My Two Cents: Draft is Done and Grades Are Good, But Titans Still Have Lots of Work to Do

The Tennessee Titans had a good draft over the weekend, with some interesting picks that should help them get better. But they're still a long way off from being a contender, and there's more to do before September.

NASHVILLE — Three days of draft work by Tennessee Titans execs and scouts is done, and six new players will be in the house soon. For many draft experts, the thought is that the Titans did pretty well.

That remains to be seen, of course, as every draft does. But the draft is just one small piece of building a team, or in the Titans' case, rebuilding a team. They finished 7-10 last year, losing their last seven games. They are trending in the wrong direction.

These six new players are a start, but there is still a ton of work to be done with this roster if the Titans are going to contend for an AFC South title and work their way into the playoffs

The oddsmakers still don't think this team is very good. The gambling website Fanduel updated its odds after the draft, and the Titans have the 28th-longest odds — out of 32 NFL teams — to win the Super Bowl at 75-to-1. Tampa Bay has the same odds, and only three teams — Indianapolis (85-to-1), Houston (110-to-1) and Arizona (180-to-1) are bigger longshots.

They are 55-to-1 longshots just to win the AFC and 5.5-to-1 to win the AFC South, with Jacksonville the favorite. The Colts are Texans are behind, and everyone thinks this division, as a whole, is the worst in football. 

We'll see the six fresh faces in town for the first time next week for a rookie minicamp  The players will undergo a physical, learn their way around and then practice for a few days before diving into the offseason program with their new teammates.

The draft is an important way to build a team, but it's not the only way. There will be more new faces showing up in Nashville before the Titans go to camp in July, through free agency and undrafted free agents.

There's still a lot of work to do.

"Free agency is not over. They are going to let us sign free agents Monday, they will," Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "Free agency is going to go all the way up until the season starts. 

"There will be players on other teams that will become available Monday, and we'll take a look. And we'll continue to look for trade possibilities and opportunities."

Many national experts have doled out good grades for this Titans draft, and with good reason. Many people think Peter Skoronski, the Titan's first-round pick at No. 11, was the best offensive lineman in the draft. That was a good pick, and at a position of need. Combined with what they did in free agency, this line looks better than it was a year, which is setting a very low bar.

Moving up nine spots on Friday to draft Kentucky quarterback Will Levis was a bold move, one worth taking if you think he's your quarterback of the future. Apparently new general manager Ran Carthon and the crew think he is.

Their reputations now depend on that.

Ryan Tannehill, who will be 35 in July, is still here. He's the starting quarterback — for now. The consensus is that Levis will need time to acclimate to the NFL game, so sitting and learning isn't a bad thing, either.

Tannehill was kept in the loop on the Levis pick, according to Titans coach Mike Vrabel. He said Tannehill will be the starting quarterback on Monday, Malik Willis will be the back-up and Levis will be the third QB. 

"And what I've told them is whatever happens after that will be up to the players," Vrabel said. "That's what it has always been here, and that's what we always want it to be." 

Vrabel said they might keep three quarterbacks this season, although September and the season opener are still a long way off. Vrabel said he's sure Tannehill still has a lot to say about fighting to keep his job, "just like Ryan has done every day that he's been here." Vrabel said he also expects Willis to fight for a spot as well.

The best thing about the Levis pick — if he turns out to be the every day starter and a winner — is that he's only going to cost around $9.5 million total over four years as a second-round choice. Alabama's Bryce Young, the first pick by Carolina, will make nearly $40 million over the same period.

Carthon called the Levis pick a "value thing" early in the second round. "I'm happy we were able to move up to get a player like Will," he said. Carthon said Levis is "a diligent worker who is extremely smart and extremely bright" along with being "hard-wired and tough." "Will is here, and our coaches are going to work their asses off to help him improve, and we think that he will improve."

We wrote a lot about Levis' freefall on Thursday night and then again on Friday when the Titans took him. Levis seemed humbled by the late pick, and vowed to work hard and prove everyone wrong. 

The success of this draft, of course, will depend on what happens with Levis. If he wins, the Titans win, of course.

There were plenty of criticisms of Levis by the draft experts, many of them validating why Levis wasn't a first-round pick. The question all along, though, is can he win games? Now that he's a Titan, it really doesn't matter where he was picked. It's on him now.

I don't always agree with FOX Sports talking head Colin Cowherd, but he at least is one of those guys who has league contacts and he does work the phones. He said a lot of NFL people found fault with Levis when comparing him to the three quarterbacks who wound up being taken early, Young, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud (to Houston) and Florida's Anthony Richardson (to Indianapolis).

They didn't like his arrogance, didn't like the whole muscle-shirt thing and being all built up like a bodybuilder. Young and Stroud are NFL-ready quarterback, but Richardson and Levis need work. Cowherd said many people in the know think Richardson is coachable.

Levis? Not so much.

That's the task at hand now for the Titans.

"I had a head coach and GM tell me — they hated that."

—@ColinCowherd and @JohnMiddlekauff speculate why Will Levis fell out of the first round pic.twitter.com/iih9kKJObT

— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) April 28, 2023

I was clear about that on Thursday when I was reporting on the Titans trying to move up in the draft to take Stroud. They really wanted him, and were prepared to draft up to No. 3 if he was there. The Texans foiled that plan, taking him at No. 2.

Tennessee could have taken Levis at No. 11, but passed. Not worth it at that time, they agreed. But the second round? That changed everything. The cost is so much cheaper now, and the risk is reduced, too.

That's what happened, and now it's time to move forward. The biggest knock on Levis is his arrogance and his bravado. He's been knocked down a peg now and will surely be a better listener. With the new offensive coaches in place at Tennessee, they can make him better.

How much better? That remains to be seen.