PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Titans' dream of climbing 31 slots. It’s not going to happen in a year. But they sure hope the No. 1 pick that’s looming will have a lot to do with an ascent.
“I think we understand where we are,” Chad Brinker said at The Breakers during the NFL owners meetings. “I mean, we have the first pick in the draft. We couldn’t be any further from where we want to be, (being) 32nd. So obviously there is a lot of work to do.
"And that’s going to take some time to build that and we’re going to approach this draft, and like I talked about back in January when all this change has happened, we’re going to use a disciplined process.”
Before free agency started, the general manager Brinker picked, Mike Borgonzi, said the Titans would be “trying to fill probably as many holes as we can before the draft.”
Fifteen additions later, how does he size up the roster?
“Our primary focus was offensive line, adding Dan (Moore) and (Kevin) Zeitler, we still have to add depth though to that position, to that room,” he said. “We weren’t going to be able to fill everything in free agency. I think the moves we did, we were able to fill some before the draft. Going into the draft we don’t have all those holes. But we certainly have a lot of to do, throughout the whole roster.
A rundown of the additions:
S: Xavier Woods
MIKE: Cody Barton
LB: Curtis Jacobs
Edge: Dre’Mont Jones
Edge: Lorenzo Carter
Depth LB: Curtis Jacobs
LT: Dan Moore
RG Kevin Zeitler
WR3: Van Jefferson
Swing OT: Blake Hance
QB 2: Brandon Allen
QB 3: Tim Boyle
P: Johnny Hekker
PR: James Proche
K: Joey Slye
Still needed: A franchise-altering quarterback, at least one game-changing edge-rusher, at least one dynamic young receiver, a tight end who can block on the line, a third safety who can grow into a starter, a short-yardage running back with some bulk, a developmental guard, a depth corner, maybe a defensive lineman.
So with eight draft picks, including No. 1 overall, and a class of undrafted free agents still ahead, plus the top spot on the waiver wire, how do the Titans view expectations?
“My goal is the same as every year: To be as competitive a football team as possible,” Brian Callahan said. “That’s always going to be the goal. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of work ahead of us, both as a football playing unit and as a roster, and that’s what this part is for. We’re trying to get better talent, we’re trying to keep adding good players. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to do things on the field better than we did. I’m looking for improvement in a lot of areas, truthfully.
“What that looks like as a record? The same way I’ve always said it to you, all you guys’ media-wise, I’m not the one to make the predictions. We’re trying to coach a football team and get better every day we step out there and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
