New Tennessee Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi wants to collect draft currency, even if it means parting with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Borgonzi, hired to replace Ran Carthon, and president of football operations Chad Brinker make up the new power structure in Nashville. They shared a streamlined vision for resurrecting the Titans following a 3-14 season.
“We want to make 30 draft picks over the next three years,” Brinker told reporters Wednesday. “And we want 12 of those to be in the top 100s.”
To stockpile picks, the Titans are willing to part with the most valuable selection in their draft war chest. Only two of their current draft picks — No. 1 and No. 34 prior to compensatory selections — are in the top 100. But Brinker said the Titans are not willing to pass on a “generational talent” if they determine that player exists in the 2025 draft.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward rates above the rest in a top-heavy class at the position.
And Borgonzi underscored the importance of settling the franchise’s most pressing question: Who’s the QB?
An understudy of general manager Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs, Borgonzi inherits a roster with one quarterback under contract. That’s Will Levis, who did not solidify the spot under first-year head coach Brian Callahan last season.
Borgonzi said he’ll have final say in free agency and the draft if necessary. The mission is more collaboration with Callahan and Brinker in what the Titans’ brass acknowledged is an atypical structure for an NFL front office.
That doesn’t change their focused first order of business.
“The quarterback is the most important position, arguably in sports,” Borgonzi said. “So you have to solidify the quarterback position. We’re going to be relentless attacking this until we find the answer.”
Borgonzi — a self-described anomaly as a “Northeast guy with a funny Boston accent that loves country music” — spent the past 16 seasons with the Chiefs. He climbed the ladder since being hired in 2009 to become assistant general manager the past four seasons.
While the Chiefs march toward their mission of a three-peat as Super Bowl champions, Borgonzi called for patience to build a roster “the right way.”
“There is some talent on this roster, but we’re a three-win football team right now, so that’s not good enough,” Borgonzi said. “So, we’re going to have to look everywhere to improve it.”
