Titans To Get Their Fill of First-Round Five
The Tennessee Titans will see quarterbacks of all different standings in the league’s hierarchy this season.
The schedule includes MVP front runners, a few seasoned veterans, some quarterbacks who hope to revive their careers with new teams and young quarterbacks seeking to make a big leap.
And, assuming that they’re all starters for their respective teams, the Titans will play no shortage of rookies taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Five quarterbacks were selected in the first 15 picks back on April 29, which was just the third time that happened (1999 and 2018 were the others). The way the Titans’ 17-game schedule sets up this season with divisional, AFC East and NFC West pairings, they will face four of those five.
Tennessee potentially faces No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars) in Weeks 5 and 14, No. 2 pick Zach Wilson (Jets) in Week 4, No. 3 choice Trey Lance (49ers) in Week 16, and No. 15 pick Mac Jones (Patriots) in Week 12. The only one they won’t play is Justin Fields, who went to Chicago at No. 11.
Since 2011, the Titans have faced 12 first-round quarterbacks in their rookie seasons. They won as many of those games (six) as they lost (six), and most of the victories coming against opponents outside of the AFC South.
Recent matchups with first-round quarterbacks, in particular, have not been favorable. In a Week 8 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last season, No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow had his way. Burrow completed 26 of 37 pass attempts for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The former LSU star posted his highest quarterback rating of the season (106.7) in that game.
In 2018, the Titans faced Josh Allen, who the Buffalo Bills selected with the No. 7 pick that year. Allen did not put on a passing clinic (he threw for just 82 yards and completed roughly 52 percent of his passes), but he did enough to help the Bills earn a 13-12 victory, including a rushing touchdown in the first half.
All six of the Titans’ victories against first-round rookie quarterbacks came before those games. Only two of them, however, came against AFC South opponents – both against the Jaguars. Jacksonville drafted Blaine Gabbert with the 10th pick in 2011, and the Titans defeated the Jaguars 23-17 in his lone appearance against them that season (Week 16). Gabbert completed just 50 percent of his passes and threw one interception.
In 2014, Jacksonville tried again when it selected Blake Bortles with the No. 3 overall pick. He split the season series with Tennessee as a rookie.
The Indianapolis Colts selected Andrew Luck with the first pick in the 2012 draft. Luck and the Colts got the better of the Titans in both games that season, which set the stage for what was to come. Luck went 11-0 against Tennessee before he retired unexpectedly just before the start of the 2019 season.
DeShaun Watson, who the Houston Texans drafted with the 12th pick in 2017, played the Titans once as a rookie. He led the Texans to a 57-14 victory with nearly 300 passing yards and four touchdowns.
The Titans’ struggles against rookie quarterbacks in the division is significant because they’ll play Lawrence twice this season.
That comes with a silver lining, though. With the exception of Luck and Burrow, the Titans have been tough on quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall in the previous 10 seasons.
In 2011, former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton struggled in a 30-3 loss to the Titans. Then-Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston had similar luck in the first game of his rookie season (2015). The Titans, led by that year’s No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota, won that one 42-14, and Winston threw two interceptions on a day in which he completed 48 percent of his passes.
It’s been a mixture of good and bad for the Titans when it comes to facing first-round quarterbacks in their rookie seasons. If they don’t do better than that in 2021, it could be a long season.
