With less than three weeks until the 2025 NFL Draft gets underway, the focus for the Tennessee Titans begins at pick 35. They’ll select their new franchise QB Cam Ward first overall, and work to bolster the rest of their roster on Days 2 and 3.
All eyes are on what they choose to do with that Second Round pick, which feels like a choice between three likely options: WR, EDGE, or trading down for more Day 2 capital. And as we inch closer and closer to draft weekend, the expected WR options at pick 35 grows more interesting.
On the “Move The Sticks” podcast last week, NFL Network draft analysts Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks discussed a surprising idea that Jeremiah seemed to think was a real possibility:
“I brought this up with a couple other people, and they did not poo-poo it: if we take Travis Hunter and put him to the side, there will only be 1 wide receiver go in the First Round.”
This was during a “Hot or Not” segment, in which the hosts debated whether they believe a statement aligns with their intel. Brooks said this wouldn’t surprise him at all. Their ensuing discussion centered around how despite going against what history tells us, current intel seems to indicate this could indeed be the case.
The modern average for First Round WR draft picks is 5.6 in each class. For this group to have just 2 (including Hunter) would be a dramatic indictment of the top talent.
I for one simply cannot buy this, at least not yet. The narrative on this year’s WR strength has been a funny one. We came into the New Year and the going theory was that it would be a weaker group. Once the industry really sunk their teeth into the options, however, the March/April consensus changed a good deal. As ESPN’s Ben Solak originally declared multiple drafts ago, there is no longer such a thing as a “bad receiver class”. The passing nature of the modern game, combined with development trends such as 7-on-7 camps all throughout players’ grade school years prohibits it. Good receivers are being churned out at historic rates.
And while I don’t doubt Jeremiah’s and Brooks’ understanding of some teams being really down on the First Round quality of this class, it’s still extremely difficult to imagine there really being such talented options at the top of Day 2. If only two WRs are going in Round 1, and one is Hunter, then at least 3 of these 4 players will be available to begin Round 2: Tet McMillan, Luther Burden, Emeka Egbuka, and Matthew Golden.
This is where the dream scenario comes in for the Titans. Because while Luther Burden has long been a bit of a separate conversation and understood to be potentially available at 35, none of the others have. The idea that the Titans could possibly come away with Egbuka, McMillan or Golden at 35 is astonishing. So astonishing that, again, I’m not personally buying it.
But if you told me the Titans could come away from the first two nights of the draft with Cam Ward and Emeka Egbuka… I’d have a hard time being upset with whatever else they chose to do on Day 3. That’s truly a dream outcome.
