Tennessee Titans 7-round NFL mock draft: Our final projections for whom the team should pick

Let's make the Tennessee Titans put it all together, just in time for the 2024 NFL Draft.

Across four months of build-up to the NFL draft, which begins Thursday, we've looked at what the Titans should do with their draft picks in too many ways to count. We've traded up and traded down. We've drafted for need and for talent. We've looked at what can happen and what should happen. We've built for this year, built for the future and built the most fun rosters possible.

Now, it's time to push all those exercises together. Here's what The Tennessean thinks the Titans can, and should, do in the 2024 NFL Draft.

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Round 1, pick 7: Notre Dame OT Joe Alt

There are around half-a-dozen players I'd be fine seeing the Titans pick instead of Alt. I sort of prefer Olu Fashanu's upside and approach to pass blocking over Alt's. I'm enamored of receiver Rome Odunze's skill set. I think Brock Bowers is a franchise-changing talent who can reinvent his position. There were times last year where I thought Laiatu Latu was the best player in college football.

But the Titans have spent this whole offseason operating as if they were a couple players away. Consistency matters. Drafting a project like Fashanu, a luxury who won't need to start right away like Odunze or Bowers or a health risk like Latu doesn't match the process. If the Titans want to contend right away, they need to be sure quarterback Will Levis is protected right away.

That means picking Alt. If he's there, run this one to the podium.

Round 2, pick 38: Michigan DT Kris Jenkins

Two picks, two linemen from blue-blood schools with NFL bloodlines. The son of a four-time Pro Bowler, Jenkins is impressively nimble for his 299-pound frame and even-more-impressively versatile, spending time at tackle and end and even taking some snaps as an edge rusher on Michigan's championship run. He's a formidable run stopper who played some of his best games against Ohio State, Alabama and Washington. He doesn't have the pass rush savvy quite yet to be described as Denico Autry's replacement. But he can certainly be Jeffery Simmons' new running mate from Day 1, and perhaps develop into a bigger, more interior-focused Autry type.

Round 4, pick 106: UCLA DE/OLB Gabriel Murphy

If Murphy's arms were two inches longer, he'd be a dead ringer for Titans star edge rusher Harold Landry: highly productive college players who waited a little longer to turn pro than they could've. Nearly the exact same build with similar athletic profiles. Give them an angle off the edge and they'll make you pay. Sure, Murphy had the shortest wingspan of any edge rusher measured at the combine. That lack of reach presents problems escaping blocks and affecting quarterbacks. But his tenacity and creativity against the run are the real assets here. Group him with Simmons, Landry, Arden Key, Sebastian Joseph-Day and Jenkins and the Titans' defensive front starts to look a little more like a strength again.

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Round 5, pick 146: Auburn DB Jaylin Simpson

Simpson is one of my favorite players in this draft class. He played outside corner, slot corner, free safety, box safety and linebacker at various times in college. Only two players in college football last year played as many coverage snaps as Simpson while intercepting as many passes, maintaining as low of a passer rating against and keeping as good of a ratio of snaps to times targeted. Translation: He didn't get thrown at much and opponents weren't particularly successful when they did throw at him. Think of Simpson as insurance for both Elijah Molden and Roger McCreary who can factor as the Titans' sixth DB in dime packages.

Round 6, pick 182: Texas LB Jaylan Ford

This isn't a great year to need an inside linebacker, and I'd rather take a chance on one in the sixth round than the second or fourth. Ford is a better open-field linebacker than a stick-your-nose-in-the-middle-of-the-run-game guy at this point in his career. He's not the cure-all linebacker fix some Titans fans may be looking for, but he's got the right traits to contribute on special teams early on and, with the right improvements, could begin contributing as a coverage-downs linebacker by the end of his rookie season.

Round 7, pick 242: Georgia RB Kendall Milton

How's this for addressing a very specific Titans' need? Twenty-three of Milton's 42 explosive runs over the past two years (55%) came on rushes off center or guard. He's one of two players who ranked in the top 25 in yards after contact per carry each of the last two seasons. He's got an old-school power back sensibility, and he's been a bell cow for championship offenses. The Titans don't need Milton as a starter, but he'll play a role behind the shiftier Tyjae Spears and Tony Pollard duo.

Round 7, pick 252: Mississippi State WR Lideatrick Griffin

Call it a twisted joke, but the Titans wait until their last pick in the seventh round to grab a receiver for the second straight year. Griffin's foremost a kick return specialist, and could be worth a seventh-round flier for that alone. But he's also a deep threat from the slot who has experience playing outside receiver in the Air Raid. Start him on special teams. If he grows into a fourth or fifth option at receiver, even better.

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick atnsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.