The Las Vegas Raiders just fired general manager Tom Telesco days after also firing head coach Antonio Pierce because they want to hire a GM and HC that are aligned. The Titans don't appear to possess that alignment. That makes drafting a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft a complicated situation.
If the Titans did draft a quarterback and still proceeded to fire Callahan next offseason, they wouldn't be alone, and it wouldn't be a totally foreign concept. Two of the head coaching vacancies around the league right now are experiencing the same thing. The New England Patriots (Drake Maye) and Chicago Bears (Williams) just fired head coaches despite drafting rookie quarterbacks. Those circumstances haven't damaged the list of applicants for their openings, though it's worth noting Maye and Williams performed admirably throughout 2024, a big reason why they're viewed as favorable destinations.
Still, it shouldn't be the goal for a Titans organization that has been in disarray far too often lately. Ever since firing former GM Jon Robinson, a clear division of duties has been lacking. Carthon and Mike Vrabel had an arranged marriage, and the Titans appear to be repeating history, retaining a head coach that new decision makers didn't possess final-say on appointing.
Will Levis deserves plenty of blame for his lackluster 2024 campaign, but the Titans placed him in a difficult environment by offering the former Kentucky standout two different head coaches and two offensive coordinators/play callers in two seasons. By drafting a quarterback No. 1 overall, Brinker and the to-be-named-GM could be repeating history if they're not married to Callahan, especially if 2025 resembles 3-14.
The Titans need to get their house in order before making any rash decisions regarding the quarterback position that will impact the next three-to-five seasons.