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In less than five days, the Titans will be on the clock making their first selection of the 2017 NFL Draft. This draft is pivotal in the transformation of the Tennessee Titans from a pitiful league bottom-feeder in 2015 after they finished with a 3-13 record to a bona-fide playoff contender. In 2016, the Titans surprised many by finishing with a 9-7 record on the back of new head coach Mike Mularkey’s “Exotic Smashmouth” offense. First year GM Jon Robinson used his first round pick to select first team all-pro right tackle Jack Conklin and added several other quality roster pieces including Rishard Matthews, Derrick Henry, and Kevin Byard. Heading into his second draft, Robinson has already made an effort to address Tennessee’s abysmal secondary play by signing CB Logan Ryan from the Patriots and signing Jonathan Cyprien from the division rival Jaguars. He also released 9-year veteran Jason McCourty, which indicates that he is not done with his changes to the secondary. The other major need for the Titans is a WR1 for Marcus Mariota. By adding a jump ball receiver or deep threat, the offense should open up even more. This mock draft for the Tennessee Titans is defined by a first round trade, in which the Cleveland Browns move up from No. 12 to No. 5. This trade makes sense on both sides. The Cleveland Browns front office is reportedly split with Hue Jackson wanting the Cleveland Browns to select Mitchell Trubisky at No. 1 rather than Myles Garrett, but DePodesta (rightfully) disagrees with this move due to Garrett being the premier prospect of the 2017 draft. By trading up to No. 5, DePodesta can pick Garrett at No. 1 and jump other possible landing spots for Trubisky such as New York, Los Angeles, Buffalo, and New Orleans so that he can mollify Hue Jackson with a Mitchell Trubisky pick. As for Tennessee, they should be more than happy to trade down and accrue more draft picks because the value for them at No. 5 is simply not there. They have several options that would make sense based on team need, but for a variety of reasons, none of these options is especially prudent. I’ll briefly run down the Titan’s options at 5 and explain why I think a move down is justifiable. Option 1: The Safeties (Jamal Adams and Malik Hooker) Safeties are already a position that aren’t typically worth a top ten pick, but after drafting Kevin Byard in the third round in 2016 and signing Jonathan Cyprien off the free agent market in 2017, the value of a safety in the top ten decreases further. A ton of Titans fans seem to be clamoring for a safety at this spot, but I think that this is due to the horrible cornerback play making the safeties look worse than they actually are. People forget that Kevin Byard was essentially playing out of position last season as an in-the-box tackling safety, when in actuality he should be played in more of a center fielder role, as evidenced by his 19 career interceptions in college. The addition of Jonathan Cyprien should complement Kevin Byard due to Cyprien being one of the best tackling safeties in the league. Of Cyprien, Pro Football Focus said that he “earned the highest PFF run-defense grade we have ever given a safety”. Cyprien also possesses a knack for covering tight ends (a sore spot in Tennessee’s defense in 2016). All in all, I believe that a safety duo of Cyprien and Byard could surprise a lot of people in 2017 and deserve at least one season before bringing in a marquee prospect in the draft. Option 2: The Pass Catchers (OJ Howard, Mike Williams, Corey Davis) The Titans desperately need a No. 1 pass catcher, and all three of these players fit the bill, but No. 5 is simply too high for Mike Williams and Corey Davis. OJ Howard definitely is worth a No. 5 pick, but due to the historically deep tight end class, I think it makes sense for the Titans to wait at TE and select a premier talent in one of the weaker position classes that will have a more precipitous drop if the Titans were to wait. Option 3: Marshon Lattimore Marshon Lattimore would step in and be an instant upgrade over recently departed Jason McCourty, but he suffers in my consideration for the same reason as OJ Howard: the 2017 class at CB is extremely deep, which devalues a high selection of Lattimore because the disparity in talent level among this year’s corners is not as great as in other years. I also don’t love Lattimore’s fit with the Titans. In last year’s draft, Jon Robinson targeted experienced multi-year starters such as Jack Conklin, Kevin Dodd, and Austin Johnson with his top picks. Marshon Lattimore only started one year, so it may be possible that his fantastic 2016 season was an aberration and a product of a star-studded Ohio State secondary. Furthermore, Lattimore comes into the league with injury concerns. All of the above considered, it makes sense for the Titans to pass on Lattimore and pick up a CB later in the first round. Option 4: The Pass Rushers (Hope for Jonathan Allen, Myles Garrett, or Solomon Thomas to fall) First of all, you’re kidding yourself if you believe that Garrett and Thomas would ever be available at No. 5 barring a Laremy Tunsil incident on draft day. I also think that it is highly unlikely that Jonathan Allen makes it past the Jaguars at 4, but in the case that Allen was on the board at 5, he would be one of the few picks that I could see the Titans turning down a trade offer from Cleveland for. For the reasons outlined above, in the following draft, the Tennessee Titans decide that the best value they can get out of their No. 5 overall selection is to trade it to the Cleveland Browns in return for the No. 12 pick, the No. 52 pick, the No. 108 pick, the No. 185 pick, and a 2018 4th rounder. Now onto the selections: *Note: I have had to write the pick number and round next to each entry because this site does not give me the option of making 6th and 7th round picks.