Here is the result without the extra lines:
At the risk of becoming the guy who’s always telling people to eat their vegetables, I have to once again point out where those quarterbacks land. There is one quarterback, Cam Ward, with a true first-round grade on Dane’s board — and he happens to be the last of 13 players Dane has in the Round 1 stack. If you are truly thinking about taking Shedeur Sanders at No. 2 or No. 3 (or anywhere in the top 10) and your roster is flawed to a point where even a successful rookie QB won’t be enough to fix you in 2025, then you just shouldn’t do it.
To be clear, I do like Sanders. I think if he’s drafted by a team with a stable supporting cast around him (not unlike what we saw with Bo Nix last year), he’ll have a chance. But if you put him on a bad team expecting a miracle, you’re running a major risk of stunting his growth._teams land in quarterback hell by way of a vicious cycle — they take a guy who isn’t ready, cross their fingers and wind up having to bench that QB by the end of their second year, before repeating the process. It doesn’t have to be this hard.
If anything, it’s the symmetry. Dane had 51 offensive players and 49 defensive players in his top 100. That’s impressive. But beyond that quirk, “The Beast” shows how deep the pool is along the defensive line — Dane has 17 edge defenders and 11 defensive linemen among his top 100. There are plenty of defensive tackles beyond the top 100 who are capable starters, as well.
The Titans are not a quarterback away from being a playoff team. Three of Tennessee’s last five first-round picks (Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley, Treylon Burks) have been busts; two of them (Wilson, Farley) are gone. This team needs a complete teardown, right to the studs. If you start that process with a rookie quarterback — generational prospect or not — it will be very hard on that player and, eventually, on the first-year GM who made the pick.
It’s going to be difficult for Tennessee to trade this pick, but I’d still be on the phone trying to get a deal done until the very last second. If I couldn’t find one, I’d take the best player on my board. Objectively, Travis Hunter and/or Abdul Carter are going to rank higher than Ward every single time.
Forcing a quarterback at No. 1 overall can get messy, especially if there is no clear consensus. When it comes to quarterback, team officials often set aside their drafting principles and target needs — and it appears that Tennessee is on that path. That approach tends to result in drafting quarterbacks who rarely make Pro Bowls, such as Baker Mayfield or Kyler Murray. Ward is in that territory right now.
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