While Steelers Reload Around Rodgers, Titans Face Their Own QB Reckoning: How Tennessee's Draft Decisions Will Define Next Five Years

Listen, I am going to be direct with you because that is what you deserve. The Pittsburgh Steelers just made a statement in the 2026 NFL Draft that should terrify Tennessee Titans fans and management alike. Omar Khan went all in on surrounding Aaron Rodgers with weaponry, and whether you think that is genius or desperation, it represents something the Titans have completely failed to do for nearly a decade. The Steelers drafted with a purpose. They identified what their quarterback needed and went out and got it. Meanwhile, the Titans sit in Nashville trying to figure out what they even have at the most important position in football, and frankly, that uncertainty is going to cost them far more than any draft miss ever could.

Let me break this down for you because the optics matter here. The Steelers added offensive playmakers who can run with Rodgers, who can make his job easier, who can get open and make him look like the all-time great he is. They understand that Rodgers at age 41 does not need the same things he needed at 25. He needs rhythm. He needs guys who understand the nuance of his game. He needs a system built around his strengths rather than asking him to overcome systematic weaknesses. That is the opposite of what the Titans have been doing with Will Levis, and that opposite approach is exactly why Tennessee should be genuinely concerned about their entire organizational direction.

The Titans had all the ammunition to move forward with clarity at quarterback. They had the draft capital. They had time. They had the opportunity to either commit fully to Levis or move on and find someone better. Instead, they wallowed. They hemmed and hawed. They made statements about evaluation periods and growth opportunities and all the words that coaches use when they have no confidence in their own evaluations. Then, when it came time to actually do something, they did what the Titans always do. They hoped. Hope is not a strategy. Hope is what you cling to when you do not have a plan, and the Titans look more like an organization with prayer than a plan.

The Steelers made winners and losers in this draft because they had conviction. When you watch Khan work and watch the way the Steelers built their roster, you see a man who believes in something. Does his belief in putting all these chips around Rodgers work out? That remains to be seen. Maybe Rodgers declines further. Maybe the supporting cast cannot elevate the team to contention level. Maybe Khan has overestimated how much runway Rodgers has left in the tank. All of that is possible. But what is not possible is denying that Khan made a choice and committed to it fully. He is not hedging. He is not second-guessing. He is saying here is what we are doing and here is why we are doing it.

Now look at Tennessee. The Titans are hedging. The Titans are second-guessing. The Titans drafted another offensive lineman in the early rounds when their line is already respectable. The Titans added another running back when the position is not exactly a premium need. The Titans made decisions that feel defensive rather than assertive. That is the language of an organization that does not trust its quarterback and does not trust itself to find one. If you believe in Levis, you do what the Steelers did around Rodgers. You get him playmakers. You get him weapons. You put him in position to succeed. If you do not believe in him, you tank or you trade for a proven commodity. What you do not do is what the Titans are doing, which is treading water while pretending everything is fine.

The difference between the draft approaches here is not subtle. The Steelers looked at their situation and said we have our quarterback for the next two to three years minimum and possibly longer, so we are going to build everything around making sure he succeeds. Tennessee looked at their situation and apparently said we have a quarterback we are not sure about, a defense that has some veterans aging out, a receiving room that has star power but question marks, and the right approach is to improve the parts we already improved rather than attack our actual weaknesses. That is cowardice masquerading as prudence.

Here is what infuriates me about this situation from a Titans perspective. Tennessee is not in a situation where they need to be cute. They are not the defending Super Bowl champs trying to protect a legacy. They are not a young team with a decade of runway ahead. They are in a window. DeAndre Washington is getting older. Derrick Henry is gone. The defensive core is not getting younger. This is the time to maximize and push all in if you believe in your quarterback or to admit he is not the answer and start over. Instead, the Titans are doing neither, which means they are going to do both poorly.

When you compare what Pittsburgh did to what Tennessee is doing, you see the difference between an organization with direction and an organization adrift. The Steelers made moves that will be either vindicated or criticized based on tangible results. They took a shot. Tennessee took a breath, which in this league is often just a delay of the inevitable. The Titans need to decide right now, in the immediate offseason, whether Levis is their guy. Not next year. Not after another season of evaluation. Now. Because every moment spent in uncertainty is a moment spent wasting the peak of your competitive window.

The Steelers have Aaron Rodgers, who has proven he can win at the highest level. They are not guessing. The Titans have Will Levis, who has shown flashes but also significant inconsistency. If Tennessee believes Levis is a franchise quarterback with real potential, then they need to act like it and build around him aggressively. They need to do exactly what Pittsburgh did with Rodgers, which is optimize for success right now. If they do not believe that, then they need to find someone they do believe in. What they cannot do is sit in this middle ground and pretend that is a legitimate strategy.

VERDICT: The Steelers' draft approach exposes the Titans' fundamental lack of organizational conviction about Will Levis and their direction. Tennessee cannot afford to be wishy-washy while the window is closing. Either commit fully to Levis as your franchise quarterback and build accordingly, or move on. That middle ground between belief and skepticism is where organizations go to die. The Titans are standing directly in that middle ground, and until they move, they will continue to be a team that frustrates its fan base rather than excites it.