Titans Make Farley's Fantasy a Reality

The franchise's first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft planned to be a first-round pick since he was child.

Cornerback Caleb Farley likened NFL draft night to a feature film. It had a happy ending, but there were plenty of other emotions in the moments that led up to it.

The Tennessee Titans helped Farley’s dream come true when they selected him at No. 22 in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. And that dream was one that he’d shared with his late mother about since he was a young child in Pop Warner.

“Once I got off-camera and got to see some of my family members, it was very emotional,” Farley said Thursday. “It was everything I could have asked for or dreamed for. It was something out of a movie.

“I was telling my mother I was going to be a first-round draft pick when I was seven years old. So, I hope she’s smiling down on me. She always believed in me.”

Much like most popular movies, Farley’s path to draft night included some devastating and unfortunate hurdles.

The most devastating was his mother’s untimely death due to breast cancer. She was one of Farley’s strongest supporters. And watching the draft without her, alone on a couch, wasn’t something he expected on one of the most important days in his football career.

“My mother was my biggest fan,” he said. “It could have went a lot different if she was here. It was a little weird because I had to be in a room by myself.”

It paled in comparison to the tragedy of losing his mother, but Farley underwent two surgeries on his back in a little over a year. Concern about the procedures was enough for most teams to think his first-round dream was exactly that.

Throughout the pre-draft process, the number of questions he answered regarding his health and availability come training camp were something of a nightmare. And it was during that time that he had remain focused on his goal and ignore the doubts.

“The hardest part was just being patient, canceling out the noise and waiting for the draft,” he said.

As a relatively young cornerback (he has only played the position since 2018), Farley’s injury history and his lack of game film did not add up to enough in the eyes of some. Then he opted out of the 2020 season, which means he has not played a down of football in 17 months.

Yet, his tenacity for the game and perceived commitment to hard work, coupled with natural talent, sold general manager Jon Robinson on making Farley’s dream a reality.

“His ability to learn and go out on the field and make plays really just checked every box for us,” Robinson said. “We certainly thought that he was a premium player on our board... We watched film on him. And he’s a guy with a really explosive skill set that is going to help our football team.”

Head coach Mike Vrabel echoed similar sentiments stating “What stood out was just his athleticism.”

The brain trust at the Titans organization saw enough good in Farley to take the risk at 22. And though there are months until Farley will prove it on the field, his draft day interactions with Vrabel and Robinson show his head is in the right place.

“When coach called me to tell me I am going to be a Tennessee Titan, the first words out of my mouth was, ‘When can I get the playbook?’” Farley said.

He wasn’t reading from a script. It was a natural reaction to a moment he had anticipated for so long.