The Tennessee Titans will be one of the more interesting teams to watch this spring as we approach the start of free agency and the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft. 

Tennessee hired Ran Carthon, previously the San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel, as their new general manager earlier this year.

Carthon replaces Jon Robinson, who was surprisingly fired in early December when the Titans were 7-5. 

Carthon comes to Nashville at a time when the Titans are at a crossroads. 

The 2022 season was the first time the Titans finished with a losing record under head coach Mike Vrabel. With an aging quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and a superstar running back in Derrick Henry who is inching closer to 30 (a dreaded age for NFL running backs), the Titans need to determine how they're going to approach the future.

Tannehill obviously isn't the longterm answer at quarterback. But the Titans aren't in a position where they can easily land a franchise quarterback. There is no "sure thing" early in the 2023 NFL Draft that would make sense for the Titans to target (at least not considering what it would take to trade up in the draft). 

One route the Titans could take would be targeting a quarterback with upside later in the draft. 

And that might be what Carthon and the Titans are going to do based on one of their upcoming pre-draft visits. 

KPRC's Aaron Wilson reported on Saturday that Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker has an upcoming visit scheduled with the Titans. 

Wilson noted that Hooker has already visited with the Houston Texans. Hooker also has visits scheduled with the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New York Giants. 

Hooker could be an interesting addition for the Titans. He'll likely be selected in the second or third round (Titans have the No. 41 and No. 72 picks) and could provide great value for a team in search of a quarterback. Hooker has ideal size, he's accurate, tough, and he produced at a high level in college. 

The former Vols standout is coming off a torn ACL that he suffered this past November, but he's repeatedly stated that he'll be ready for the start of the 2023 season. Hooker has impressed teams during interviews — specifically with his "board work" — seemingly eliminating concerns about the "simple" offense that he played in at Tennessee. 

The only issue with the Titans selecting Hooker is that it would create a crowded quarterback room in Nashville. Barring a major trade, Tannehill will be the Titans' starting quarterback in 2023. The Titans also have Malik Willis and Josh Dobbs in that room. Dobbs will be a free agent when the new league year starts, but the Titans could choose to bring him back after he looked solid during his starts in the final two weeks of the 2022 season. 

It seems unlikely that the team would be willing to move on from Willis just a year after drafting him in the third round, despite his shaky play as a rookie. And there's no way the Titans could sneak Dobbs or Hooker onto their practice squad. 

It's going to be a fun offseason to watch when it comes to the Titans because no one really knows how Carthon will operate in his first offseason as a general manager. 

We should learn a lot about the future of the Titans this week as free agency begins and Carthon and his staff get to work.