The Titans had themselves an eventful draft to say the least. They traded away their star wideout in A.J. Brown, and then in round three they select a QUARTERBACK in Malik Willis. It's an interesting and mildly surprising move!!
Read my thoughts on Malik Willis here!!!!!
Current starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been a refreshing upgrade at QB for the franchise as a whole in the past three seasons. He's a very good quarterback. But, it's pretty fair to say he is not elite, and he had some pretty major struggles in the playoffs the past two seasons, especially this last loss to the Bengals in January.
I guess a part of me feels bad for Ryan a bit. I am a Titans fan and he's won a lot of games as the QB in Nashville. But ultimately I am a TITANS fan. Which is why I was not overly devastated about the A.J. Brown loss. Bottom line is that I want the team to win, so I a try to stay positive and see the bright side in whatever choice the Titans make. That's all I can do as a fan anyway.
Drafting Malik Willis in the third round is pretty epic by the Titans. For a lot of reasons. Malik was projected as a possible first rounder with a fair bit of hype. Although to be fair it's been said time and time again there were zero sure fire franchise quarterbacks in this draft. But nobody really knows the future at the end of the day.
So the Titans drafted a mysterious young quarterback in the third round. This puts tremendous pressure on Tannehill in such a lowkey way. Just a slick move by Titans GM Jon Robinson. Willis is raw, but athletic and talented. Ryan had a little honeymoon phase with the franchise three years ago when he won the starting job, had a fun playoff run, and signed a solidly lucrative contract extension. But now, the Titans are applying pressure. They want and need more out of Ryan. Ryan knows the Titans will slide the backup in if the coaching staff wants to, as that's literally how Ryan became the Titans starting QB to begin with in 2019.
Simply put, this makes the Titans quarterback room wayyyy more competitive. Ryan hasn't had a real threat behind him since Mariota was QB2.
This is like the perfect response by the Titans front office after Tannehill's playoff struggles. Draft a young, hungry, raw prospect. As a Titans fan, the way I see it it's a win-win. I believe this environment will produce the best possible QB play out of Tannehill. If Malik somehow became the starter at any point in time down the line, I'd be confident he earned it over a very competent QB in Ryan Tannehill.
I totally agree with Rich Eisen here. Tannehill doesn't have the desire to mentor a QB and I don't blame him. Tannehill is not an old over the hill QB himself. I believe good old fashioned competition is what is important. Malik and Ryan are grown men. There's no need to be cute about this.
Even Colin Cowherd made some sense here! I just think competing at QB is best rather than always being buddy buddy.
Finally, combining the pressure of Tannehill's underwhelming playoff performances and the pressure of Malik waiting behind him, I'm hoping we get the best out of Tannehill.
If not, perhaps the Titans will have found their Russell Wilson or even Patrick Mahomes in Malik?
That would be lovely!!!
Either way, despite some hype around Malik, Malik is a third rounder and the fourth player selected by the Titans in this draft. So it's not an outright shot at Tannehill's job for now, and the Titans won't feel like it's a wasted draft pick since Willis was taken late anyway.