Tennessee Titans linebacker Cody Barton fields questions from the media during training camp. Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Titans LB Achieves Long Career Goal

Originally posted on Tennessee Titans on SI
By Jeremy Brener | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The Tennessee Titans are going into the regular season with linebacker Cody Barton as one of the team's seven captains.

Barton, 28, signed a three-year deal with the Titans during the offseason after recording 106 tackles for the Denver Broncos last season. For Barton, a seventh-year pro playing for his fourth team in four years, it's an achievement he can check off of his list.

"It meant a lot to me," Barton said via team reporter Jim Wyatt.

"I was very grateful, very honored to get that. And I was talking to me earlier about it. The biggest thing to me is to me, it's a great honor, because it's voted by your teammates. It's nothing with, you politics or this or that. It's all just voted by your peers in the locker room and all the guys you spend time with. So to me, it's a great honor. And I'm very appreciative the boys."

Barton explained how he was inspired to be a captain by his former head coach Ron Rivera, who he was with in 2023 with the Washington Commanders. Rivera, a former linebacker like Barton, had a profound impact on the new Titans linebacker and some of his leadership skills may have shed onto him.

Barton is leading a Titans defense that has long needed a linebacker to set the tone for the unit. The team didn't have that in the past couple of years, but Barton is hoping to be the solution to a long-term problem Tennessee has had.

Barton has been extremely vocal as a leader during training camp, which is a positive sign coming from the team's starting middle linebacker. If Barton can carry these leadership qualities into the season, the Titans defense should have the chance to make the team a lot better than it was a year ago.

Barton is now getting ready to face his former team in the Broncos. Kickoff is scheduled for next Sunday at 3:05 p.m. CT inside Empower Field at Mile High. Fans can watch the game on CBS or stream it in the Paramount+ app.

This article first appeared on Tennessee Titans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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