{"id":947404,"date":"2026-07-16T21:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/947404\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:18:21","slug":"espns-weirdest-nfl-exercise-revealed-something-fascinating-about-the-titans-roster-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/947404\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN’s weirdest NFL exercise revealed something fascinating about the Titans roster build"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tennessee Titans have a roster full of necessary building blocks but precious few homegrown players trending toward elite trade value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Tennessee
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tImagn Images<\/p>\n

The Tennessee Titans have won just 12 of their last 59 games dating back to the 2022 season. They enter 2026 on their third head coach and third general manager in that span.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ZERO picks from the 2020, 2021, or 2022 draft classes remains on this roster. That brutal stretch of futility has left Tennessee in a strange place, and ESPN\u2019s Bill Barnwell just provided the perfect lens to see exactly how strange it is.<\/p>\n

Barnwell publishes an annual column identifying every NFL player worth at least one first-round pick<\/a> in a hypothetical trade, broken down by team. Most of these trades will never happen. The Chiefs aren\u2019t moving Patrick Mahomes, and the Bills aren\u2019t shipping Josh Allen. Barnwell lists both quarterbacks at a value of seven first-round picks, a number that isn\u2019t even legal under the current CBA\u2019s three-draft trading window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But these exercises do reflect real market dynamics. Micah Parsons got traded. Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams left the Jets. The Giants moved Dexter Lawrence for the 10th overall pick. Max Crosby was briefly dealt for two first-round picks before the Ravens backed out. The Rams have made this a lifestyle, trading three first-round picks across separate deals involving Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie.<\/p>\n

Only 4 Titans players make Barnwell\u2019s list<\/p>\n

Barnwell landed on just four Titans worth at least a first-round pick via trade: quarterback Cam Ward (two first-round picks), defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons (one first-round pick and more), guard Peter Skowro\u0144ski (one first-round pick), and wide receiver Carnell Tate (one first-round pick), who has yet to play an NFL game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rookie defensive end Keldric Faulk landed in Barnwell\u2019s \u201cmissing out\u201d category as a player who is close but not quite there.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where this roster exercise gets genuinely weird.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you start asking who on this Titans roster could develop into first-round-pick trade value over the next few years, the answers are thin and require very specific things to play out.<\/p>\n

The Keldric Faulk question<\/p>\n

Faulk has position value working in his favor because edge rushers command premium trade compensation. But he\u2019s not a prototypical sack artist in the mold of Parsons or Garrett. He\u2019s the \u201cbig end\u201d in Robert Saleh\u2019s defense, similar to John Franklin-Myers, and that archetype doesn\u2019t typically generate first-round-pick trade interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think Faulk will be a very good NFL player because of how perfectly he fits Saleh\u2019s scheme. I just don\u2019t know if his style of play will ever warrant that level of value.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Carnell\t\t<\/p>\n

Tennessee Titans News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTitans plan for Keldric Faulk is perfect balance with Carnell Tate as dual first round draft picks\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tennessee Titans have two first round picks for the first time since 2017, and Robert Saleh\u2019s plan for one is the perfect match to balance out the other for the long-term roster structure.<\/p>\n

JC Latham and Jermaine Johnson are the real tests<\/p>\n

JC Latham should be on this list. A top-10 draft pick who plays tackle, left or right, should carry first-round-pick trade value. But he hasn\u2019t lived up to that yet. The encouraging part is that Latham is only 23 years old<\/a>, and offensive linemen typically hit their prime later than most positions, much like quarterbacks. The cerebral nature of the position, the experience required, and sheer brute strength all develop over time. Latham has runway, but he has to prove it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"JC\t\t<\/p>\n

Tennessee Titans News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe blueprint for JC Latham\u2019s Titans breakout was hiding in ESPN\u2019s latest rankings\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Tennessee Titans young tackle JC Latham is facing a pivotal 2026 season. ESPN just showed him the exact NFL offensive tackle he should follow to take the next step.<\/p>\n

Jermaine Johnson\u2019s path is alive but far tighter. He\u2019s 27, two years removed from an Achilles injury, a former first-round pick without the production to match, and entering his fifth-year option with only one season left under contract after being traded from the Jets when Saleh took the Tennessee job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Johnson to reach first-round-pick trade value, he would need to explode this season, put up 8-to-10-plus sacks as the Titans\u2019 best edge rusher, earn a contract extension, then do it again at 28. Back-to-back 10-plus sack seasons would create that value at 29 or 30, but the window is razor thin.<\/p>\n

Where does that leave the rest of the roster?<\/p>\n

Veterans like Calvin Ridley are easy \u201cno\u2019s\u201d. Tony Pollard is nearly 30 on an expiring running back contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Femi Oladejo is a second-round pick with too many unknowns. Anthony Hill Jr. and Cedric Gray don\u2019t play premium positions. Kevin Winston Jr. plays safety, and safeties don\u2019t carry that value unless you\u2019re Kyle Hamilton. Wandale Robinson, a 5\u20198 slot receiver isn\u2019t getting that type of trade deal.<\/p>\n

Cornerback Cor\u2019Dale Flott is the one name I\u2019ll add to the conversation. He\u2019s only 24, already signed a three-year deal, and plays a premium position. Flott is basically the cornerback version of JC Latham but with more experience and a contract already in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alontae Taylor, at 27, faces the same tight-window problem as Johnson, and corners tend to have shorter primes than edge rushers.<\/p>\n

This is what happens when you draft horribly for three straight years. From the 2023 class, Skoronski carries first-round-pick value per Barnwell. Will Levis does not. Tajae Spears does not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Titans have a roster full of necessary building blocks but precious few homegrown players trending toward elite trade value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Four guys on the list, a handful of long shots behind them, and a whole lot of ground still to make up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tennessee Titans have a roster full of necessary building blocks but precious few homegrown players trending toward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[21637,127,2240,12,7,10563,5386,6,24182,8504,526,394,2411,527],"class_list":["post-947404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennessee-titans","tag-bill-barnwell","tag-cam-ward","tag-carnell-tate","tag-espn","tag-football","tag-jeffery-simmons","tag-keldric-faulk","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-trade-deadline","tag-peter-skoronski","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-tennesseetitans","tag-titans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116931743679998878","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947404","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=947404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}