Tennessee Titans 7-round mock draft: Making the safe, fun and wild-card picks for every round

With the 2024 NFL Draft less than a month away, there's no better time than now for Tennessee Titans fans to start playing a twisted version of "The Dating Game."

The Titans own eight picks in April's draft, and — after an aggressive and eventful offseason that included massive upgrades at positions like receiver, cornerback and center — there are a few paths general manager Ran Carthon and his staff can follow to continue revitalizing the roster.

There's the safe route, the pragmatist's conclusion of picking players in descending order of need to plug holes from biggest to smallest.

There's the fun route, the "Madden"-like approach of drafting the best players at the flashiest positions to ensure success comes with excitement.

And there's the wild-card route, the out-of-the-box thinker's tack that reinvents and reimagines the team with every pick.

Instead of a standard seven-round mock draft where we suggest one player the Titans can pick with every selection, let's forecast all three. Here are the safe picks, the fun picks and the wild-card picks the Titans can make in April.

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Round 1, pick 7

The safe pick: Notre Dame OT Joe Alt

The fun pick: Georgia TE Brock Bowers

The wild card: Alabama EDGE Dallas Turner

Yes, the Titans need a left tackle. Alt's the safe, smart, easy pick. But there's also Bowers, the all-world tight end prospect who transforms the Titans' underneath and intermediate passing games. And there's Turner, the premier pass rusher in the draft who frees up defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson to use Arden Key and Harold Landry in more creative ways.

Round 2, pick 38

The safe pick: Missouri DL Darius Robinson

The fun pick: Texas WR Xavier Worthy

The wild card: Texas DT T'Vondre Sweat

If Alt is the first-round pick, expect a pass rusher in the early second round. Robinson has a similar size and versatility profile to Denico Autry and would be able to fill that role fairly naturally. But pairing Worthy's awe-striking speed with receivers Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins could be game-changing, and picking the 366-pound Sweat to eat double teams, freeing up lanes for All-Pro DT Jeffery Simmons to wreak havoc, achieves the goal of making the Titans' best player look even better.

Round 4, pick 106

The safe pick: Michigan OG Zak Zinter

The fun pick: Miami DT Leonard Taylor III

The wild card: USC RB MarShawn Lloyd

Go get Zinter, help him rehab from his late-season injury (fractured fibula/tibia) and consider four of your five offensive line positions set for the next four years. It's overly practical, but it's wise. Or, take the exact opposite approach and gamble on Taylor, a dominating force who was unstoppable at times in college but disappeared from games way more often.

Then there's the running back discussion: Lloyd is an ace at gaining yards after contact and after catch who can turn the Tony Pollard/Tyjae Spears duo into an electric trio, freeing up the Titans to run two-back sets even more often.

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Round 5, pick 146

The safe pick: Auburn DB Jaylin Simpson

The fun pick: Texas A&M WR Ainias Smith

The wild card: Houston Baptist EDGE Jalyx Hunt

Simpson can play safety or slot corner, filling an all-purpose spot in the secondary. Smith is a return specialist and capable slot receiver with plenty of SEC experience. Hunt is a small school edge rusher who used to play safety; he would have a huge learning curve, but has remarkable upside.

Round 6, pick 182

The safe pick: Notre Dame LB J.D. Bertrand

The fun pick: New Hampshire RB Dylan Laube

The wild card: Oregon State WR Anthony Gould

Bertrand will buzz around the ball. The Titans need someone to do that. He's not the highest-upside linebacker, but he'll do his job well, and he's close with Alt, too. Laube is a quintessential third-down-back type who'll also factor in special teams. And Gould is a decidedly un-Titans-like receiver, who is small with tremendous straight-ahead speed.

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Round 7, picks 221, 227, 242

The safe picks: UCLA DE Grayson Murphy; Tennessee CB Kamal Hadden; Missouri K Harrison Mevis

The fun picks: Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa; Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops; Florida State DT Fabian Lovett

The wild cards: Toronto CB Qwan'tez Stiggers; South Dakota State TE Zach Heins; Eastern Kentucky OT Josiah Ezirim

Tons to unpack here, ranging from a guy nicknamed "The Thicker Kicker" to two guys with way more famous family members to a guy who played in the CFL last year, and to a former Vol who would be an absolute steal in the seventh round. The line between safe, fun and wild blurs in the seventh round, but the Titans have plenty of options.

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: Tennessee Titans 7-round mock draft: The most fun, safest, wildest picks