NFL Draft rumors: Tennessee Titans not interested in quarterbacks?

The Tennessean is reporting that it looks more and more likely that the Titans won't take a quarterback with the second overall pick.

"Early indications are the Titans are leaning toward giving Mettenberger a chance to prove himself as the full-time starter rather than drafting Winston or Mariota with the second pick. Mettenberger, a sixth-round pick last year, started six games as a rookie while Jake Locker and Charlie Whitehurst started the other games."

I encourage everyone to read the full story as Jim Wyatt does a great job breaking down the two quarterbacks and why the Titans may look somewhere else.

If this is true (and there are always a lot of smokescreens in the NFL Draft for those teams with high picks) then there are really only two ways this could play out: pick or trade.

If the Titans choose to draft where they are, there are some really good options to help this defense improve. Leonard Williams the defensive lineman out of USC is a dominant prospect that many consider to be the best overall player in the class. While he doesn't have the flashiest tape, he has a great skill set that lends itself to Dick LeBeau's defense, and he has a lot of potential considering he will only be 20 years old when the Titans draft him.

Another player to watch is Randy Gregory the edge rusher from Nebraska. Gregory is a long prospect that commanded extra attention on the outside in college and was often in the backfield making things uncomfortable for the quarterback. Another edge rusher to consider is Shane Ray from Missouri. Ray has an intense motor and is always moving, so he could be very appealing to a team that lacks that "spark plug" type player.

The other option is trade down. The Titans could take Marcus Mariota who is a very talented quarterback, and who is the player with the lowest floor of the two big quarterback prospects. The Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, and even the Cincinnati Bengals are all teams that desperately need an upgrade in quarterback both short and long term. Even if by some random chance the Titans couldn't move Mariota, the worst case scenario is that they sit Mariota for a year and he gets to learn the system while making the Titans quarterback depth go from terrible to very good in a hurry.

No matter what the Titans do here, if they aren't taking a quarterback they need to find some way to optimize this pick. If that means finding an impact player like Williams, Gregory or Ray then that is great. If that means trading down and getting picks to add talented depth to a team in need of an overhaul, that is fine too. However, if this team reaches and misses on a player then it will almost certainly be the end of the Webster era as he needs a win both on the field and off.