Titans move betting markets with "generational talent" comments about the 1st overall pick, but understanding NFL lying season is key to deciphering meaning
Titans talk of a “generational talent” is an effort to expand their trade horizons
The Tennessee Titans are already on the clock with the 1st overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and everybody wants to know who they're going to take.
After a dreadful year of QB play, it's assumed that the Titans will be looking long and hard at the top passers in the class: Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward. But this year's 1st overall pick is as exciting as there's been in a very long time, because there are 4 prospects that could all absolutely end up being taken at the very top of the draft. Aside from the QBs, you have to include Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter and Penn St. EDGE Abdul Carter. All four players have a legitimate argument to be first.
Well, when the Titans introduced their new GM Mike Borgonzi this week, he and President of Football Operations Chad Brinker spoke about their plans for this draft for the first time. Details were broad, given how early in the process we are and how the General Manager of the team is still unpacking boxes in his office. But one comment was made seemingly deliberately by Chad Brinker twice during the day of media availability:
"We won't pass on a generational talent with the first pick in the NFL draft," Brinker said. "We won't do that."
Brinker offered this up twice throughout the morning, as it was clearly important to him to have out there. And every draft analyst on the planet took to the internet to point out that the only players even remotely close to a "generational" label were Hunter or Carter. That description certainly doesn't belong on either of the QB prospects.
Most assumed this was in reference to the the two-way phenom Travis Hunter, because of his 1-of-1 abilities on both sides of the ball. This led to his odds shooting up at the sportsbooks.
But some who are well-connected in the league took to the internet to explain how they think the NFL thinks this way of Abdul Carter, not Hunter. This isn't particularly shocking, considering how much of a premium is put on elite EDGE players in the draft. Think back to all the non-QB 1st overall picks you can remember: the most common position taken is EDGE.
But the reality of the situation here is being missed by most. The Titans didn't say this publicly, emphatically, and multiple times at a January press conference because they're just really antsy to telegraph their pick.
First of all, they don't know who they're taking. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. And they may very well not know for a while.
But more importantly, this is the NFL's lying season. And lying season means it's all about controlling the narrative. It's time to front, to bluff, and to play games through the media.
The Titans know the landscape at the top of this draft. They know there's no position easier to capitalize on a trade-down with than QB. But they also know that this group of QBs could be tricky to promote the healthiest, most desperate offers to come up to 1 that they'd like to receive.
So what is one to do? You make it clear that you're considering all your options at the top, QB or otherwise. In this class, there's a strong chance a team could be just as enamored by Hunter or Carter as anybody is with Sanders or Ward at QB. And Tennessee has now done a good job of telling those teams: don't expect those guys to fall to you. If you want them, you better come up and get them. Bring your best offers!
Whether the Titans end up picking 1st overall or trading the pick for a haul to set up the future, they're doing a good job of keeping their options as open as possible.
Brian Callahan’s QB trait that “separates the great ones” that Titans will look for in 2025 NFL Draft
Titans Head Coach reveals the biggest thing he’s looking for in their next QB
