PALM BEACH, Fla. – If the Titans are falling in love with Cam Ward, nothing will move them off the top spot in the NFL Draft.
“I was taught over the years, if you find the quarterback that you want, and you think he’s a franchise quarterback, then you’re not going to pass on him,” Mike Borgonzi said as he, Chad Brinker and Brian Callahan sat with me in a quiet corner of The Breakers, where the NFL owners meetings are being held.
Said Callahan: “I think anytime you can find a quarterback that can lift your football team and that you feel is the caliber of player you’re talking about, those guys are worth more – there is really no price on those guys.”
So it’s entirely possible Borgonzi’s phone rings as the draft approaches or on Thursday, April 24 and the Titans are not open for business?
“Yes,” Borgonzi said.
The Titans will send a contingent to Colorado’s pro day on Friday to see Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter and then have a private workout with Sanders on Wednesday, April 9th.
From there, Borgonzi said they’d be in decision-making mode about what to do with the first pick. Ward is largely regarded as the likely top pick, and the team concluded their pre-draft work with him Friday with a private workout in Coral Gables, Fla. They can still have a Zoom conversation with him.
“We’re getting closer to this decision,” Borgonzi said.
If the Titans don’t deal out of No. 1 any chance at a deal to enhance their standing inside the top 100 comes down to No. 35 in the second round. Because of last year’s trade of their third-round pick for L’Jarius Sneed, their next selections are not slated until No. 103 and 120 in the fourth round.
So if there is no trade back from No. 1, a trade of No. 35 might become more likely.
“Really that’s where it starts to come that you work the board horizontally,” Borgonzi said. “You’re looking at what you have there. There is a strategy to that. How far can you actually move back where there’s a cost for players where you know you can at least get one of them if we can move back five spots?
"Maybe it’s 10 spots. As we get closer to the draft, we start to go horizontal across the board and start to work that strategy and talk amongst us with the staff, in terms of can we move back and possibly get this player? Is 
there a cluster of players that we can at least get one of them if we move back?"
As for quarterback, while they say the verdict isn’t in yet, most around the league believe the lean is already strongly toward Ward.
I asked Borgonzi if there is a scenario where the Titans could move forward with their current roster of quarterbacks, which includes a lot of warts: Will Levis, Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle.
“I mean, sure,” he said. “At this point, there is a possibility that could happen. Those guys are on the roster for a reason. That’s the decision we have to make: Do we feel comfortable enough with one of these quarterbacks in the draft to take him?"
