For the Tennessee Titans, it's not just Jameis Winston vs. Marcus Mariota at the top of the 2015 NFL Draft.
You've got a bevy of other highly valuable players worth the second-overall pick and the Titans have a roster that - unfortunately - boasts a variety of holes at a number of positions. A defensive tackle like USC's Leonard Williams? Sure, why not? A pass-rusher like Randy Gregory out of Nebraska? Of course! Derrick Morgan seems like a goner anyway.
But more importantly than all of that, there's also quarterback Zach Mettenberger, last year's sixth-round draft pick, to consider.
The Titans, led by head coach Ken Whisenhunt and GM Ruston Webster, need to find an answer at the NFL's most important position, no if's, and's or but's about it.
Only, to hear Webster tell it, that answer may already be on the roster and the work the front office is currently putting in on Winston and Mariota may be more a product of the draft process and much less an indication of the organization's overall interest.
"We like Zach, and I think Zach has the tools to play and start in the league," Webster said, per Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean. "We've said all along that this is a part of this process, and we have to do our due diligence all the way through. Zach knows we are going to do that, and this is just kind of part of it.
"These guys are part of the evaluation process along with other positions. And we'll take a good look at them."
Per Wyatt, increasing chatter out of the organization seems to be that Mettenberger will be given every chance to prove himself worthy of being "the guy," precluding the team from drafting either Winston or Mariota and allowing them to plug another significant hole with that high draft selection.
Mettenberger started six games in his rookie season, finishing the year with 107 completions on 179 attempts for 1,412 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.
"Zach has done a great job of everything we've asked," Webster said, per Wyatt. "He's working hard, and it is important to him. He just needs to keep doing that. ... I know with all the questions it's difficult, but he just needs to keep doing what he is doing, and he understands that."
With former first-round pick Jake Locker set to hit the bricks and Charlie Whitehurst proven, time and again, to be nothing more than a moderately capable back up, Mettenberger is far and away the top guy at QB for the Titans.
If this latest report is accurate, that may be the case for at least one more season in Tennessee.
