Since I wrote only a brief post last night on Chance Warmack, I thought I'd expand my brief thoughts on him.

The questions I had Thursday going into the draft were would any players be taken other than the top three offensive tackles and the rough top six defensive players in the draft before the Titans had to pick. If there were, then the Titans had, I thought, could add a difference-maker on a side of the ball where they don't really have any. If those top defensive players were gone, though, I thought they might try to trade down and if they had to stay put at #10 would take the top guard.

As the draft fell to them, two much-needed defensive standouts I thought were in that top six, Sharrif Floyd and Star Lotulelei, were still available. The more disconcerting thing to the Titans, though, was that one of the guards, Jonathan Cooper, was still on the board. With that presaging the possibility of a run on offensive linemen, the Titans did the safest, surest thing to fill the clear biggest void on the depth chart, drafting Chance Warmack to fill the right guard spot.

I covered Warmack in some detail when I wrote about the guards before the draft, and I'll provide a more detailed scouting report of Warmack after the draft, as I will of the Titans' other draftees, I said then I think he's a very good prospect, but without re-watching was not prepared to say he was clearly a better prospect than David DeCastro, whom the Titans passed on with the 20th pick last year. He probably is, but it was close in my mind. Lance Zierlein, one of the people whose opinions I trust on offensive linemen, though he was a very good prospect, a guard of the type that normally gets drafted in the first round, but particularly did not seem to love his feet. He's a much better mover than Larry Warford, but is still much more of a power guard than a guard for a team that's planning to run pure zone.

With the right guard need filled, the Titans will likely look to the defensive side of the ball on day two, as they did last year. There are a number of good corners still available, the run on safeties has yet to really begin in earnest, and while they're not as good as the ones who went yesterday, there are defensive linemen available today as well. Right now the Titans are probably hoping teams start to attack the quarterback group between 33 and their first pick tonight at 40. Will it finally happen, or will players like Geno Smith, Ryan Nassib, Matt Barkley and the like have to wait even longer, leaving fewer players they're likely interested in available for the Titans?

Well, the obvious happened. When their first round selection, number ten overall rolled around, the Titans had a choice of a couple standout defensive players in defensive tackles Sharrif Floyd and Star Lotulelei, but that didn't deter them from taking the player it seemed like they'd been destined to take since early January, Alabama guard Chance Warmack.

Warmack was college football's most dominant offensive lineman in 2012 in leading a powerful Crimson Tide ground attack. I was a bit meh on him as a top ten pick-in my mind, he's not that superior of a prospect compared to David DeCastro, whom the Titans passed on when they took Kendall Wright last year. Still, right guard was the biggest hole on the depth chart, and Warmack will immediately step in there, plus he's strong enough to block J.J. Watt. If he can stay in front of him, it'll work. If not, well... either way, expect to see the Titans run the ball, run the ball, and run some more this season.

I've broken down the Titans' visits and workouts. I've written about what I think they might do on offense and defense. Now it's time to turn those evaluations into picks. I did this last year, and managed to nail precisely zero of the Titans' actual picks, so I have something to shoot for this year.

As I did last year, I'll be using the full seven-round mock on NFL.com, courtesy this year of Josh Norris, who spends most of his time writing for Rotoworld. The same rules apply: any player Josh has off the board at that point I can't pick. Unfortunately and unlike the Titans, I've read Josh's entire draft, so I'm doing this exercise with pre-knowledge of later picks. C'est la vie.

So, here's my take:

#10: Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida
Josh's pick: Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida
Analysis: The last of the defensive players I realy like. Both Cooper and Warmack are still on the board at this point, but as I said, I'd rather take first round defensive lineman and a guard later than one of the top guards and a later D-lineman.

Before the Tennessee Titans spend a high draft pick on a player, the chances are very, very good they either brought him to Baptist Sports Park for a visit or worked him out at his college. When I did a version of this post last year, first-round pick Kendall Wright, second-round pick Zach Brown, and third-round pick Mike Martin were among the players I noted. Among the players the Titans had a visit or workout with in the past were their three first-round picks prior to Wright, Jake Locker, Derrick Morgan, and Kenny Britt. Chances are once again very good that the players who hear the Titans call their name on Thursday and Friday nights are on this visit.

Teams are allowed up to 30 visits, plus workouts, plus an unlimited number of free visits from local prospects (those who went to college or high school within a delimited distance from the team; Vandy is free, while Tennessee is not). Not all visits are leaked by the team, the player (Tyler Bray tweeted he worked out for the Titans with Zach Rogers, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Justin Hunter), or the player's agent, so it wouldn't shock me if the Titans chose a player not mentioned in this post, even in the first round. If I had to choose those, I'd bet money the Titans' first, second, and third round picks are all mentioned in this post.

In that case, just who did the Titans bring in for a visit?

After covering what the Titans might to at each position on offense in yesterday's post, it's time to turn my attention to the defensive side of the ball.

Before I launch into the position by position portion of this post, I want to stress two things I noted yesterday. First, this is a mini-evaluation of each position from the perspective of what the Titans might do in the draft, rather than an updated evaluation of each position. I did one of those after the main wave of free agency pass, so check that out if that's what you're looking for.

Second, the Titans currently have nine picks in the draft. They had seven last year. I try to take this pretty seriously, which means my probabilities add up to how many players I think the Titans draft. My initial cut by position came in with the Titans drafting six players, so I went through and upped my predictions to where my cumulative probabilities add up to almost eight. I think there's a real possibility the Titans trade up and don't end up actually drafting nine players. If they do end up drafting nine players, keep in mind they have multiple seventh round picks, and the seventh round is sometimes as much or more about getting a player you may not be able to sign as a UDFA as getting a guy you really like.

That out of the way, on with the show.

Defensive end
Need at position: Low to moderate or moderate to high
Analysis: Like wide receiver, defensive end is a position where the Titans could feel anywhere from they're relatively set at the position or they have a major long-term need. Kamerion Wimbley did not really live up to the big money contract he signed last year, quality depth in 2012 was minimal, and Derrick Morgan has one year where he's looked good. On the other hand, depth is better, Wimbley should be better in his second season and playing fewer snaps, and a fully-healthy Morgan has shown he can be a star. I think the Titans are interested in at least another rotational player and could be interested in the right featured player. More than any other position, defensive one was one I adjusted upward when I changed my probabilities.
Draft probability: 85%
Players they might target: Bjoern Werner (1st), Barkevious Mingo (1st, but admittedly a player I like more than I think they do), Margus Hunt (2nd), and Sam Montgomery (4th) are the names that stand out to me.

It's draft week.

As I did last year, I thought I would take a look at which positions the Titans are likely to draft and which positions the Titans are not likely to draft. This series proved mostly successful last year, as with one exception the Titans drafted a player at every position I thought there was a significant likelihood of drafting a player and did not draft a player at any position where I thought they were unlikely to draft any players. That exception was at offensive guard/center, where I thought the Titans were 99% likely to draft at least one player and they of course ended up not drafting any players. Well, this is a chance to do better.

In doing this exercise, I tried to keep firmly in mind that the Titans have nine draft picks, so their chance of drafting any single position is higher than it would be if they entered the draft with only seven draft picks, as they did last year. My first cut at odds by each position ended up my predicting the Titans to draft six players, so I went through and adjusted them higher.  They're still only a shade under eight instead of nine, but I think the Titans given their roster could be willing to trade up in this draft. If the odds of drafting at a particular position seem high to you, well, I probably agree with you in the abstract but suggest resetting your expectations.

I'll cover the offense in this post and the defense in a subsequent post. Note as well this is a draft preview rather than a position overview; I did one of those after the big wave of free agency ended last month. That said, on with the show.

Quarterback
Need at position: Low to very low
Analysis: Jake Locker is your starter. Ryan Fitzpatrick is your backup. Rusty Smith is entering the final year of his deal and has already exceeded my expectation for the length of his Titans tenure.  It's not out of the question the Titans could draft a QB in the late rounds to compete for the QB3 job, but I doubt it happens.
Draft probability: 10%
Players they might target: Whichever 6th-7th round arm they like best

It was kind of superseded for us night owls by events in Massachusetts, but Thursday evening saw a big hullabaloo with the announcement of the regular season schedule for every NFL team. Here's who the Titans will be playing and when,

Week 1, Sept. 8: at Pittsburgh, noon
Week 2, Sept. 15: at Houston, noon
Week 3, Sept. 22: vs. San Diego, noon
Week 4, Sept. 29: vs. New York Jets, 3:05
Week 5, Oct. 6: vs. Kansas City, noon
Week 6, Oct. 13: at Seattle, 3:05
Week 7, Oct. 20: vs. San Francisco, 3:05
Week 8: BYE
Week 9, Nov. 3: at St. Louis, noon
Week 10, Nov. 10: vs. Jacksonville, noon
Week 11, Nov. 14: vs. Indianapolis, 7:25 (Thursday Night Football)
Week 12, Nov. 24: at Oakland, 3:05
Week 13, Dec. 1: at Indianapolis, noon
Week 14, Dec. 8: at Denver, 3:05
Week 15, Dec. 15: vs. Arizona, noon
Week 16, Dec. 22: at Jacksonville, noon
Week 17, Dec. 29: vs. Houston, noon

Given the opponents are known when the season ends, it's hard for me to care too much about the release of the schedule. The Titans are scheduled for only one primetime game, the mandatory NFL Network game November 14 against Indianapolis. Flex scheduling could also result in the Weeks 12-17 games being shifted to Sunday night, though records and matchups will dictate that. Three straight road games late in the season is unfortunate, though balanced out by the three-game homestand earlier in the season. The Jeff Fisher reunion is after the bye week; the Rams are one of two teams the Titans play who will be coming off a short week after playing on Monday Night Football the week before, with the Texans (at San Diego in the nightcap of the opening doubleheader) are the other one. The game against the Jaguars in November is the only one the Titans play against a team coming off their bye week. Every other foe has the standard seven (or four, in the case of the Thursday game) days between games.

Beyond that trivia, the opponents are the opponents, and you have to play them whenever you have to play them. Playing the Colts twice in three weeks annoys me from an aesthetics standpoint, but it could be beneficial, detrimental, a mix of both, or neither to both teams. As far as schedules go, I'd say it's a pretty benign one, neither particularly beneficial nor particularly malevolent. Go ahead and start booking your travel plans based on your preferred opponent and destination.