The definitive surprise of the top-5 of the 2026 NFL draft was the Tennessee Titans selecting WR Carnell Tate with the fourth overall pick. The loudest majority heading into the night was that the Titans would target his teammate, LB Sonny Styles if they weren’t able to trade out of the pick. Some, such as myself, still believed that Jeremiyah Love was the most likely selection. I was right about Sonny Styles not being in serious consideration at four, but boy was I wrong about EDGE/LB Arvell Reese being their preference if he was still on the board.

Everyone was surprised to see GM Mike Borgonzi pass on Reese and take the consensus WR1 in the class. At the end of the day it’s a big boost for franchise quarterback Cam Ward. But the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Tate is a player truly worthy of the fourth overall pick.

Titans shock NFL world with Carnell Tate pick at 4

From the simplest possible perspective, I find it really difficult to be upset with any NFL team who decides to take a swing on the latest model to come off of the Ohio State wide receiver factory floor. When that stops working out for people, I’ll change my tune. Until then, I have a general belief in each of these players to come in prepared for an NFL lifestyle both on and off the field.

The thing about Tate that makes him an interesting evaluation from a top-5 pick standpoint is that he was playing second fiddle at Ohio State to Jeremiah Smith. Smith is a lock top-5 pick in the 2027 NFL draft, and according to most (myself included) the best wide receiver prospect to come through the draft in a decade-plus. To me, he qualifies as a generational talent. so anybody playing alongside him and having to share targets with him is going to naturally look less-than.

Something I take issue with when people say he’s not a talent that feels worthy of a top five pick in the draft, is that this comes in the same breath of declaring the top of this draft to be unusually weak. I agree, I don’t think he is quite the prospect that a Ja’Marr Chase or a Marvin Harrison Jr. was coming out. But if we are blanket-declaring the top of this draft to be weaker than most, isn’t most every pick going to be a “sacrifice“ in terms of historical value?

Tate plays a premium position and plays it very well. He’s freshly 21 years old with a well-rounded build to move around positionally as an NFL receiver. The most common knocks on his profile for those who felt he wasn’t quite worthy of this range were his straight-line speed and yards after catch ability. This is the fairest critique of his game in my opinion. He doesn’t necessarily bring game-breaking ability on a play-in, play-out basis. He can get under a deep ball without a doubt. But otherwise, he’s unlikely to be the kind of player who busts it open on a seemingly innocuous play.

But on the other hand, when people ask me what it is he does poorly, I’m not sure there’s a satisfactory answer. He’s a below average yards after catch player, and his straight line speed at least in a 40 yard dash is something that leaves a bit to be desired. But he’s a long athlete with a great catch radius, he has elite hands and is a winner in contested situations. He’s a natural at finding the soft spots in a zone, and is more refined as a route runner than most rookie receivers. He’s just a rock-solid receiving prospect.

We too often get obsessed with a players 40 time when what actually matters is your ability to get open. Being able to run by somebody is one way to get open, without a doubt. But talk to a scout, and they’ll tell you that it’s just as important to have a nice set of brakes. We see athletes who have elite accelerators flame-out all the time, because that’s a lot more common than somebody who can run crisp routes and break off defenders by blending speed and deceleration.

You can also be a natural glider, and having a game sense for zone coverage is yet another way to win as a starting receiver. My point is, getting open in the NFL is possible without elite speed. Carnell Tates 70% success rate against man coverage in college is a testament to his ability to hang against top defenders, even if he isn’t flying right by them on every down. he gets open anyways.

Grading Carnell Tate to the Titans

The bottom line for this pick is that when the Titans made it, Tate was my top offensive player available. And in my opinion, he was the second best player in general behind edge Arvell Reese. I would’ve taken Reese personally, but I’d like to defer to hearing more from the Titans decision makers on why they felt Tate was a better fit for this team and/or a better value at this pick.

At the end of the day, this franchise will go as Cam Ward goes. Any decision that can be a force multiplier for their franchise quarterback is one that can be justified. There’s no doubt that Carnell Tate is going to make Ward‘s life easier for the next four years. He’s a great player at a premium position, and he comes from a system that has done nothing but produce starting NFL receivers this decade.

Grade: B+