NFL Draft: Tennessee Titans Leading Race For Top Pick

This week’s Thursday Night Football matchup was pretty fitting considering how this season’s slate of games have gone for the NFL in that time slot. The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars got together for an intense, playoff-type atmosphere in Jacksonville as each team competed for the lead in the race to pick first overall in this year’s NFL Draft.

Despite an early 10 point lead for the Titans, it was the Jaguars who came out on top in the game itself, so the Titans were the real winners of this one. The Jaguars are in a pretty good spot, because unlike the Titans, it doesn’t appear as though quarterback will be a top need for them going into the offseason. Tennessee has Zach Mettenberger, but anyone who has followed his college career and into this season knows that he is not a reliable option in terms of his health.

If the Titans are in the market for a quarterback, then they need to win the opportunity to pick first overall in the draft so they can get Marcus Mariota, the Oregon Ducks quarterback and consensus top player at that position this year after winning his first Heisman Trophy.

With the loss to Jacksonville, the Titans moved to an abysmal 2-13 on the season with one game left to play against the Indianapolis Colts next week at home. The other two teams in the race for the number one overall pick this year are the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both at 2-12 this season. The Raiders have the highest point differential in the league at -168, and that’s after the Titans and Jaguars have already played an extra game. The Titans are number two in that category at -167.

It’s been a hard fall for the Titans, who will likely again see drastic changes this offseason. At this point, they are hoping it will start with the number one overall pick and some newfound excitement.