When the Tennessee Titans are mentioned locally or nationally nowadays, rookie quarterback Cam Ward dominates the conversation. His development and the hope that he ascends to franchise quarterback status are the top priorities in Nashville, but the team must develop in other areas, too.
The 2025 draft class will be a success or failure based on Ward, so it's easy to forget that other rookies need to be developing in the background if this franchise is going to claw its way out of the basement. Luckily, there is a familiar template in place to remind Titans fans what the bar for success is for this year's rookie class.
The 2024 draft class appears to be a resounding success. It wasn't elite (yet) because the team didn't end up with a rookie Pro Bowler or someone who put up a great statistical season. However, the rule has always been that a GM needs to come out of each draft with three trusted starters, and you get bonus points if you don't whiff on your first-round pick.
Last year, the team added J.C. Latham, T'Vondre Sweat, and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. All three of those players will be starters in 2025, and based on the free agent and draft moves that this front office made, it is clear that they believe in these three to develop into high-end starters.
Three is the magic number in a draft class, and the Titans hit that number without forcing us to project growth from other players.
Assuming that Ward is a hit, the Titans still need to find two starters from the 2025 class. Looking at the path to playing time for this rookie class, three options stand out as guys who have the potential to prove that.
Kevin Winston Jr., Safety
Winston is nursing an injury that knocked him out of most of the 2024 season, but the front office and coaching staff have been very high on him throughout the offseason. The Titans will almost certainly have a different pair of starting safeties next season, and Winston is going to have a chance to replicate what Brownlee did last year as he was carving out his spot on the depth chart.
Gunnar Helm, TE
Helm has everything you want from a starting tight end and the TE2 role is wide open. It is hard to see a world where anyone pushes Chig Okonkwo as the starter in 2024, but Okonkwo is a free agent after this season. If the Titans like what they see from Helm as the TE2, they could see him as a candidate for a promotion in the offseason of Okonkwo signs a big deal elsewhere, like Jonnu Smith years ago.
Elic Ayomanor, WR
Winston and Helm can work themselves into a role if they can take advantage of reps at training camp. Ayomanor is on this list because no one on the roster can do what he can do in 2025.
The Titans have several receivers who are natural fits as a Z or in the slot, but very few big-bodied boundary receivers. Other than Van Jefferson and Treylon Burks, Ayomanor is the only guy who can fill that role, and neither of the names mentioned is under contract in 2025. Obviously, it helps that Ayomanor is viewed as a potential draft steal, and he did well in minicamp, but the scarcity of X receivers on this roster gives him a unique opportunity to win a starting job as soon as possible.