INDIANAPOLIS – There isn’t a ton of intrigue with the first pick of the draft.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are picking a quarterback, and even though there are two good ones, Bucs general manager Jason Licht said the team has a favorite (and there’s almost no doubt his name rhymes with “Nameis”).
You want intrigue at the top of the draft? It starts at No. 2 and the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans might not be married to taking a quarterback at No. 2, even though Heisman Trophy winners Jameis Winston of Florida State and Marcus Mariota of Oregon are the clear top two quarterbacks in this draft. They liked some of the things they saw from Zach Mettenberger last season as a rookie.
“We like Zach, but I’m not ready to commit to anything, including who we’re going to pick at No. 2,” Titans general manager Ruston Webster said.
The Titans could trade the pick, especially to a quarterback-needy team, and restock a thin roster with some extra picks. They could take an elite non-quarterback; there are a few very intriguing defensive linemen at the top of the draft.
But the first priority has to be quarterback, whoever it is. Webster made that clear.
“Until you get that quarterback position settled, you’re swimming upstream,” Webster said.
If the Titans are completely sold on the quarterback who falls to them being a future star – and let’s be clear, we’re likely talking about Mariota, unless the Buccaneers shock everyone and draft him – then it becomes pretty easy. But there are a few questions about Mariota, who ran a spread shotgun offense at Oregon. No matter how important the quarterback position is, it would be a mistake to overdraft a quarterback out of desperation. The Titans did that themselves with Jake Locker a few years ago, and that didn’t turn out.
When the Buccaneers say all options are open for them, that’s empty. For the Titans, it’s much more accurate. If Tennessee isn’t totally sold on Mariota being a franchise quarterback or feel he isn’t an enormous upgrade over Mettenberger, who has a big arm and is a prototype pocket quarterback, then they have choices.
But the Titans don’t want to find themselves in this position often, picking second, so they can’t afford to make a mistake. They need to make sure that one way or another they feel good about their quarterback coming out of the draft.
“Zach did a lot of good things for us last year, but with the way the year went last year and where we are in the draft and the guys coming out, you have to put your time in and figure that out,” Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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