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[Tennessee Titans]

NFL announces change to first round of 2026 NFL Draft

The NFL announced today that the length of time to make a pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft will be shortened from ten minutes to eight minutes. That will make the first round move more quickly than it has in the past, which is a good thing. It has always made me crazy when the teams picking at the top take the whole ten minutes to make their selection when it is obvious who they are going to pick.

This will cut down the time teams will have to negotiate trades in the first round of the draft. That could come into play for the Tennessee Titans. If they do end up with the first pick, they will have a trade negotiated long before the draft ever comes. If they end up somewhere in the three to five range, they currently have the third pick; they could be negotiating a deal when they go on the clock.

The 2026 NFL Draft will take place April 23rd through 25th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Source: https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/t...unces-change-to-first-round-of-2026-nfl-draft

 

[Tennessee Titans]

Titans Reacts Survey: What’s more important, wins or draft position?

Unfortunately, for the third year in a row, we as Tennessee Titans fans are torn between rooting for the team to win games for morale, or lose games to secure a better draft pick. It’s hard for me to cheer against the team on Sundays, but there is no doubt that getting the number one overall pick would be huge for the rebuild that is underway here. With all of that being said, this week we ask the question, what are you rooting for on Sundays; a win or a better draft pick?

There is also the standard confidence question. Honestly, I felt better about that one after the losses to the Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks than I do now. That all has to do with how well Cam Ward played in those games, and how poorly he has played since.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Titans fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Source: https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/t...y-whats-more-important-wins-or-draft-position

 

[Tennessee Titans]

Titans news: NFL Draft order tiebreakers

With the Tennessee Titans winning against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, they moved into a three-way tie for the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. In case you aren’t aware, strength of schedule is the tiebreaker when it comes to where teams will pick in the draft. The team with the easiest schedule moves to the top of the line. That means that if the season ended today, the Titans, who have faced the toughest schedule in the league, would have the third pick in the NFL draft behind the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders.

Even if the Titans end up tied with just the Raiders at the end of the season, the Raiders, who beat the Titans earlier in the season, would get the first pick. Head-to-head doesn’t come into the tiebreaking scenarios unless strength of schedule and a few other things are tied. All of that to say, the Titans have to have the fewest number of wins in the league to get the first overall pick. There is no other scenario where they would win a tiebreaker for the first pick.

• Apparently, some people took issue with Cam Ward’s postgame comments. I guess they wanted him to do some somersaults after the team improved to 2-11 on the season. Ward is brutally honest with the media and has been that way since he first came to Nashville. I appreciate it.
• There is also the issue from Easton’s article where Will Boling revealed something that happened on the team plane. That stuff is supposed to stay in-house.
• Blake Beddingfield posted his weekly review over at PaulKuharsky.com. It’s a great read every week.
• Tony Pollard has been a solid contributor for this team over the last two years. It was fun to see him have a big game on Sunday:

.@NextGenStats:

Tony Pollard excelled on the edge of the field, with 141 yards outside the tackles, including a touchdown where he rushed for 60 yards over expected. #Titans

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) December 9, 2025

• Jim Wyatt has the “hot topics” from Mike McCoy’s presser on Monday.

Source: https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/t...63010/titans-news-nfl-draft-order-tiebreakers

 

[Tennessee Titans]

Tennessee Titans week 15 rooting guide

For the third straight year, we, as fans of the Tennessee Titans, find ourselves scoreboard watching for draft position instead of playoff position. The Titans had the first pick in the draft before they beat the Cleveland Browns last week. The win dropped them to pick number three.

Here is the top 10 in the 2026 NFL Draft heading into week 15:

1. New York Giants 2-11
2. Las Vegas Raiders 2-11
3. Tennessee Titans 2-11
4. Cleveland Browns 3-10
5. New Orleans Saints 3-10
6. Washington Commanders 3-10
7. New York Jets 3-10
8. Arizona Cardinals 3-10
9. Cincinnati Bengals 4-9
10. Los Angeles Rams (via Atlanta Falcons) 5-9

As I mentioned earlier this week, strength of schedule is the tiebreaker when it comes to draft position. The Titans are at a big disadvantage there because they have faced the toughest schedule in the NFL this season. So a win this week could drop them all the way to pick eight if other things fell a certain way.

With all of that being said, here are the games we need to be paying attention to this weekend:

Cleveland Browns (3-10) @ Chicago Bears (9-4) 12:00 Sunday​

This one is pretty straightforward. We should cheer for the Browns to win here because that would get them to three wins and put them a full game ahead of the Titans.

Washington Commanders (3-10) @ New York Giants (2-11) 12:00 Sunday​

This one is a little more complicated, with both teams being right behind the Titans in draft order, but the Giants winning here would get them to three and one game clear of the Titans. Go Blue!

Las Vegas Raiders (2-11) @ Philadelphia Eagles (8-5) 12:00 Sunday​

Another easy one here. Let’s go, Raiders!

New York Jets (3-10) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4) 12:00 Sunday​

J-E-T-S. Jets! Jets! Jets! This one would be double fun because it would mean those idiots who scream Duvall would be sad.

Arizona Cardinals (3-10) @ Houston Texans (8-5) 12:00 Sunday​

Another easy one here because it’s always fun to root against the Texans.

Carolina Panthers (7-6) @ New Orleans Saints (3-10) 3:25 Sunday​

I love me some Bryce Young, but hopefully we’ll get Bad Bryce in this one so the Saints can pull off the upset.

Source: https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/tennessee-titans-news/63071/tennessee-titans-week-15-rooting-guide

 

[Tennessee Titans]

Are the Titans going to cut Lloyd Cushenberry?

The Tennessee Titans are coming off their best offensive line performance of the campaign. The Titans rushed for 184 yards in Sunday’s 31-29 Week 14 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Tony Pollard rushed for a career-high 161 yards and two touchdowns, scores of 65 and 32 yards respectively.

Rookie quarterback Cam Ward was sacked just once despite facing the potential sack record-breaker in Myles Garrett. Also, 90 of Pollard’s rushing yards occurred before contact, per Next Gen Stats, proving the offensive line was creating rushing lanes.

All of this was achieved without starting center Lloyd Cushenberry in the lineup.

Here's an insane Tony Pollard stat to go along with his epic run chart:

Per @NextGenStats, Pollard got 90 of his 161 rushing yards today before contact. Shoutout the offensive line!

But here's the hilarious part: coming into today, he had 83yds before contact on the SEASON pic.twitter.com/eMdKVnUbVr

— Easton Freeze (@eastonfreeze) December 7, 2025

Cushenberry has missed two consecutive weeks with a foot injury. He’s been replaced by veteran Titans fan favorite Corey Levin in the lineup. The offensive line has been better with Levin as opposed to Cushenberry, who entered this season coming off a catastrophic 2024 torn Achilles injury.

Cushenberry has struggled, to be expected, given last year’s injury. Levin is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, but the former Chattanooga standout has been a Titan for the majority of his career and could easily be re-signed to a team-friendly deal. The Titans should also be careful to overreact and make Levin a permanent starter, something he’s never been considered to be in his career.

But you can’t help but wonder if Mike Borgonzi will consider releasing Cushenberry this offseason. He inherited his four-year, $50 million contract from Ran Carthon. Borgonzi has already severed ties with several Carthon acquisitions. Cutting Cushenberry would create $8 million in additional cap space if designated as a post-June move, per Over The Cap.

There was also this interesting tidbit from senior team editor Jim Wyatt in a recent mailbag. “As for the o-line group next year, I suspect three of the five will be back,” Wyatt wrote. Doing some simple math, it’s essentially a guarantee that Peter Skoronski, JC Latham, and Dan Moore Jr. will return next season. Wyatt could be hinting that Cushenberry and free-agent-to-be Kevin Zeitler will potentially be replaced.

Alternatively, upgrading Cushenberry would be difficult. In-house option Jackson Slater seems destined to replace Zeitler at right guard, though it’s difficult to say what his long-term potential is considering we haven’t seen him play yet. Replacing Cushenberry adequately would probably mean the Titans are drafting a center highly, or paying someone like Tyler Linderbaum (who probably won’t actually hit free agency) handsomely.

Cushenberry could also improve next season, another year removed from his Achilles injury. The Titans have a difficult decision to make with Cushenberry’s status this coming offseason. Right now, they’re better off with Levin in the lineup despite the vast difference in their salaries.

Source: https://www.musiccitymiracles.com/t...are-the-titans-going-to-cut-lloyd-cushenberry