CHICAGO – Jon Robinson's fingerprints have been on previous NFL drafts, but this one will be different.
Robinson, named general manager of the Titans in January, knows the success – and potential failures – of the team's draft picks will now be traced back to him.
And he's fine with that.
"I relish the opportunity,'' Robinson said. "I am really looking forward to it. But I have said this before, and that is it has really been a collaborative effort with myself and coaches and the scouts. I am ultimately responsible, but the decision is a group decision, and one we think is best for the team."
The Titans are scheduled to make nine picks in the three-day NFL Draft, including the 15th overall pick in the first round tonight.
Robinson said he's ready.
"The board has been set for probably a week or so now,'' Robinson told Titans Online this week. "We're still talking through some players, making sure we have all the information necessary on the guys. All of the meetings are done, and we're just ready to go.
"I think we're all ready. It is an exciting time for all the scouting department. It is a year's worth of work for all the road scouts, all those hotel nights and airline miles and rental car days. It is kind of a combination of all that effort you put into it from the fall back in college training camps to the pro days. So it is an exciting time for those guys, and for me, too, to see a year's worth of work come into focus."
Robinson joined the Titans after spending the past two seasons as director of player personnel with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prior to that, Robinson worked as New England's director of college scouting (2009-13) after serving as a regional scout and an area scout for the Patriots.
Robinson said he doesn't expect a lot of noise in the War Room when the Titans are in the clock.
"It will be fairly quiet,'' he said. "There won't be a whole lot of back-and-forth. I've told the scouts that we've had numerous, numerous meetings talking through players, and draft day is not the time to grandstand for a player."
Will it be noisy from a trade standpoint?
Well, that's to be determined, he said. Earlier this month, the Titans shook up the NFL Draft by trading the first overall pick to the Rams for a boatload of picks, selection that could be used to maneuver in the draft.
"You just kind of take stock of how (the players) are coming off the board,'' Robinson said. "You monitor the teams certainly in front of you, but also behind you, and see what needs they have and try to anticipate if one of those teams might be trying to jump you or get in front of you to get a guy. That is where the pro (scouting) staff really comes into play, identifying the needs of the other teams around us."
