Titans get No. 1 pick because of loss to Texans

The Houston Texans win in Week 18 helped the Tennessee Titans earned the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL Draft.

The Houston Texans won on Sunday.

In a sense, so did the Tennessee Titans.

With a 23-16 Texans win, mostly with a crop of offensive backups, the Titans have secured the No.1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

A victory in Nashville would have actually knocked the Titans out of reach and dropped them down outside the top five.

However, Brian Callahan’s roster needed a bit of help.

Tennessee did not enter the day with the No. 1 pick,  but moved past New England, who won with backup quarterback Joe Milton III starting against mostly the Buffalo Bills backups.

Tennessee’s strength of schedule is worse than the Giants and Browns, allowing them to be ahead of both teams despite having the same records.

The Titans will have to make decisions on Callahan’s future as well as general manager Ran Carthon. The franchise also likely will consider drafting a quarterback with the top selection, or trade it for ample draft capital.

 The draft’s top passers include Colorado’s Sheduer Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, and Miami’s Cam Ward, who became the NCAA’s all-time passing touchdown leader this season.

The Titans wearing the throwback Houston Oilers uniforms against the Texans was fitting because Tennessee has never selected No. 1 overall but did twice while it was the Oilers. Their predecessors selected defensive end John Matuszak (1973) and Earl Campbell (1978).

Tennessee has had a slow fall from the top of the AFC South, which it won back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021. The Titans reached the AFC Conference Championship in 2019 but blew a double-digit lead to the Kansas City Chiefs. Tennessee has not made the playoffs since 2021 or won more than seven games in a season.

The AFC South has seen an influx of youth at the quarterback position in recent years, as each team has selected a quarterback in the top five of the NFL Draft; Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville, 2021; Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis, 2023; C.J. Stroud, Houston, 2023.

The NFL draft will be held just at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., on April 24-26.