The Tennessee Titans are a big team of focus this spring, as everybody waits to find out who they'll pick with the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. And in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Head Coach Brian Callahan and GM Mike Borgonzi fielded a bevy of questions on that topic from local and national reporters alike.

Let's not bury the lede: the Titans haven't made a decision about what they'll do with the top pick yet. This was reiterated by Callahan in no uncertain terms:

"It's hard because you don't have enough time," Callahan told reporters at the Combine. "You wish you could just have six months with these guys and be with them every day and you'd find out a whole lot, but we're limited in our touch points and [we] try to take advantage of all of them. This part is another phase of the evaluation process. It's February, we have all the way to April to do this, and that part is important. We need to make sure we nail that part, as well."

This is an insanely detailed process for every single team. It's still February. The Draft isn't until late April. Nobody rushes this, especially the teams bearing the weight of the most valuable picks.

The #1 thing the Titans are looking for in these evaluations is a strong nervous system. What’s between the player's ears? Getting these guys in the classroom and on a field in-person is how they evaluate that, as well as talking background with people in their circles. That process begins in earnest now. Obviously, nobody is ignoring good or bad tape because of how in-person meetings go. It’s all a piece of the puzzle. But they absolutely have not made up their minds before this part that they’re about to do.

It’s easy to lose sight of the patience of this draft process from the outside looking in. Here’s a helpful frame of reference: Brian Callahan has used 2020 as an example of the kind of draft class where the team at the top knew who their guy was early on. That was the season his Bengals drafted Joe Burrow first overall.

That year, unlike this one, had the type of top QB prospect that the top team could lock onto ahead of time. But just how early is “early”?

During the combine that year, the Bengals were still entirely undecided between Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, and Justin Herbert at the top of the draft. They were doing their due diligence on each guy, despite having already reviewed their college tape. The interviews and on-field work was extremely important to them in making that decision.

After time spent at the Combine, pro days, and on their 30 visits, the team quietly settled on Burrow in mid-to-late March. It wasn’t until around a month after Combine activities that they made an “early” pick. They never let Burrow know they were taking him before a month later making him the first overall pick in the draft.

So if that was a class in which you could come to an early conclusion, and that "early" conclusion came no sooner than mid-March, that should provide a solid frame of reference for how this year’s process may look.

The bottom line is that Tennessee still sees five clear options on their plate: Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward, Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter, or a trade down. The next month or so contains the critical checkpoints that will finalize their decision.

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