NFL
By: Brandon Blake
What a piece of breaking news to wake up to on Thursday morning.
That news was the announcement that the Tennessee Titans traded the number one overall pick (along with their fourth round and sixth round pick in 2016) to the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams will send the Titans their first round pick (#15 overall) along with their two second round picks and a third round pick in 2016. The Rams will also send their first and third round picks in 2017 to the Titans to complete the trade. This is without a doubt a blockbuster trade and I do have a few thoughts on this trade between the Titans and the Rams.
For the Titans, one could say that they “won” the trade because of the haul of draft picks that they got from the Rams. I am of the school of thought that it is good to acquire as many draft picks as possible in order to better the odds of acquiring talent to improve the team. And the Titans have now a lot of picks to try to obtain talent and build around second year quarterback Marcus Mariota. The thing for Titans is that they have to make the right call with those picks and I know that is stating the obvious but it is one thing to have a lot of picks but it is another to make the right picks. Also there is the possibility that with the Titans trading out of the number one pick, they may have passed on a chance to draft Ole Miss left tack Laramey Tunsil or Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey. If any one of those player become surefire stars, then the Titans may have missed out on picking either one of those players in the need to accumulate more draft picks.
For the Rams, the trade moves them in a position to draft either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz with the number one pick. I don’t believe what the Rams are saying to the media that they are looking at several other players because why trade up to number one and not draft a quarterback. The Rams have needed a quarterback for a long time and in a division with Russell Wilson and Carson Palmer, the Rams really needs to the upgrade at that position. But the Rams gave up a lot to move up to number one and whoever they take at quarterback with the number one pick, they have to step up and perform very well and in a hurry. With the Rams now in Los Angeles with a new stadium and wave of excitement of the Rams coming back the City of Angeles, it behooves the Rams to make the right call at quarterback.
Time will tell on who “won” this trade. It depends on the what the Titans do with those draft picks and with the Rams, it is so important that they hit on the quarterback that they draft at number one. It will be fascinating to watch and see how this plays out.
