ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper addresses 'severe need' for Tennessee Titans in mock draft
ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., isn't wavering in his projection that the Tennessee Titans will use the No. 7 pick on Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt.
In his latest mock draft, Kiper forecasts the Titans to pick Alt, just as he has in his previous mocks. He has the Titans going offensive line in a draft scenario in which the first six picks consist of three quarterbacks (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye) and three wide receivers (Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze). This sets up the Titans to pick the top offensive lineman on the board to slot in as quarterback Will Levis' blindside protector.
"Nothing over the past month has changed my mind about the Titans taking the draft's top offensive tackle and starting him on the left side as a rookie," Kiper says in his analysis. "In fact, after they released Andre Dillard last week, the need is even more severe. Alt started 33 games at left tackle in college and surrendered just six sacks, four of which came when he was a true freshman in 2021. He would upgrade an O-line that ranked 31st in sack rate per dropback (11.1%) last season."
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After Alt, Kiper has eight more offensive linemen being picked in the first round: Alabama's J.C. Latham to the Raiders at No. 13, Penn State's Olu Fashanu to the Saints at No. 14, Washington's Troy Fautanu to the Seahawks at No. 16, Oregon State's Taliese Fuaga to the Bengals at No. 18, Duke's Graham Barton to the Dolphins at No. 21, Oklahoma's Tyler Guyton to the Cowboys at No. 24, Georgia's Amarius Mims to the Ravens at No. 30 and Washington's Roger Rosengarten to the 49ers at No. 31.
Some of the non-linemen available to the Titans that Kiper has GM Ran Carthon and coach Brian Callahan passing on include tight end Brock Bowers, outside linebacker Dallas Turner and cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Terrion Arnold.
The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft begins on April 25.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mel Kiper fills 'severe need' for Tennessee Titans in new mock draft
