Titans Pre-Draft Mailbag: How badly Mike Borgonzi wants to trade, Will Levis’ fate, first round pick preferences ranked, and more
This is Part 1 of my Reddit insider AMA from Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Titans subreddit. Everything draft, just in time for the real deal.
Draft weekend is upon us! This is always a strange week for me. I’m busier than I am just about any other time of my work calendar, yet I can’t help but look back on the past three months of work with gratitude. Gratitude for the blessing of being able to do this for a living. Gratitude for being able to travel to the Senior Bowl, the Combine, and the Owners meetings to gather information. Gratitude for the connections I have in this industry with so many knowledgeable people. And most importantly, gratitude for you all who read and listen to my work. I really appreciate you following along with me, and for trusting what I have to share.
Without further ado, here’s part 1 of my intel-packed Q&A session on the Tennessee Titans subreddit on Wednesday. Keep an eye out for the second part on Thursday morning. Dig in!
Pre-Draft Titans Mailbag
Got a favourite Titans Draft memory from the past 5 or so years? (Mine is the 2020 Zoom call toilet gate) – bighiggie15
Day 3 of the 2024 draft. JT Ruhnke, Zach Lyons, Stoney Keeley and I did a 7-hour marathon stream of the entire thing. I still go back every once in a while to watch this supercut of us slowly devolving into utter madness.
Any rumblings on potential trade options? Also, likelihood Levis gets moved within the next three days, and maybe where? – Reyco_Vane
Trade options: The Titans’ appetite for a trade down in this draft is very healthy. A lot of the scattershot smoke on the 4th pick this week points directly to that, you don’t even need insider intel to put the pieces together in that way. The Borgonzi/Brinker regime has been totally clear on this from Day 1: they want more top-100 picks in every draft than they currently have, until further notice. Logitistically, they really need one Bailey or Reese to be there at 4 for them to have a shot at it. Nobody is trading up for Jeremiyah Love. Reese might attract a trade-up, but I don’t think many teams honestly see that as a wise gamble. A receiver might could do it if the narrative gets worked up into enough of a lather on that race. This is why you’re hearing WR interest from the Titans today, suddenly out of nowhere. I think they’ll also explore trade-down options from 35 between rounds 1 and 2.
As for Levis: I’m changing my tune on this a bit! I’ve said for basically a year at this point that I think both parties want a split, and that a divorce is just a matter of time. But my most recent digging on this pointing towards things softening some. I don’t believe the Titans are shopping him actively, though they’ll listen to offers and would take fair value. That’s the rub here: who is offering fair value for Levis after he’s been out so long and had shoulder surgery last we checked in on him? I think Daboll would like to work with him. I think he actually might be on this roster in the fall if no offer materializes.
What’s your hottest take for this draft (doesn’t have to be Titans related)? – big_bird81
Ooh this is tough. I would’ve said Jermod McCoy falling out of the first round, but that seems to have gone mainstream these past couple days. Maybe it’s that Treydan Stukes has a better chance of being a 1st round pick than he does of being a 3rd round pick? He’s just so awesome. And I hear the league agrees.
Jordyn Tyson’s stock has seemingly returned to where it always should’ve been (imo) and reports say he won’t make it past the giants pick at 10 possibly. Borg said they’re not concerned about his medicals as well. Could he be a dark horse option at 4 or the pick if we trade back with the saints/chiefs/cowboys? Do they even like him more than Tate? – T-UM
I think the biggest fib of that entire Borgonzi pre-draft presser was that the Titans aren’t concerned about Tysons medicals at all, if I’m being honest. But I do think they’d consider him in a trade-down. At 4? I’d be floored.
If everyone was available, who are we taking? – Dangerous_Ad5039
EVERYONE? Fernando Mendoza, baby. Maximum value by far. But if he’s not allowed, David Bailey. Exactly the kind of player Saleh has targeted his entire NFL life. Perfect archetype to complete this D front.
Broadly, do you believe in this this GM/ coaching staff more than the previous you’ve covered for the Titans? – Murky-Speech2128
The GM? Yes I do. He hasn’t given me a good reason to feel negatively about him a year+ into this thing, and I think his principles are rock solid. The coaching staff? Ehh. I like them a lot. But what am I basing my belief on yet? It hasn’t been their turn to do anything. I love the experience they bring to the table, and I’m enjoying spending time with them so far. But that experience includes some ghosts they have to shake too. Let’s see them do their jobs this summer.
Jokes aside, how much do you believe is smokescreen tactics? 10 percent? 50 percent? 90 percent? All of it? -SweetPockets51
Of the chatter this week? A comfortable majority of it. Don’t abandon things we knew for weeks before the past couple of days without serious scrutiny. Information is a weapon this week.
If you had to rank the Titans interest in the following, what’s your ranking? Love, Reese, Bailey, Styles, Tate. – chriswcarter2
Bailey, Reese, Love, Styles, Tate is how I think they have them stacked. If you told me Styles and Tate are actually flipped, it wouldn’t surprise me.
What exactly were the character concerns that got Sweat and Brownlee traded? Just laziness, or were they too focused on things outside of football. – pauljeff878
Touchy subject on two players whose abilities on the field I was a champion of before being traded. It’s nothing too hard to imagine. And nothing too dramatic. But there’s a reason why the team didn’t speak poorly of them on the way out the door, and I’m not going to slander two players I enjoy watching now that they’re gone either. Just not culture fits.
If they take Love, who do you think plays as his backup? – gonyozs
Pollard and Spears are slotted how they’re currently slotted regardless of whether Love steps into the fold. Don’t be surprised if another team comes calling for one of them in a trade of Love is a Titan, though.
How early do you think Ted Hurst goes in the draft? And do you think he is someone being targeted by the Titans? -TheScaryPenguin
If I’m being completely honest, Hurst feels in my gut like our annual Elic Ayomanor slider. The guy from a less-watched school who the hipsters like (myself included), but we get a little out over our skis on. So I think he’ll go in the late 3rd or early 4th in the end. That’s being admittedly conservative on his upside. Are the Titans targeting him? It’s hard to say. I certainly could see them thinking highly of him with that third or fourth pick. From an archetype standpoint, he’s the kind of receiver their room lacks right now.
I’m more interested in rounds 2 through 4. What positions or players do you expect to be priorities for Borgonzi and Saleh in those rounds? – AnAngryFetus
I think they’ll be looking real intently at the second tier of OL and WR. They probably can’t all come off the board before 35, so which pocket of players gets picked off first?
In round 3, I think they have a lot more flexibility in terms of the strength of the draft in that range. I think it will be a reaction to how their first two picks shake out. In round 4, I think they’ll be eyeing the remaining interior OL options.
Based on vibes and convos, do you think Titans prefer to move, either in 1st or 2nd? – TacticalPocketSand
I think this regime really hopes to add top-100 capital this weekend.
Top three most likely trade down partners if Borg wants to work the phones? For both 4 and 35. – liljakeyplzandthnx
At 4: The Saints, Chiefs, and Cowboys (We all know you don’t have the stomach for it, Jerry.)
At 35: Impossible to know before we see who is still on the board!
What’s the earliest you could see TEN taking a WR? Would we even think about drafting more than 1? – MariotaM8
The VERY earliest? In the top-10 if they find a small trade-back. They poked around on Tate, Lemon, and Tyson each on the pre-draft process. The NEXT earliest? Late in the 1st. A ton of teams in the 20’s don’t like their options and are actively calling to trade out if they can. Perhaps the Titans love KC Concepcion or Omar Cooper Jr, who they had on 30 visits. I wrote about how that could happen here: https://atozsports.com/nfl/tennessee-titans-news/titans-first-round-trade-down-mike-borgonzi-do-something-nobody-thought-day-2/
Are there any rumblings of drafting a tackle and bumping Latham or Moore inside? The Oline is sadly a deficiency once again and I don’t want to see Cam get Mariota’d. – KidChemo
Drafting a tackle? Definitely. Head on swivel for that. Bumping an existing tackle inside? I’d be real surprised.
Do you think we could trade back in the 2nd round and get another top 100 pick? Also i need more info on the J.C. Latham rumor that was last nights primetime haha. – T1tanUp
Trade back from 35 if firmly on the table. Those discussion won’t really start up until that hectic 21ish hours between the the end of round 1 and the beginning of round 2.
The Latham thing… maybe I can tell that full story sometime soon. for now I have to leave it at this: there are some GM’s in this league who are extremely talented chaos agents, and they’re very good at manufacturing rumors that threaten to bleed over into reality.
Did you know that the titans would draft JC Latham prior to the draft when they did do in 2024? – Vexared
I was one of the small percentage of people in Jim Wyatt’s final prediction roundup that year who got JC right (flex), but I didn’t KNOW he was the pick. I knew Bill Callahan really liked him. And I knew the Titans didn’t see a big glaring gap between Alt and Latham in terms of draft grade.