NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans know who they want to select with the first overall pick in Thursday night’s opening round of the NFL draft, so stop asking them if that spot is available via trade.
New general manager Mike Borgonzi declined to say Tuesday exactly who the Titans will be taking with that draft pick.
“I guess you’ll find out Thursday night who we pick,” Borgonzi said.
The presumption has been the Titans will take quarterback Cam Ward out of Miami to fill one of many needs they have after three straight losing seasons. The Titans have fired two general managers and one head coach in this stretch.
Borgonzi was hired after the Titans fired Ran Carthon in January. Borgonzi said they did have inquiries into the No. 1 pick with the Titans preparing for his first draft with the franchise. They listened and decided they’re going to use the top pick themselves.
“I don’t want to go into specifics of what the offer was, what the teams were, but there were offers,” Borgonzi said.
Asked about the Miami quarterback, Borgonzi said the Titans, including coach Brian Callahan, met Ward several times along with the quarterback’s family.
“Just the competitive edge that he has, you can feel that talking with the kid. He’s very intelligent,” Borgonzi said. “We’ve had him on the board several times with Brian.”
The Titans have Will Levis, the 33rd pick overall in the 2023 draft by the previous general manager, and two journeymen quarterbacks signed this offseason on the roster. Tennessee asked Levis to go to California this offseason and work on his lower body and footwork with Jordan Palmer.
Asked about Levis’ status with the team, Borgonzi noted Levis is a quarterback in their room who’s still developing.
“He’s a young quarterback, he’s had some good moments and like any other young quarterback, they’re continuing to develop,” Borgonzi said.
Ward finished fourth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy after his lone season at Miami where he completed 67.2 per cent of his passes for 4,313 yards with a FBS-best and program-record 39 touchdown passes. He also had only seven interceptions.
Callahan also has experience developing a No. 1 overall draft pick at quarterback in Joe Burrow at Cincinnati. That’s one of the reasons Tennessee signed Brandon Allen to the roster.
The coach said he learned a lot of lessons on bringing in players that can help the Titans get a rookie quarterback up to speed quickly. He noted free agency additions, which include left tackle Dan Moore and right guard Kevin Zeitler, to help a rookie quarterback.
The Titans coach also credited Borgonzi and the team’s evaluation process with helping set their draft board at every position. They brought in 30 players for visits, including Ward, who came in before the start of NFL free agency in March.
“There was no particular point anywhere for any of these players that is an ‘a-ha’ moment,” Callahan said.
The bigger question will be the Titans’ second-round pick at No. 35. They don’t have a third-round pick at this point, so trading down might give them a chance to add a much-needed selection to the eighth they take into this draft.
Borgonzi said they’ve had lots of discussions about their options.
“If these players are on the board, if there’s a few players that are there, do we not move and take that player? Or are there a few players that we can move back and maybe pick up a pick? So those conversations have been ongoing here the last week or so,” Borgonzi said.
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