Both Mike Vrabel and new GM Ran cartoon have provided relative endorsements for Ryan Tannehill to return as Tennessee’s starting quarterback for a fifth season. But a successor plan is apparently being considered.
Carthon traveled to each of the top four quarterback prospects’ profit days, and the Titans are one of the teams scheduled to visit Anthony Richardson, who played at Carthon’s alma mater (Florida). The Titans have become a team to watch for a trade-up to the No. 3 Cardinals, said NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah during the latest Move the Sticks podcast (h/t Yardbarker.com).
[RELATED: Breakdown Of Top 2023 QB Prospects]
The Titans hold the No. 11 pick overall. They could certainly compete with the Raiders and possibly the Seahawks in a bidding war for the No. 3 pick of cards. Both teams have been constants at Quarterback Pro Days. Seattle holds the No. 5 overall pick; Las Vegas is at 7am.
It will obviously cost Tennessee more than either of those teams to trade at this point. But expense didn’t stop Carolina from making an eight-spot vault for the No. 1 overall pick. With an 11-to-3 move depicting the same jump, the Cardinals will be looking for a similar package. The Panthers sent the Bears their second-round picks in 2023 and 2025, their first-round picks in 2024 and DJ Moore. The 49ers went from 12 to 3 in 2021, the Trey Lance act. San Francisco had to send Miami its first-rounders in 2022 and 23 and a third in 2022.
The Cardinals appear to be in an ideal spot, positioned to either pick the draft’s best non-quarterback or get a big trade move that would help Ossenfort mountains begin its reconstruction. The Cards GM spent the last three years with the Titans, who have a quarterback going into a season at age 35. If a Tennessee trade pack included a player like Carolina did, Ossesnfort would have the advantage here.
Injuries nearly ruined Tannehill’s career prior to his Nashville resurgence. He missed 24 games from 2016 to 2018, most of them due to knee problems. However, the former top 10 pick hasn’t wasted any time since coming on Markus Mariota (October 2019) through the end of the 2021 season as an injury-plagued Titans team rallied around the AFC No. That came after a Titans trip to the AFC Championship Game — during a 2019 season in which Tannehill averaged 9.6 yards per attempt, a number that still remains in the top 10 — and won the 2020 AFC South. Tannehill missed five games last season and underwent ankle surgery.
Tannehill has one season left on his four-year, $118 million contract. He’s on the Titans’ books at $36.6 million, which is actually $2 million below his 2022 cap. The 12th-year veteran would make sense as a bridge player for the organization and could use this season as a launch pad for a free agency deal elsewhere in 2024 if the Titans conduct a swap.
While CJ Stroud went to Vrabel’s alma mater, the Panthers are the clear favorites to draft the Ohio State alum. Carolina has also been linked Bryce Young at No. 1, with the less proven Richardson also on the radar. With Stroud and Young off the board, teams that view Richardson (13 college starts) as a high-ceilinged prospect worthy of development will have to contend with the Cardinals to skip the QB-needy Colts. Josh Dobbs has returned to the Browns, and Malik Willis didn’t look ready to take the reins as a rookie. Carthon has no ties to 2022’s third-place finisher. A more desirable QB prospect seems to be on the new GM’s radar.
