Titans would be foolish to consider trading star defensive player before NFL Draft

No one should blame Tennessee Titans fans for wanting this team to try to acquire more picks in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker made it a point to talk about their goal of creating a franchise centered around drafting and developing talent rather than acquiring it on the open market. Their ideal vision was to accumulate as many draft picks as possible over the next three years (specifically acquiring as many top 100 selections as possible).

Borgonzi walked into the perfect situation to achieve his dream, with the New York Giants practically begging the Titans to trade down from their top spot. This would have given the Titans more draft capital to work with, but it would have allowed them to draft one of the blue-chip players in the draft (Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter) instead of rolling the dice on a potentially solid quarterback prospect (Cam Ward).

Instead, the Titans fell in love with Ward throughout the pre-draft process, which is fair. However, it leaves the Titans with very little draft capital to fill their other needs. That is, unless the front office tries to add more selections in a different way.

As information on private visits trickle in, there is a noteworthy trend developing that is causing fans to wonder about the future of Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. At least three of the Titans private visits have involved defensive tackles expected to go in the second or third round.

The Titans don't have a current need at that position, and they only have one pick on Day 2 near the top of the second round. It doesn't make sense for them to use a pick that high on one of these prospects, so there are only a handful of options.

Most likely, the Titans are doing their due diligence on prospects they like, and they are getting questions answered in case they decide to trade down in the second round and accumulate picks, or trade up into the third round if they love one of these players.

It is less likely, but the Titans could have also identified these prospects as players that could slip to Day 3 and be prime targets for the team in the fourth round, where the franchise has two selections.

The least likely scenario, but one that is picking up steam in the rumor mill is the idea that these visits are setting up a potential Simmons trade.

Remember when the Titans traded AJ Brown and tried to draft his replacement?

It is very simple. The Titans have a weak roster with talented players sprinkled few and far between throughout. Borgonzi's goal is to increase the number of good players during Cam Ward's window to maximize his chances of developing into a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Trading away Simmons guarantees that you will lose a good (maybe even great) player, with very little chance that you will find equal or better production short-term or long-term with the pick that you get back. That move hurts the team, and it hurts the team during a time when talent is needed more than ever.

Moves like this keep bad teams bad, and if though the mystery box of a draft choice can be tempting, this would be a low-reward, high-risk scenario that the Titans should not be considering unless they are blown away by an offer for Simmons.