After witnessing Will Levis and Mason Rudolph under center last year, it’s safe to say Titans head coach Brian Callahan wants to see someone else take the reigns of the offense next season.
With the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Tennessee will have its pick of the litter when it comes to this year’s crop of quarterback talent. The Titans are widely expected to draft Cam Ward, who has been opening the gap between Shedeur Sanders and himself since the NFL Combine.
Another option is to utilize the No. 1 pick to trade for a veteran quarterback and avoid a draft class that is widely considered to be weak at the position. While this isn’t the most likely outcome, it’s certainly in the cards.
One NFL analyst believes the front office in Tennessee could flip the first pick for Kirk Cousins. Let’s explore that possibility.
Kirk Cousins Trade to Titans: Prediction Reaction
Bill Barnwell of ESPN believes it isn’t a foregone conclusion that Tennessee drafts Ward and that they may be bluffing. He points to the 2017 NFL Draft when the 49ers bluffed the Bears and sent the No. 2 pick to Chicago so they could grab Mitchell Trubisky.
Here’s the full three-team trade proposal outlined by Barnwell:
Titans get: 1-2, 3-67, 2026 second-round pick (from Browns), QB Kirk Cousins (from Falcons, with cash considerations)
Falcons get: 2026 seventh-round pick (from Titans)
Browns get: 1-1, 2026 sixth-round pick (from Titans)
Essentially, Cleveland moves up to grab their quarterback of the future, Atlanta unloads Cousins’ contract while eating some of the money, and Tennessee gets a bridge quarterback and an opportunity to get another elite prospect.
Here’s what he had to say on the Titans’ piece of this deal, “As for the Titans, if they aren’t interested in Ward (or Sanders), Cousins allows them to take a shot on a quarterback who was playing reasonably well before he suffered a midseason shoulder injury… Cousins would be a rental for 2025 and potentially 2026 who buys the Titans some time to land on a better long-term solution than Ward.”
Could This Deal Happen?
As Barnwell notes multiple times, a deal like this is a long shot to actually take place. However, it’s realistic and satisfies the needs of all three teams.
While the Falcons have stated multiple times that they’re comfortable rostering Cousins as a backup, there’s not an NFL team out there that wants a QB2 with a $40 million cap hit, even if they’re the best “backup” out there.
If Atlanta has a reasonable offer that gets them out of this deal, they’re going to take it. A seventh-round pick while taking on $25 million of the contract, as Barnwell outlines, is reasonable enough.
After the Deshaun Watson debacle, the Browns are back in the quarterback market. Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have shown time and time again that they’re willing to be aggressive to secure players who they believe are capable of leading the team to a Super Bowl. If they believe Ward is that guy, this trade would by no means be out of character.
For the Titans, as Barnwell notes, this allows them to avoid a suspect quarterback class while adding a signal caller who can keep the offense afloat on top of grabbing a real difference maker at No. 2 in the draft.
It’s incredibly unlikely, but it should leave all three teams happy.
