Titans sound like they may lean WR over LT with No. 7 pick

There has been a great debate about what the Tennessee Titans should do with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Some fans and media (myself included) prefer to see the Titans take a left tackle with that pick after the team has had the worst situation in the NFL at the position over the past two years.

Others would like the Titans to go wide receiver, a position that has been almost equally as dreadful since Tennessee traded A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022.

The good news is, both position groups are considered deep in this draft, thus the Titans could land impact players at both positions no matter what order they take them in with their first two picks, assuming that is the approach Tennessee ultimately takes.

But there is more than enough reason to believe that the Titans will lean toward taking a wide receiver more so than a left tackle after comments by head coach Brian Callahan and general manager Ran Carthon during their respective 2024 NFL Scouting Combine press conferences on Tuesday.

When asked about the debate between taking a wide receiver or offensive lineman, something Callahan’s former team, the Cincinnati Bengals, were faced with in the 2021 NFL draft before taking Ja’Marr Chase over Penei Sewell, Callahan said he leans wide receiver.

“At the end of the day in the NFL, it’s about scoring points and having people that can score points is important,” the Titans head coach said, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport.

“I would say that that situation and our situation are probably very different, both in who those players are and where we are in our process. We were going into Year 3 (with the Bengals) and Ja’Marr Chase and Penei Sewell I think were kind of unanimously considered to be All-Pro-caliber players, they’ve both lived up to that billing.

“And so it’s different set of players, different set of circumstances but I’ll always lean… When all things are equal, guys that can score touchdowns tend to make more of an impact.”

Callahan added that he hopes to find multiple wide receivers in the draft.

#Titans HC Brian Callahan referring to WRs in the 2024 draft class – says he hopes to find “a couple guys.” pic.twitter.com/CQ54fahnD5

— Sam Phalen (@Sam_Phalen) February 27, 2024

Carthon stressed the importance of adding playmakers and noted that having offensive line coach Bill Callahan to develop offensive linemen will give the team “a little leeway” in its approach to building the offensive line.

“If you look at where (Brian Callahan) comes from, you have three to four guys that are in there a lot and are producers,” Carthon said, per Jim Wyatt. “The receivers room is where we’re going to continue to look to add some playmakers. Like I said before, we are looking to add playmakers on both sides of the ball. We need to have people that can put the ball in the paint, and score points for us, and we need people who can take the ball away and create more opportunities for us to score.”

“I think for a guy like that (Bill Callahan) who has been such a strong developer of talent at the O-line position, it gives us a little leeway to bring some guys in and him having a plan of how to develop those guys and get them on the field,” Carthon said.

Of course, what direction the Titans go with their No. 7 overall pick will also be determined by who is actually on the board in that spot.

But, assuming this isn’t some kind of smokescreen, I think the comments by Callahan and Carthon show that not only is the door wide open for the team to take a wide receiver like Malik Nabers over a left tackle like Joe Alt, for example, the Titans might be leaning that way entirely.