The noise coming out of this year's NFL Combine is that the Tennessee Titans have a handful of choices with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. General manager Mike Borgonzi could stay put and draft quarterback Cam Ward or Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter. Or Borgonzi could trade down and still target Carter or Colorado's Travis Hunter.
Post-combine mock drafts are typically informative. NFL.Com draft analyst Lance Zierlein recently released a new first-round projection following the festivities in Indianapolis. Zierlein has the Titans selecting Carter at No. 1 overall.
"Let's just give Tennessee the best player at a high-impact position," Zierlein writes. "The Titans obviously could consider a quarterback here, but my guess is they won't have one graded highly enough to select at No. 1 overall."
Zierlein decided to keep it simple, giving Tennessee the best overall player in the draft. With the New York Giants taking Ward at No. 3 just two selections later, you can't help but feel the Titans would be missing an opportunity to leverage the Giants' interest in Ward in this scenario.
Carter did not participate athletically at the NFL Combine. He arrived in Indianapolis nursing a shoulder injury suffered during the college football playoff, and medical checks revealed a foot injury as well. Carter doesn't require surgery on his foot, though his injury status does complicate his evaluation throughout the pre-draft process. Tennessee will learn more when they host the Penn State rusher on a pre-draft visit shortly, news first reported by Paul Kuharsky.
Carter recorded 68 tackles and 12.0 sacks for the Nittany Lions this past season. It was his first campaign making the full-time transition from off-ball linebacker to EDGE rusher. It went swimmingly, indicating he possesses the potential required to develop into a double-digit sack artist on an annual basis at the next level.
The Titans finished third-worst in sacks last season. Dennard Wilson's defense accumulated just 32 quarterback takedowns. Borgonzi also recently granted starting EDGE Harold Landry permission to seek a trade, further expanding the team's need to acquire pass rushers this offseason. Though he was inefficient on a down-to-down basis, Landry still led the Titans in sacks with nine.
Carter would immediately become the Titans' best pass rusher. In Zierlein's scenario, Borgonzi must weigh the opportunity cost of passing on a quarterback, or a trade-down with a QB-needy team to select Carter at No. 1 overall.