{"id":1019062,"date":"2026-10-05T07:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1019062\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:31:33","slug":"titans-already-look-like-no-1-nfl-draft-pick-contenders-and-thats-outrageous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1019062\/","title":{"rendered":"Titans already look like No. 1 NFL Draft pick contenders (and that&#8217;s outrageous)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">The Tennessee Titans were supposed to be competitive in 2026 after enduring consecutive 3-14 campaigns. And in some ways, they have been, having <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/titans-played-their-best-game-in-week-3-and-still-couldn-t-score\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">allowed two winnable games to barely get away<\/a>. Nonetheless, the Titans are a winless 0-3 and look like legitimate contenders for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2027 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">The schedule <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/titansized.com\/3-titans-veterans-on-extremely-thin-ice-heading-into-week-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">isn&#8217;t getting friendlier<\/a>. They&#8217;ll play Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4 and the (fellow winless) Houston Texans the following contest. The Indianapolis Colts appear to be the next winnable matchup on the docket, but the Titans won&#8217;t be considered pre-game favorites.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">Unless the Titans <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/titansized.com\/carnell-tate-s-breakout-may-have-revealed-the-titans-next-great-receiver\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">show considerable improvement<\/a>, they&#8217;re headed for a top-five pick for a third-straight year. That&#8217;s extremely unfortunate, given this fanbase was expecting improvement in 2026. Entering Week 4, the Titans have to be considered among the favorites for the top overall selection in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Titans look like No. 1 pick contenders with 0-3 record<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">The Titans are one of five 0-3 teams. The Texans, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Chargers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the four others. It&#8217;s been an extremely disappointing start for the playoff-hopeful Texans, Chargers, and Buccaneers. They do not feel like <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/colin-simmons-is-already-cementing-himself-atop-titans-2027-nfl-draft-board\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">legitimate No. 1 pick contenders<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">The Dolphins certainly pose a threat to the Titans&#8217; No. 1 pick chances. They accepted their fate as they entered a multi-year rebuild earlier this offseason. Things are more disappointing in Tennessee, with this being, at minimum, <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/cam-ward-s-titans-future-shouldn-t-even-be-a-conversation-after-week-3-loss\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">their third consecutive rebuilding campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">Even fellow rebuilding teams such as the Cleveland Browns (2-1), Arizona Cardinals (1-2), and New York Jets (1-2) have looked considerably more competent compared to the Titans.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">Despite almost upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants in Weeks 2 and 3, the stats indicate the Titans deserve to be winless. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/brian-daboll-just-proved-the-giants-right-with-another-titans-dud-in-week-3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">37 points scored is third-lowest in the NFL<\/a>, ranking ahead of the last-place Dolphins and New England Patriots (36) by just one point. The Titans&#8217; -22 point differential is fourth-worst.<\/p>\n<p>Titans offense needs to drag team out of the basement<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">If the Titans start stringing wins together and drag themselves out of the No. 1 pick conversation, it&#8217;ll be because Cam Ward <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/cam-ward-s-will-levis-esque-week-3-raises-major-doubts-about-his-evaluation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">and the offense improves<\/a>. The fanbase is anxious to see it. Robert Saleh&#8217;s defense has quickly improved after a lackluster Week 1. Everyone is waiting for Brian Daboll&#8217;s unit to match their effort.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">The Titans drafted Ward at No. 1 overall in 2025. They landed Carnell Tate with the fourth selection in 2026. Ideally, the rebuilding plan wouldn&#8217;t include another top-three pick in 2027, but the current on-field product indicates it&#8217;s well within the realm of possibility.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow titansized.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=titansized.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-BKH5TN-7.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"78\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tennessee Titans were supposed to be competitive in 2026 after enduring consecutive 3-14 campaigns. And in some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1019063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6,15],"class_list":["post-1019062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-draft","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117387138784177353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1019063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}