How Ran Carthon evaluates potential Tennessee Titans quarterback prospects
Veteran Ryan Tannehill is still under contract, but Carthon could easily draft the a future quarterback for Tennessee.
NASHVILLE — Ran Carthon conducted his pre-draft press conference for the Tennessee Titans solo on Monday. The first-year general manager joked he kept Mike Vrabel out of the proceedings to keep the coach from arguing with reporters.
NFL prospect evaluation does tend to breed disagreement.
Tennessee is in an interesting space entering Thursday night's selection process. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is under contract through the 2023 season. The Titans could easily, however, find themselves in a place to select the veteran's successor with the 11th overall pick.
Trading up or back further in this year's draft is also on the table, of course.
What we know definitively about the NFL's annual hiring process is that it is far from an exact science. For all the prep work Carthon and his colleagues around the league do, it still amounts to a higher form of educated guessing. This is especially accurate when it comes to the quarterback position.
"It is really, more so, the carryover from schematics," said Carthon when asked about the most difficult part of evaluating passers in the draft. "What they know. This is all predictive. We're all taking a shot. It is playing the lottery and hoping that you win, that you hit on someone.
"Quarterbacks generally come in a little wired different. As long as they're willing to put in the work, they work extremely hard and they have some leadership qualities. Everybody may not end up being a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, but I think there is some level of success that can be had."
The geography a quarterback prospect lands in matters almost as much as the talent that the individual possesses.
The difference in Year 1 of former first overall draft choice Trevor Lawrence winning three games as a rookie, for example, to taking the divisional crown from Tennessee the following season was mere coaching competency. Lawrence was one of five passers taken in the first round of that 2021 draft and is the only one on solid footing through two NFL seasons.
Carthon is just saying the quiet part out loud.
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
