What should the Titans do with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft?
The Tennessee Titans earned the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft following their defeat in Week 18 to the Houston Texans, paired with the New England Patriots’ victory over the Buffalo Bills. The Titans now control the draft, and have a plethora of options at their disposal.
Head coach Brian Callahan will obviously be in the quarterback market after the Will Levis experience backfired so terribly throughout 2024. Because of that, the Titans will have to assess the signal callers in the draft, most notably, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders. The early consensus is that neither player is worthy of going No. 1 overall, but the Titans will have to make that determination based on their own scouting process.
If the Titans decide to pass on both quarterbacks, the only other prospect worth drafting with the top overall selection would be Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. The reigning Heisman winner possesses legitimate superstar potential, and the Titans desperately need marketable stars they could place in the national eye. Hunter’s pre-draft evaluation isn’t that straightforward either, however.
Will Hunter be capable of legitimately playing wide receiver and cornerback at the NFL level? Is he truly a Shohei Ohtani-like talent? If so, Hunter is a generational prospect that’s worthy of drafting at No. 1, particularly in a class that lacks a Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence-like quarterback.
But if the Titans view Hunter as just a cornerback or just a wide receiver, they should continue trading the pick to a QB-needy team that has a more favorable grade on Ward/Sanders. A WR hasn’t gone No. 1 overall since 1996 (Keyshawn Johnson), and neither has a defensive back in the modern NFL.
The last time the Titans had the No. 1 overall selection was in 2016. First-year general manager Jon Robinson traded the pick to the Los Angeles Rams for a kings ransom. The Titans used the extra draft capital to rebuild the roster, landing talents like Derrick Henry and Corey Davis with their bounty of picks. That situation was obviously a little different, because Robinson inherited Marcus Mariota, who everyone believed was a franchise quarterback at the time.
The Titans are obviously operating under different circumstances this time around. They desperately need a franchise QB to replace Levis and Mason Rudolph with, but they shouldn’t force a signal caller if they aren’t impressed by Ward and Sanders throughout the pre-draft process. There’s also the concern that Callahan will be operating from a sense of desperation after his job security was obviously impacted by his terrible debut season.
The Titans once traded away the No. 1 overall selection and immediately reaped the benefits. Will the current regime attempt to recreate that magic? It ultimately depends on their final assessment of Ward, Sanders, and Hunter.