By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

The Titans will enter day two of the draft with just one selection, pick No. 38, the sixth pick of the second round and there are still some very high-level players available. The Titans could see a player who many viewed as a potential top-20 pick fall into their laps or they could consider trading back to try and add draft capital after not doing so on night one.

If they trade back, there are a few teams that make some sense as partners, including the Bengals, who could send picks 49 and 97 for pick 38, a deal that works out pretty close to even on the Jimmy Johnson trade chart. Cincinnati could target Johnny Newton, who it was frequently connected to in the predraft process if he lingers on the board at 38. [Unlocked]

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

After weeks of speculation and debate about Joe Alt and wide receivers, the Titans ended up sticking at pick No. 7 and taking hulking tackle JC Latham of Alabama in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Interest in Latham had been reported before the draft, but the Titans were thought to be high on Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt, who went off the board at pick No. 5 to the Chargers, as well. Certainly, legendary offensive line coach Bill Callahan would be signing off on any tackle selection. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans’ uncertainty at left tackle did not end with the seventh pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday night.

They chose JC Latham of Alabama, an excellent strong lineman. The 6-6, 342 lineman played 1,753 snaps at right tackle per FPP and 135 snaps at right guard and has not played at left tackle since high school.

Nevertheless, Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan found him irresistible.

“There are not many people that walk the earth that are his height and weight and can move with his fluidity,” Callahan said. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Final thoughts before the NFL Draft starts tonight with the Titans lined up at No. 7.

Here is what I would like to see unfold for them in order of preference.

1)    Trade back two to six picks for Olu Fashanu, LT, Penn State

Fashanu (pictured) is a premier pass protector with room to grow as a run blocker. He’s starting from snap one in training camp and Bill Callahan can have a very fast impact on rounding out his game. JC Latham would be the fallback. He’d get every chance to start out on the left side but might wind up on the right, and that would wind up a fail to me. 

Who’s the trader? Well, I started out playing with the chart and values there and was trying to balance things out with the calculator.

By ZACH LYONS, Stacking the Inbox

Mock Drafts are a fun way to pass the time from near the regular season’s end to the night of the draft. Hell, you will even see mock drafts predicting Day Two on Friday morning and Day Three on Saturday morning, then on Monday we will have 2025 Mock Drafts. They’re inescapable and inevitable. We all secretly do them at least once a week, even if we don’t post them. It’s fun, addictive, and mindless. Are they useful and informative? 

Meh, the draft is pretty tough to nail down to a science. So, they rarely provide accuracy, take the 33rd Team’s mock draft last year. They only got five first-round picks matched exactly to the team that drafted the player and were way off on even team-to-position matches. One of those five was Bryce Young, so, yeah, even former GMs and decision-makers are inaccurate with their mocks.

There’s just too much of a human element to the entire draft process. Various teams have various needs, and players fall because we, the people, don’t have all the necessary information to make informed decisions. So, I wanted to do something different with my mock draft, even straying away from my first-round mock draft and multiversal mock draft I did at StackingTheInbox.com.

First, I want to talk about the argument for drafting best player available. Why a team like the Titans were in a good position to do so but failed to do it. A “What If…” scenario. Then take a trip to the consensus board and look at what a best player available draft could look like for the Titans. Finally, for my final 7-round mock draft, I am going to go through each pick but talk about what the Titans wish would happen, what the preferred scenario is, what the realistic scenario is and what I think the pick will be.

Something a little different than you get everywhere including my other content, maybe, just maybe, I bring something fresh to the table.

Why Best Player Available Over Need

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

We have finally made it! It’s draft week, and if you’re reading this it likely means we’re less than 48 hours away from the annual tradition of Roger Goodell getting booed and then putting the first team on the clock.

Here, we’ll attempt to predict what will happen shortly thereafter with my projected picks for all 32 teams as well as my picks for the Titans in all seven rounds with analysis. For the later round picks, I used Wide Left Football’s consensus big board and held myself to taking players ranked

within the appropriate range for that pick and considered players ranked more than 10 spots higher than the pick spot as “off the board” at that point.

This is meant to be predictive and not a “what I would do” mock draft, though I’ll offer my analysis for each pick, and what I might do instead as we go. We’ll knock out the full first round before we jump to just Titans picks after.

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans have many needs left to fill out their roster for the 2024 season.

The most glaring issue is at left tackle. There isn’t a starting-caliber left tackle currently on the roster and the Titans have forced themselves into taking one in the first round after neglecting to touch it at all in free agency. I discussed that in my recent mock draft.

But they do not have to select one with their seventh overall pick, because of the depth of tackles in the draft this year.

The temptation to select one of the premier players instead of tackle would be risky.

The Titans need to come out of the draft with a starting tackle, another wide receiver because their top two are 30 years old, a tight end, an outside pass rusher, multiple defensive linemen, an inside linebacker with run/coverage skills, a safety and a corner.  The problem is they only have two picks in the top three rounds and other selections will fill depth and not expected to start. They’ve only got seven picks overall.

First round: Must be an immediate starter and impactful player if selected seventh overall.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In talking to three people from other teams about what the Titans might do at left tackle, one name came up twice:

Taliese Fuaga.

One of my people thinks he’s the best tackle in the draft, and another put him right behind Joe Alt. Fuaga is a super physical lineman who can bully opponents. I wonder about his lateral quickness.

He did not do a 20-yard shuttle at the combine, which is a good indication of that. I asked his big supporter about concerns there.