NFL Draft Rumors: Titans evaluating Jay Cutler

It looks like the Tennessee Titans are looking at Jay Cutler as a possible starting quarterback next season. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, they started to kick the Titans on the Chicago Bears quarterback as soon as he was benched, and Cutler would prefer to play in Tennessee, too -- that's where he played in college, too.

This is pretty good news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who need to be less worried about the prospect of the Titans grabbing the first overall pick and selecting the quarterback they'd like to have, whoever that quarterback really is.

The Titans, Bucs and Oakland Raiders are currently tied for the first pick with two wins on the season. If none of those teams wins another game, the team with the worst strength of schedule will get the top pick -- and that will either be the Bucs or the Titans, as the Raiders have one of the strongest schedules in the league. If the Bucs lose out but are a little unlucky, they might lose the first pick to the Titans.

Which means that if the Titans do go with Cutler, who fits head coach Ken Whisenhunt's history of strong-armed pocket passers, they almost certainly won't take a quarterback at the top of the draft. Which means the Bucs will get to pick any quarterback they want -- assuming they want one, but that seems like a given at this point.

Of course, there's one problem in this scenario: if the Titans do have the first overall pick and don't want a quarterback, they may just decide to trade down with a team that's desperate for a franchise passer.