The Titans take receiver Carnell Tate at No. 4, trade up for edge rusher Keldric Faulk

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans hope Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate can team with quarterback Cam Ward and fix the offense while improving their relatively poor track record with receivers selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

The Titans made Tate the No. 4 overall selection Thursday night as the first receiver taken in this draft. That's the highest pick the franchise has used at that position in the common draft era starting in 1967, a spot above the No. 5 overall selection that made Corey Davis the first wide receiver drafted in 2017.

“I didn’t have any idea that I was going to go this early," Tate said.

None of the wide receivers drafted in the first round by this franchise since relocating to Tennessee in 1997 has lasted more than five seasons with the Titans.

The Titans then traded into the back end of the first round to select edge rusher Keldric Faulk of Auburn at No. 31 overall.

Tennessee sent a trio of picks at Nos. 35, 66 and 101 to Buffalo to move into the first round along with the 69th and 165th picks.

Faulk adds another defensive player to a unit that features All-Pro tackle Jeffery Simmons along with a handful of players added with the Titans the NFL’s highest-spending team in free agency. The 6-foot-5, 276-pound Faulk had 10 sacks and 19 1/2 tackles for loss in 32 starts.

New coach Robert Saleh, who will be calling the schemes after taking over a franchise coming off a 3-14 record that was their fourth straight losing season. They fired Brian Callahan six games into his second season before hiring Saleh in January.

Tennessee also has Ward, the No. 1 overall selection a year ago. Tate said, “I’m very excited for Cam Ward, being able to go out there and run routes and catch balls from him.”

The Titans only signed Wan’Dale Robinson in free agency and reworked Calvin Ridley’s contract in March to help the wide receiving group. Ridley, who turns 32 in December, has just four combined touchdown catches in two seasons in Tennessee.

Former Giants coach Brian Daboll is the Titans’ new offensive coordinator trying to rev up a unit that was one of the NFL’s worst in 2025. Even with Ward starting every game, Tennessee ranked 30th in the NFL last season with 166.1 yards a game.

The first Ohio State player taken in this draft, Tate is a 6-foot-2, 192-pound wide receiver who finished his career with 121 catches for 1,872 yards and 14 touchdowns. He caught a pass in 37 of the 39 games he played. The Titans met with Tate at the NFL combine and visited Tennessee as part of his top 30 visits.

He also gives the Titans one of the most reliable receivers available in this draft based on Pro Football Focus tracking.

Tate did not drop a pass in 66 throws intended for him last season. Only four other receivers were targeted more times without a drop. In three seasons at Ohio State, Tate had a total of five drops on 161 targets.

He also is dependable in traffic. He came down with 12 of 14 balls thrown into tight coverage last season for a contested catch rate of 85.7%, best in the nation among receivers with more than five contested-catch attempts.

Davis lasted only four seasons with the Titans not picking up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. The Titans also took Treylon Burks at No. 18 overall in 2022 as part of a trade that sent Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown to Philadelphia, and Burks lasted three seasons before being waived last July.

Other first-round receivers who didn't play a sixth season with Tennessee include Kendall Wright (No. 20 in 2012) and Kenny Britt (No. 30 in 2009). Kevin Dyson, the 16th pick in 1998, is beloved for scoring the winning touchdown best known as the " Music City Miracle" but played only five seasons with Tennessee.

The exception was Haywood Jeffires, the 20th pick in 1987 by the then-Houston Oilers. He became a three-time Pro Bowler playing with Hall of Famer Warren Moon in the run-and-shoot offense.

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Auburn defensive lineman Keldric Faulk poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the 31st overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate poses on the red carpet before the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate poses after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate celebrates after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate celebrates after being chosen by the Tennessee Titans with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Countless times in the leadup to the NFL draft, the New York Giants ran simulations to predict how the top 10 picks would unfold.

“This one didn't come up,” new coach John Harbaugh said. "This was not one that was really anticipated."

The Giants took Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese at No. 5 and Miami offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa at No. 10 on Thursday night, making good on the insistence from Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen that they would go with the best players available rather than reach to fill a need.

"These are two top-five players in this draft, in our opinion," Harbaugh said, noting that Reese ranked first internally among non-quarterbacks. “You couldn’t do any better.”

Reese could have gone as high as No. 2 to the Jets, but the New York-area neighbor chose Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey instead. With Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love going off the board when Arizona took him with the third pick and after Tennessee somewhat surprisingly selected Buckeyes receiver Carnell Tate, the door was wide open to get a versatile defender who turns 21 just before his rookie year begins.

“Get your board right, make sure you understand all the different possibilities and don’t overreact to things that you hear, things that might happen on draft night, and I thought we did a really good job of that and then all of a sudden there’s Arvell Reese — he’s coming to us," Harbaugh said. “It worked out just the way you would hope it would in that situation.”

Harbaugh and his staff plan to use Reese as an inside or weak-side linebacker as opposed to a traditional edge rusher, which most teams saw him as. The Giants already have plenty of talent at that position with Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and the No. 3 pick a year ago, Abdul Carter.

Adding Reese gives new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson some intriguing possibilities.

“I can say I’m going be used in a unique way,” Reese said on a conference call with local reporters. "I’m a weapon. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Eschewing voids at wide receiver, safety and elsewhere, New York taking Mauigoa with the 10th pick adds young protection for franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart going into his second professional season. Mauigoa on stage told Dart, “I'm ready to die for you, man.”

“That should be everybody’s mentality," Mauigoa said. “As offensive linemen, we should be able to put everything on the line because the quarterback is the key to the offense.”

Schoen said Mauigoa, who played tackle in college, will start at guard, where the offensive line has an opening for a starter on the right side. Mauigoa, who goes by the nickname “Sisi,” brushed off concerns about a herniated disk in his back that persisted in the leadup to the draft, and his new team shares that feeling.

“We’re comfortable with it,” Schoen said. “Right now he’s fine. He’s good right now.”

Mauigoa's brother Kiko, a linebacker, was taken in the fifth round by the Jets last year. They were teammates at Miami but never envisioned this.

“College was different because we got to choose,” Francis Mauigoa said. “The NFL is different because now the teams get to choose. Man, I’m really excited to be near my brother and to be able to work out with him again.”

The Giants had the extra selection after acquiring it from Cincinnati in the trade that sent defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals. They had a chance to add two Ohio State players with safety Caleb Downs also there at No. 10 or to trade down and opted against either possibility.

“We stuck with the board," Schoen said. “It just didn’t make any sense to try to get cute and do anything else.”

They're scheduled to pick next at No. 37 early in the second round on Friday night, and they don’t have one in the third because it was part of the trade to move up for Dart last year. Harbaugh called getting Reese and Mauigoa a really good start to his first draft with the Giants following 18 seasons with Baltimore.

They were just the second and third top-10 picks Harbaugh has been a part of as an NFL head coach, a decade after Ronnie Stanley at No. 6 in 2016.

"That was different," Harbaugh said. “We had two in, I don’t know, about an hour. It was fun.”

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Miami offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa poses on the red carpet before the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Miami offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa poses on the red carpet before the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the New York Giants with the fifth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese poses with a jersey after being chosen by the New York Giants with the fifth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese celebrates with fans after being chosen by the New York Giants with the fifth overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)