NASHVILLE – Titans General Manager Mike Borgonzi met with reporters on Wednesday at Vanderbilt Health Football Center.
During what turned into a 20-minute session, Borgonzi discussed the team's most recent trade – sending Amani Hooker and a fifth-round pick to the Bills for a second-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft – and the team's future.
Let's take a look at some of the biggest topics from today's session.
-Borgonzi said he wasn't looking to trade Hooker, but like the trade involvoing Jeffery Simmons, he said he got an offer he couldn't turn down.
"We had some calls on him," Borgonzi said of Hooker. "Brandon Beane from Buffalo would call me for the last week on it and I said no at the time. Ran into him at the Notre Dame-Miami game the other night, said he'd stay in touch and it came together pretty fast. So, he called me probably around … noon, and he just came out with an offer, and we went back and forth and we felt like it was the best decision, really, at the time to—much like Jeff (Simmons)—to really accumulate draft capital to accelerate the process here to really build this thing here.
"It's hard every year when you just get seven picks to really build it and with these two trades, it gave us the opportunity to acquire nine top 100 picks here in the next two years. Now, we have a lot of work to do though, we obviously have to make the right decisions with these picks and it's hard moving on from two really good players that have been here for a long time. I want to thank Amani (Hooker) though, I've been around him now for a year and a half, obviously his play but his professionalism, the way he came to work every day, in the community. He represented a lot of great things for this organization, so certainly it was tough to move on from Amani, but I wish him the best in Buffalo and it's a good opportunity for him."
-Borgonzi was asked about expectations for head coach Robert Saleh for the remainder of the season on defense.
"Like I said when we traded Jeff (Simmons), I still have a lot of belief in this locker room, the people on the defensive side of the ball, too," he said. "We have some veterans over there that have played with Robert before. It's a great opportunity for Tony Adams to step up. He's started, I think 30-something games in the league. So he's played that opportunity, he's been our third safety this year, he's played some meaningful snaps, had an opportunity to start a game this year, too. So it's an opportunity for these younger guys to step up and play and I have complete confidence and belief in the coaching staff and the players in the locker room. We have nine games left here and we look forward to them. And this is a big game this week."
-Borgonzi acknowledged he's surprised the team is 1-7 at this point.
"I think the expectations for us going into the season, we weren't going to be 1-7 at this point, that's for sure," he said. "Now, there were some close games, two weeks ago we had a close game in Cincinnati, we have to learn how to close these games. Now we've had three or four of these games that we need to close and the record could be different, but it is what it is, we're 1-7. But I don't think this is a 1-7 football team, though. I see the guys in the locker room. I see how they practice every week. We just have to learn how to close games. It's a young team with some veterans, with the new coaching staff, and I think we're getting better every week."
-Borgonzi said final nine games being will provide intel on the 2027 roster.
"I think every day we're being evaluated, so it's the next nine games, I mean we're all being evaluated," he said. "This is a great opportunity for these guys to step up. We evaluate guys at practice every day. So yeah, certainly these next nine game here are vital to see who's going to move forward with us."
-Borgonzi indicated he'd like to retain running back Tony Pollard beyond this season.
"Yeah, Tony's represented us well, he's played well," he said. "We certainly love to have Tony back. I even talked to Tony about that last week, we had a conversation. And the way he's played, we certainly like him back."
-Borgonzi said he got interest other players leading up to the trade deadline, but "we really never considered (making other trades)."
-Borgonzi expressed confidence in quarterback Cam Ward, and was encouraged by his performance in Cincinnati.
"I thought he played well," he said. "He looked like he was starting to get comfortable in the offense. I thought he saw the field well. He worked the middle of the field better, got Gunner (Helm) involved and Belli (Daniel Bellinger) on a few catches. So we have to continue that though."
"We've seen it at practice, and I think the last few weeks he's getting more comfortable in the offense, and it came to fruition versus the Bengals. So, it was good to see, and you still have to get better though, I mean everyone does."
