One silver lining for every team that missed the playoffs

Tennessee Titans (3-13)

You found your franchise quarterback, and still have the first pick in the draft.

The Tennessee Titans enter the 2016 calendar year as a team adrift and without direction. They rightfully let go of both coach Ken Whisenhunt (3-20 as coach of the Titans) and GM Ruston Webster, meaning the team will be looking to rebuild nearly every aspect of football operations. Meanwhile, the roster left over by Webster is sparse with talent; outside of DE Jurrell Casey and maybe TE Delanie Walker, the Titans don’t have a player that could reasonably be considered an All-Pro level talent.

There is good news for whatever new staff is put in place and it’s twofold: the Titans will have the first pick in the draft, and they have already filled the most difficult position thanks to drafting Marcus Mariota last season.

A quick rundown of Mariota’s stats shows that he was abnormally efficient in his first season.

Marcus Mariota 2015 Season Stats
3-9 W/L
2,818 pass yds, 19 TDs, 10 INTs
62.2% comp, 91.5 QB rate
252 rush yds, 7.4 YPC, 2 TDs

This was accomplished with a flimsy collection of weapons. Walker is a top-tier tight end, and Kendall Wright is a solid secondary receiver in a primary receiver role, but otherwise Mariota could have been surrounded with better options on offense.

This will be the job of the new Titans general manager. It remains to be seen if the offensive skill positions is the direction that the Titans choose to take with the first pick, although at this point in draft evaluation, skill positions are not valued at the very top of the order. The best available prospects appear to be Ohio State edge rusher Joey Bosa, Ole Miss OT Laremy Tunsil, UCLA LB Myles Jack and Florida State DB Jalen Ramsey. It’s early, but Tunsil makes the most sense as a protector for Mariota’s blind side.

Next: Cleveland Browns