SB Nation mock draft: Titans answer lingering QB questions with No. 1 pick

Welcome to another SB Nation Community Mock Draft!

As we do every year, we gather up one “general manager” from each of our 32 NFL communities to help put on this massive first-round mock draft. The Tennessee Titans and proxy-general manager Jimmy Morris from Music City Miracles are up first, so let’s go ahead and dive into our very first pick!

If you want to win in the NFL, you need to have a quarterback. It’s as simple as that.

The Titans bounced between the likes of Will Levis and Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterbacks in 2024 but all that did was earn them the No. 1 overall pick. Not willing to risk being in this situation again anytime soon, Morris is taking Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the first-overall pick in this year’s community mock draft.

Morris: In the NFL you have nothing until you have a quarterback. Cam Ward is not the perfect prospect, but he has the tools he needs to be a franchise quarterback. The Titans have spent a lot of time with Ward and have become convinced he is their guy. Now the focus turns to adding some playmakers around him.

Analysis: Second-year head coach Brian Callahan and the Titans want to turn around their team as fast as possible and the quickest way to do that is to find your quarterback of the future. With the No. 1 pick, Tennessee cannot afford to pass on the top passer in an otherwise underwhelming quarterback class compared to last year’s crop.

The Titans’ supporting cast to surround Ward is headlined by wideout Calvin Ridley, who is coming off his second consecutive 1,000-yard season in his first year with Tennessee. Ward will also be handing off to running back Tony Pollard, the only other player besides Ridley who recorded at least 500 rushing and/or receiving yards for the team in 2024.

Ward’s outlook as a rookie will look a lot better than it currently does if former first-round pick Treylon Burks could find his stride in Year 3, on top of the Titans being able to find other offensive difference-makers on Day 2 of this year’s draft.

In the end, I don’t think the Titans could look anywhere else with this pick. Abdul Carter has got to be intriguing, but what good is building an elite defense if it’s been tough to find even serviceable quarterback play already.

Morris makes the unsurprising, but correct move here.

Despite being the top quarterback, Ward was not among the top five in SB Nation’s consensus big board. In an underwhelming quarterback class compared to last year’s crop, it makes sense with a number of bonafide blue-chip prospects at other positions ahead of him. Now, teams picking early who aren’t tied to finding their quarterback of the future will have their chance at some real game-changers, including Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Michigan’s Mason Graham.