Tennessee Titans 2026 Offseason Outlook

As if things hadn’t been going bad enough for the Tennessee Titans since firing Mike Vrabel after the 2023 season, insult was added to injurty last season when Vrabel led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach of the team he used to play for. While the Titans averaged nine wins in the six seasons under Vrabel, they have managed just six wins combined in the two years since. Brian Callahan, who replaced Vrabel, didn’t even last two full seasons. So in the first move of this offseason, the Titans hired Robert Saleh, who’s out to prove that it’s not fair to judge him as a head coach based on three seasons with the New York Jets.

While Saleh has built his reputation on defense, the key to Tennessee’s fortunes rides on the arm of quarterback Cam Ward, the first overall pick of the 2025 draft. So almost as important as the hiring of Saleh was his decision to bring on another fired New York head coach, former Giants head coach Brian Daboll, to be the offensive coordinator. Can Daboll help Ward as much as he helped Josh Allen when he was the Buffalo Bills’ OC?

2025 recap

The Titans let Callahan go after starting 1-5 last season, but they certainly didn’t turn things around from there — losing another six straight to fall to 1-11 on the way the their second atraight 3-14 finish. They occasionally showed some competitiveness — losing back-to-back games against the Houston Texans by three and the Seattle Seahawks by six. Overall, though, they were 0-10 against teams that finished with a winning record.

Both sides of the ball contributed to the effort. Tennessee ranked 30th in scoring offense and 28th in scoring defense. All eyes were on Ward, who started all 17 games as a rookie. Ward completed 59.8% of his passes for 3,169 yards, 15 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a modest passer rating of 80.2. What makes it hard to judge his overall performance, however, is the fact that there was so little talent around him. The running game was negligible (30th in yards per game) and there was little to work with at receiver after veteran Calvin Ridley was lost to a knee injury after Week 7. The lone positive was that by season’s end, Ward developed a nice rapport with fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor, who caught 41 passes for 515 yards and a team-best four touchdowns.

Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons had another strong season, leading the team with 11 sacks, but the Titans need plenty of help on defense: They allowed 30 or more points in eight games last season.

Key free agents

G Kevin Zeitler
DE Arden Key
DL Sebastian Joseph
TE Chig Okonkwo

Titans salary cap space

$104,769,062

2026 draft needs

The Titans have the fourth overall pick in the draft, so they should get an impact player at that spot. They could immediately improve the offense if there was a receiver they thought was worth that high a pick, though they’d be better off taking an edge rusher at No. 4 and adding to the receivers room with their early second-round pick. That’s exactly how Luke Easterling has it playing out in his latest mock draft. Other areas of need for the Titans are running back, interior offensive line and secondary.

2026 opponents

Home:Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Cleveland, N.Y. Jets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

Away:Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, N.Y. Giants