NIGHT OF BIG HOPES & DREAMS

Titans announce surprise No. 2 pick

CHICAGO Sounds like a few teams tried, but none could convince the Tennessee Titans to part with the No. 2 overall NFL draft pick Thursday night. So the Titans did what few thought they’d do. They selected Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, whose spread style in college appears at odds with head coach Ken Whisenhunt’s traditional pro-passing scheme.

The first NFL draft held outside New York City in 50 years kicked off 10 minutes earlier, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as expected, selected Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston No. 1 overall.

The Jacksonville Jaguars picked the draft’s premier edge rusher at No. 3, Dante Fowler Jr. from the University of Florida.

Then the Oakland Raiders gave their young quarterback Derek Carr a prime target to throw to, choosing Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper fourth overall. Cooper also chose not to attend the draft, held in the cramped but quaint Auditorium Theatre in Chicago’s Roosevelt University’s downtown highrise.

At No. 5, the Washington Redskins made the first wow pick of the evening, taking Iowa offensive tackle Brandon Scherff far higher in the first round than most draftniks had him pegged.

Scherff’s elevated selection meant USC defensive tackle Leonard Williams was still available at No. 6 for the New York Jets — a big surprise. It took the Jets all but 10 seconds of their allotted 10 minutes to make the obvious choice: Williams.

At that point, it seemed a slam dunk that the Chicago Bears would select the other wide receiver seen as a Top 10 talent: Kevin White of West Virginia. That’s exactly what the Bears did, to the exultation of the pro-Bears audience. They broke out in chants of “Let’s go Bears!”