The Tennessee Titans sent shockwaves throughout the entire league when they decided to trade the face of their franchise, star DT Jeffery Simmons, to the Chicago Bears for a massive draft haul that included two first round picks.

While this trade undoubtedly gives the team the ammo it needs to start turning things around eventually, it also raises one interesting question: what does this mean for QB Cam Ward?

You could argue that they’re just acquiring as much draft capital as possible knowing this team obviously still needs a lot of work.

However, you could also argue that they don’t make this move if they genuinely believed Ward was close in his development to getting this team back to being competitive.

Conflicting messages from Titans' post-trade presser

One moment that stood out during today’s press conference occurred when Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi was asked to name the current face of this franchise now that Simmons is gone, and he failed to specifically name any player... including his first-pick QB.

Easton Freeze of AtoZ Sports directly asked Borgonzi whether or not this move sends an underlying message about how they feel about Ward going forward:

“No, I think the message is we know we have to get better as a team. And [with] 53 guys on the roster, we know that we have to be better this year, next year, the year after. And this draft capital will give us the opportunity to [be better]. We have a lot of work to do, and we have to make the right decisions.”

HC Robert Saleh shared the same tone when asked a similar question: “This has nothing to do with Cam and everything to do with trying to continue to build a roster that’s competitive with the NFL greats… This has nothing to do with Cam.”

Only time will tell how this franchise truly feels about the young quarterback they’ve already invested so much in. But one thing is for certain, this front office now has the ammo to move up and down the board come draft weekend.

They also have the ammo to pull off a blockbuster trade of their own should a fellow struggling team like the Chargers make QB Justin Herbert available this offseason. Obviously, that’s something that sounds crazy right now, but having this type of ammo at their disposal gives this front office the flexibility to attack any possible scenario that intrigues them.

At minimum, the Titans are now set to enter the offseason with four first-round picks over the next two drafts to play with. How they use these picks is anybody’s guess. But for their sake and their fans' sake, whatever they decide to do, let’s just hope they finally get it right.