The Tennessee Titans hope that general manager Ran Carthon can change the narrative surrounding the team’s inability to hit on first-round draft picks, which was a glaring issue during the Jon Robinson era.
Over the last decade, the team has had mixed results from its first-round selections, and things have been particularly bad since Tennessee hit on Jeffery Simmons in 2019.
Pro Football Focus‘ Sam Monson included the Titans among the worst franchises at using their first-round picks. Here was part of his analysis:
Tennessee’s recent run of first-round selections includes all-time busts for a variety of reasons. Isaiah Wilson played three snaps for the team before off-field concerns led to his departure. Caleb Farley was immediately struck by serious injury and has played only 164 snaps over his three-year NFL career.
Treylon Burks was put in the unenviable position of needing to replace what the team traded away in A.J. Brown, and he has been completely unable to do so thus far. Jack Conklin was a good player for the team but left in free agency, as did Corey Davis. Marcus Mariota started for a while but was ultimately benched for performance reasons.
Monson rightly notes that Simmons has developed into one of the best interior defenders in the National Football League. Still, he has been the outlier in the Titans’ first-round picks since 2014.
Coming out of Georgia, Wilson had all the makings and the skill set to be a ten-year starter in the NFL. In his final season with the Bulldogs, he played in 11 games and was responsible for just one sack allowed, per PFF.
The Titans were hopeful he could be a pillar when they drafted him 29th overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. However, his tenure in Nashville was short, to say the least.
Wilson continued to have issues in short stints with the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants before being out of the league entirely.
The red flags were there for Farley. The defensive back suffered a torn ACL and missed the 2017 season at Virginia Tech. He also missed time in 2019 with a back injury.
Injuries have plagued his NFL career, with Farley suffering a torn ACL in Week 6 of his rookie campaign. The following season, Farley was shut down in November after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disc.
He missed all of last season with lingering a nerve issue while recovering from back surgery and has played only 12 games. Even when he’s been on the field, Farley hasn’t been good.
Of the Titans’ eight first-round picks from 2014-20, only four had their fifth-year option picked up, including Adoree’ Jackson, Marcus Mariota, Taylor Lewan and Simmons — and Jackson was released before playing on it.
Of those four, only two received a second contract (Simmons and Lewan). Farley and wide receiver Treylon Burks are currently both on pace to not have their options picked up or stick around for another contract.
Carthon hopes to reverse the fortunes of Tennessee’s first-round selections, with his first attempt coming in the form of left guard Peter Skoronski, who had a promising first season in the NFL after being drafted in 2023.
The Titans hold the No. 7 overall pick in April’s draft and if Carthon can hit on it, and Skoronski continues to improve, he’ll be off to one heck of a start.
