The Titans Need to Pick a Wide Receiver at No. 30, But Will They?

The Titans won't officially be on the clock until Saturday, but they might as well be on the clock now.

If you haven't already noticed, this year's draft class is probably one of the strongest in terms of wide receivers that we have seen in recent years. The Titans have the #3o overall pick and have a great chance at getting a quality wide receiver at that pick.

Some people are saying the Titans need to focus on the defensive side of the ball and bolster up the secondary and the defensive line. Their reasoning behinds this is simply because we lost Albert Haynesworth and because cornerback Nick Harper is aging.

Even though both of those things are true, it's a whole lot easier to find quality defensive players in the later rounds than it is to find a quality wide receiver in the later rounds.

Just look at the Titans wide receiver picks in the last 3 years:

2008 Lavelle Hawkins
2007 Paul Williams, Chris Davis, Joel Filani
2006 Jonathan Orr

None of these receivers have done much in terms of production with Joel Filani and Jonathan Orr not even with the team anymore. The combined career numbers for the other three receivers is 10 receptions for 90 yards and no touchdowns.


This is the year the Titans have to break away from the habit of drafting receivers in the third round or later. There's going to be some great options out there when the time comes for the Titans to make their pick. Here's the possibilities:

• Hakeem Nicks (North Carolina)
• Percy Harvin (Florida)
• Darius Heyward-Bey (Maryland)
• Juaquin Iglesias (Oklahoma)
• Mohamad Massaquoi (Georgia)

All of these prospects put up great numbers for their respective schools and at least two of them will be available for the Titans.

There's also rumors swirling that the Titans front office has made an offer to the Cardinals to sign Anquan Boldin. Obviously if the Titans find a way to sign Bolding then things change for the draft. However, I don't think that's going to happen before Saturday so the Titans have to be perpared to pick up a wide receiver.

To add on to everything else, the Titans need a future number one receiver for the sake of Vince Young for whenever he finally returns as the starter. Young needs confidence in his receivers has has never had that luxury in his short career.

The Titans haven't picked as wide receiver in the first round since 1998 when they picked Kevin Dyson out of Utah, but hopefully that will change on Saturday.