An influential analyst stands firm: despite roster needs, Jeremiyah Love remains the optimal pick to ignite the Titans' offense.
There's no denying that the Tennessee Titans still need a lot of work to turn the franchise from a 3-14 team to a playoff contender.
The Titans had the fourth-fewest passing yards (190.6), third-fewest rushing yards (93.5) and third-fewest points per game (16.7) last season on offense.
On defense, the Titans allowed the fifth-most points (28.1) and seventh-most passing yards per game (248.3) in 2025.
Tennessee has some promising young pieces, with Cam Ward, Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and Gunnar Helm. General Manager Mike Borgonzi bolstered the roster with significant offseason acquisitions, including Wan'Dale Robinson, John Franklin-Myers, Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott.
There are still other needs as the Titans prepare for the 2026 NFL Draft next week.
The Titans need another edge rusher, along with depth at interior offensive line, receiver, linebacker and cornerback.
The players most tied to the Titans in mock drafts have been Jeremiyah Love, Carnell Tate, Sonny Styles, Rueben Bain Jr. and David Bailey.
NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah has previously campaigned for the Titans to acquire Love and was firm in his stance during a recent conference call. Per Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com, while Jeremiah noted that the Titans aren't quite a complete team just yet, he still believed Love was the right pick at No. 4 overall.
Typically, you'd want to get the offensive line settled before putting a running back into the mix. The Titans' offensive line will look different in 2026 after the offseason departures of Lloyd Cushenberry and Kevin Zeitler.
Austin Schlottmann and Cordell Volson will compete for the starting jobs at center and right guard.
"The Titans, it's a fascinating one," Jeremiah said. "I have always had the rule that you need to build out the key parts of the roster, including the offensive line, before you insert the running back, because the career, the shelf life, you want to be able to maximize all their carries – you don't want to waste carries on a bad team with a running back. You want to build it up and then drop the running back in. I don't love everything (the Titans) did in the offseason – I was hoping they would do a little bit more for the offense, but they built up the defense pretty well. I thought maybe there was some trade opportunities or other ideas out there to build up this offense to be able to insert (Love) into that lineup."
However, Jeremiah broke his own rule and doubled down on Love going to the Titans. He believed giving Ward a player like Love to take off the pressure could be a great thing for his development in year two.
"So, I am breaking my own rule in saying I still think they should take Jeremiyah Love, even though they don't have all those pieces in place, with the hope being that one more offseason of free agency and the draft, they can build up that offensive line and the rest of that offense and they go into a new stadium (in 2027), so in Year 2 I think you could see that whole offense really start to blossom," Jeremiah said.
Love had a monster season in 2025 at Notre Dame and finished third in Heisman voting. He ended with 1,372 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns and was also an All-American.
After Borgonzi's comments about using the best player available method, it seemed like Love was the easy pick. He isn't the only one signaling Love to the Titans.