‘My dream scenario’ – ex Titans GM lays out his alternate universe plan that might have saved his job

Could Ran Carthon have saved his job with this draft trade?

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Tennessee Titans selected Peter Skoronski with the 11th overall pick. He was a college tackle who transitioned to guard in the NFL after Mike Vrabel foolishly refused to ever even try him at tackle, but that’s a story for another time.

Today, Skoronski has solidified himself as one of the best guards in the NFL. He’s playing fantastic football and is the anchor of the Titans’ OL. But the man who drafted him, former GM Ran Carthon, shared an alternate history this week that he tried to make happen instead. And it would’ve changed the landscape of this Titans team as we know it.

Ran Carthon reveals the NFL star he really wanted to draft

On CBS’s “The First Pick Podcast” this past week, Carthon revealed the bold plan he once had for the beginning of the Titans’ 2023 draft:

“My dream scenario was to be able to trade back, and in some scenario be able to trade back, pick up an additional second round pick, and then package the two second round picks and trade back into the bottom of the first to take Jahmyr Gibbs. Because I thought just adding a player with that type of explosiveness makes you instantly explosive on offense. And you talk about a one-two punch of Jahmyr Gibbs and Derrick Henry at the time, that would have been a problem.”

The Titans ended up sticking at pick 11 and selecting Skoronski out of Northwestern, and the Lions shocked everybody by selecting Jahmyr Gibbs at pick 12 right afterwards. So Carthon (and any other GM secretly eyeing the Alabama running back) never had the chance to consider taking him at the back of the first. But pairing Gibbs with Henry would have made for a pretty outrageous one-two punch in the backfield.

Would it have dramatically impacted the trajectory of their offensive production, though? This was the beginning of the end for the Titans as we knew them in 2019-2022. Talent was dropping off, players were aging, and draft picks weren’t hitting. Running behind that offensive line without Skoronski in the mix would have been a real slog.

This is part of what got Carthon fired in the first place, if you ask me. I don’t believe he was thought to have many guiding principles when it came to team building. I defended a lot of his draft decisions at the time, and still do. But it doesn’t appear there was much in the way of process behind those decisions, and that would align with how he operated in free agency as well.

This draft nugget came straight from the horse’s mouth, so it’s more than just a rumor. But it’s far from the first alternative history I’ve heard about that night in April 2023. It was widely understood and later reported that the Titans were actively trying to trade up for now-Texans QB CJ Stroud.

It’s also pretty widely understood at the time that Carthon liked the idea of now-Ravens WR Zay Flowers, potentially in a trade down from 11. And here we have confirmation he had an interest in Gibbs as well.

I’ve also heard there was trade consideration given to now-Falcons RB Bijan Robinson, now-Eagles DL Jalen Carter, and now-Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez. Different voices in the room that night, as well as factors across the league that dictated trade possibilities, led the Titans to stick and pick the safest option at 11: Skoronski. But the further we get from that draft, the less clear it becomes just how far down their list of preferences he was.

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