As we slowly approach the start of the new league year, anyone and everyone will have their own opinion as to what the Tennessee Titans should do over the coming months of the 2023 offseason.
The Titans obviously have massive holes to fill at wide receiver and along the offensive line, but it’s no secret that this team probably needs to find a legitimate franchise quarterback sooner rather than later if it plans on countering all of the young studs in the AFC.
This is why it was encouraging to see a popular Chicago Bears website report that it has heard rumblings that teams have already begun to send out offers for the top pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
The real head-turner for Titans fans came when they mentioned Tennessee as one of those teams.
Update: One of the inquiring teams is the #Titans who have the 11th pick in the #NFLDraft2023
— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) February 3, 2023
As always, you had the pessimistic fan immediately downplay any credibility of the source, which is certainly understandable given it isn’t from what we’d consider a trustworthy source.
It’s also worth noting that smokescreens are everywhere during the offseason, and this could simply be a ploy to help drive up the price for the Bears’ No. 1 overall pick.
Truthfully, I have no real indication of how credible the site is outside of the fact that it appears to be very popular amongst Bears fans. Let’s just say we here at Titans Wire are skeptical to say the least, but let’s have some fun.
The real reason I think it could be true is that this absolutely makes sense for Tennessee to do. I especially feel that way after actually taking the time to watch the top quarterbacks in the draft.
New Titans general manager, Ran Carton, recently said on Chris Long’s podcast that he wants a quarterback that can accurately throw with anticipation.
Ran Carthon describes his prototypical QB pic.twitter.com/ipQVa8UVXN
— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) January 27, 2023
That describes two quarterbacks in this class to a tee: Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
In my personal opinion, I would absolutely sell the farm to get Young as the Titans’ quarterback for the next decade.
Absolutely#Titans https://t.co/coUgfkRVMu pic.twitter.com/eDnO8KshWv
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) February 3, 2023
I have a little less conviction when it comes to trading for Stroud, but I’d completely understand it if the Titans went that route instead.
Today’s prospect breakdown:
QB C.J. Stroud, @OhioStateFB2022 Grades:
-Overall: 88.9
-Passing: 89
-Intermediate: 75.3
-Deep: 94.2
-No Pressure: 92.9
-Pressure: 43.9-Stroud finished his college career with an overall grade of 90.5 after totaling 86 career TDs, per @PFF#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/h4RWESfdbF
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) February 2, 2023
As always, you’re immediately going to have the fans that will push back on this and say the team isn’t ready for a young quarterback (whatever that means).
There will always be the conservative fans who never want to take risks, or immediately think of the absolute worst possible scenario to talk themselves out of something.
And Lord knows we can’t even talk about possibly acquiring a big name without them immediately recalling every failed transaction as the reason why something won’t work in 2023.
As harsh as this sounds, some within the Titans’ fanbase have an outdated philosophy where they don’t want to see their favorite team bet on potential improvements just so Tennessee can constantly keep its players that are “good enough”
At some point, you have to take risks if you want to be THE top dog. And if for whatever reason those risks do not work out in your favor, that doesn’t mean you stop taking them.
All it means is that you re-evaluate your process, try to figure out what went wrong, and then you try again until you hit.
There are, of course, true anomaly situations, such as the Cinncinnati Bengals’. Occasionally, your team can just suck at the right time when the NFL has legitimate franchise-altering talent entering the league
Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure if you ask any Bengals fan they’d say they weren’t lucky. They more than paid their dues and suffered through countless miserable seasons until they eventually got it right.
If the Titans would rather suffer through a disastrous season(s) to get their quarterback, then so be it. The other option is they can take their chance and do whatever it takes to get their guy inside their building.
The unfortunate reality of the modern-day NFL is that nothing is more valuable than a franchise signal-caller on a rookie deal.
You don’t have to look any further than this year’s playoffs for proof. Three of the final four teams had stacked rosters surrounding their young and cheap quarterbacks.
The other quarterback remaining is arguably the greatest individual talent to ever play the position, Patrick Mahomes.
And how did the Chiefs acquire him? By trading a king’s ransom to go from No. 27th overall to No. 10 to get their guy despite already having an above-average quarterback on the roster.
The unfortunate truth is that the Titans are never going to get out of this mediocre salary cap situation if they’re constantly overpaying above-average signal-callers $25-30-plus million each season.
If the Titans do go the trade route, they are expected to only have four players under contract for the 2024 season that will have large cap numbers: Jeffery Simmons (projected), Kevin Byard, Harold Landry, and Amani Hooker.
You can add Derrick Henry to this list as well if the team decides to extend him this offseason or re-sign him in 2024, but that is far from a certainty.
It’s also worth noting that the Salary cap is expected to be around $256 million in 2024, according to Over The Cap, which would be another sizeable increase after jumping $16.6 million in 2023.
What all of this means is that Tennessee will undoubtedly have plenty of cap room to add significant talent around its young quarterback despite not having any first-round picks over the next few seasons if they trade up.
Also, by the time Tennessee’s new quarterback would need a new deal, the team will have all of its picks so it can start adding cheaper talent to slowly start replacing the expensive pieces they added over the previous years.
The obvious hesitation with this type of trade comes from the fact that missing on this pick would likely set the franchise back for several years.
The other rare but possible outcome is replicating what happened to the San Francisco 49ers in 2022. It’s safe to say the Trey Lance trade hasn’t exactly worked out for them.
Yet, with San Francisco not having any back-breaking quarterback contracts on its books, the 49ers were able to build a stout roster all across the board to survive all of their issues at the most important position.
More specifically, this allowed them to add Christian McCaffrey to an offense that already had Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Trent Williams.
Nonetheless, if the Titans are going to pull off a move of this magnitude, they have to ensure that they’re genuinely head-over-heels for whichever prospect they’re trading for.
It needs to be to the point where they simply cannot envision having to face this quarterback twice per season when they realistically have the chance to get him on their team instead, because that is the reality of the situation at hand.
Barring any trades, there is a strong possibility that the Texans and Colts will both land a new quarterback this spring to build around.
Only time will tell how all this plays out, but if Carthon decides to go get his guy, the Titans must be aggressive in doing so, and it should not be met with any pushback by this fanbase.
