NASHVILLE – Music City and the NFL are throwing quite a party for the draft that starts Thursday night in Nashville, but this is a working week for the league’s teams as they try to pick the most promising prospects.
The draft’s main stage, where spectators will gather, will be located downtown at the intersection of Broadway and First Avenue near the Cumberland River. The Tennessee Titans will be a couple miles away at team headquarters, quietly biding their time until hitting the clock.
“We’re going to have to sit and wait for a while till we’re picking there at 19 – if we stay at 19,” Titans general manager Jon Robinson said.
The Titans hold the 19th pick overall after coming up a victory short of a second straight playoff berth in Mike Vrabel’s debut season as Tennessee’s coach. A year after drafting only four players, the Titans have six total picks – three are within the first 82 selections – and the general manager who has made 14 trades since being hired in January 2016 has shown he’s willing to move. Robinson traded up in the first two rounds last year to take linebackers Rashaan Evans and Harold Landry III.
Now the Titans must decide how to help Marcus Mariota with the quarterback going into his fifth and final season under contract.