Way-too-early 2026 mock draft lands Titans with two First Round picks in explosive trade they use to fix both sides of the ball
Could the Titans run the 1st Round again next year?
With the 2025 NFL Draft in the rear view mirror, it’s officially summer scouting season for the most diehard citizen scouts amongst us. Just as real scouts employed by the teams have begun to turn their attention to the '24 tape of likely '26 NFL Draft picks, so too has a large portion of draft media. And of course, that means we’re already getting some way-too-early mock drafts almost a full year out.
This genre of mock draft only serves two real purposes. First, they provide a general outline of college football stars to keep an eye on this fall. Fair enough! And secondly, they give us something to look back on next spring, poking fun at how off-base they became while also being reminded of how much things can change in a player’s final season.
The Ringer’s Todd McShay, being the tenured media scout and draft sycophant that he is, released his way-too-early 2026 mock draft this week, and he has the Tennessee Titans involved in the defining move of the First Round.
For starters, he has the Titans finishing 2025 with a record bad enough to earn the 4th overall pick. Not exactly optimistic about the amount of winning Cam Ward and Brian Callahan will be doing this year!
But he also has them trading down from that pick with the Los Angeles Rams, who pay a premium to come up for their quarterback of the future. Rams GM Les Sneed managed to fleece the Falcons in the 2025 draft in the trade for James Pearce Jr, and the Rams ended up with a second 2026 1st Round pick to send in this trade for LaNorris Sellers at 4 overall.
This sets the Rams up for life after Matthew Stafford, and allows the Titans to double-up in the 1st Round. After moving back from pick 4 to pick 11 and 27, they grab a pair of players at premium positions.
At 11, Tennessee takes the first WR off the board: Nyck Harbor out of South Carolina. In this timeline, the hope is that at least one of Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor, and/or Xavier Restrepo has emerged as a starter after their rookie campaign. Harbor would be the top-end talent that room needs to round out for Cam Ward going forward.
Then at 27, Tennessee grabs CB4: Avieon Terrell out of Clemson. The Titans have a trio of starters at CB heading into 2025, but all three have a question mark attached to them. With Sneed, will he actually return to his CB1 ways after a tough 2024? With McCreary, is he going to be too expensive a free agent after this year to warrant re-signing? And with Brownlee, can he solidify his starter status this season after a promising rookie campaign?
Odds are, the Titans will be looking for at least one more starter at corner heading into 2026. So they land one here. Year 2 of the Cam Ward Era gets an infusion of talent out wide on both sides of the ball.
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