The Tennessee Titans aren't tanking. No fan should expect the team to lose games on purpose to protect their position in the 2025 NFL Draft because everyone in the organization is focused on keeping their jobs for another year.
However, there are some hard truths about the team's current positioning that need embracing.
Winning meaningless games in Weeks 17 and 18 would only hurt the Titans at this point. There's going to be significant personnel turnover and there's no such thing as momentum going into next season. Any fairy tale of "building a winning culture" just because the team wins two games at the end of the year after starting 3-13 is a pipedream and it comes from a state of delusion.
This franchise will have to do some soul-searching in the offseason regardless of the results of the next two games. Losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans, even in the Houston Oilers throwbacks in Week 18, would put them in a better position to bounce back in 2025.
This Sunday's contest versus the Jaguars carries extra meaning in relation to the current draft order. Jacksonville is currently slated to choose third overall and the Titans are positioned at fourth. The loser will benefit greatly, while the winner will fall outside the top-five.
Just a few weeks ago, an AFC scout told Dane Brugler that Travis Hunter is the only player in this draft class who would have been a top-10 player in the 2024 NFL Draft.
As per usual, it feels like quarterbacks are rising to the top of the draft, with Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders favorited to go No. 1 and 2 overall. The Giants, Raiders, and Browns are likely to aggressively pursue the quarterbacks.
That means that the third pick in the draft could be the winner of the Hunter sweepstakes.
By losing out, the Titans would be guaranteed a top-3 draft pick. That would mean that they could either draft Hunter, or trade down for a haul of additional selections. Trading down and still landing a premium target like Hunter, edge rusher Abdul Carter, or wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan feels within the realm of possibility.
If the Titans win this weekend, it crushes those dreams.
So, if you are looking for the path that gets the Titans back to relevancy as quickly as possible, losing out would likely accelerate the process. Don't feel bad if you're rooting for losses, even to two hated division rivals. You simply understand the most logical path to a successful rebuild.
The next eight days could decide whether the Titans will have an elite prospect like Hunter on their team for a decade, or if they are going to play against said elite prospect for a decade.