2026 Offseason Preview: Tennessee
The Tennessee Titans have a long way to go after another 3-14 season
statbutler.com will be compiling offseason previews for all 32 teams in the lead up to free agency. Feel free to share any of the text/visuals below with attribution. All underlying contract data was collected by overthecap.com.
Recent Team History
The Titans completed their 2025 season with their second consecutive three win season. I thought there was some chance they’d turn things over quickly if Cam Ward was a superstar right out of the gate, but most were probably not surprised to see a repeat of 2024 given the overall state of the roster.
2025 Season
Head Coach Brian Callahan gave up play-calling responsibilities just a few games in to the season and he was ultimately fired after the Titans began the year 1-5. Tennessee can hang their hat on playing four playoff teams (Denver, Houston, Seattle, and the L.A. Chargers) to within a touchdown. On the flip side though, they lost 9 games by double digits.
A New Coaching Staff
At the end of the season, Tennessee began their head coaching search in earnest. They settled on San Francisco DC and former N.Y. Jets head coach Robert Saleh. Salah will be bringing Gus Bradley with him as defensive coordinator. Bradley was an assistant in San Francisco last year after a 16 year run as either a NFL head coach or coordinator. Salah’s offensive coordinator will be recent N.Y. Giants head coach Brian Daboll. Tennessee likely realized they errored in retaining Callahan for a second year. Ideally, you’d like to hire your GM & head coach at the same time. Still, I think this is a solid group of established coaches that have as good a chance as any to right the ship.
Returning Players
Note that all restructures below are assumed to be max restructures. This means that the team will use void years to prorate cash across up to five seasons, minimizing amount that will hit the current year’s salary cap.
For players who are not vested veterans, I’ve replaced information about the player’s active contract with a description of the team control remaining until the player can become an unrestricted free agent.
It wasn’t a great rookie year for Cam Ward, but it’s also hard to get a great feel for what he might be able to do for a team in a situation where he has a more serious supporting cast. Tennessee’s free agent headliner, LT Dan Moore, was not good, but to be completely fair, it wasn’t a major step back from how he performed prior to his arrival. The brightest spot for this offense was LG Peter Skoronski, Tennessee’s 2023 first round pick. Skoronski, who can have his 5th year option exercised this summer, finally broke out with a strong season.
With the state of this roster, Jeffery Simmons will surely be mentioned as a potential trade candidate. Perhaps selling high is the best long-term move, but I would be shocked if Tennessee moved this direction. He still should have another year or two before age regression and this team will no doubt be preparing to compete at some point in that window. Teammate T’Vondre Sweat followed up a strong rookie year with more great play. Those two will be a top interior duo for as long as the Titans allow them to be, but they won’t have much backup. I’m not sure if Tennessee even has another NFL starter caliber player among their defensive linemen or linebackers right now. I expect to see some continuity in the secondary, but it’s not a strong group to begin with.
Expiring Contracts
Joey Slye might be among the only free agents that Tennessee gives serious consideration to bringing back. I fear Kevin Zeitler (36) and Sebastian Joseph-Day (31) may be too old for this team to spend serious money on. Perhaps they’ll make an exception for Arden Key given how desperate they will be for edge rusher talent.
The 2024 Free Agent Class
It’s easy to look at a team and claim they keep compounding mistakes that dig a deeper hole. With Tennessee, many of these mistakes were made at the same time. Tennessee signed six players to multi-year deals in the first two weeks of the 2024 league year. Here are those players and what the Titans paid them in 2024 & 2025 combined:
Calvin Ridley - $50m
L’Jarius Sneed - $42.9m + 2025 3rd & 7th swap
Lloyd Cushenberry - $29.7m
Chidobe Awuzie - $18m (cut after 2024)
Tony Pollard - $14.5m
Kenneth Murray - $7.9m (traded for 6th-7th swap in 2024)
These six non-QBs cost $163m plus a net loss of draft capital. Once this offseason begins, I suspect Tennessee may be down to just one or two of these players, if any. This is a rare series of misses, but it has clearly been a driving force for this team’s struggles.
To add insult to injury, the Titans would also send Malik Willis to Green Bay for a 7th round pick. On top of serving as a competent backup, Willis may soon return Green Bay a solid 2027 compensatory pick.
Projected Tags & Cuts
I’m not including ERFA eligible players here (expiring contracts with less than 3 accrued seasons), as they can either sign a league minimum contract or the team can allow them to leave.
As I had just touched on, the 2024 free agent class continues to serve as an anchor to this team. I could imagine all four players still playing under those contracts will be cut this offseason, but I’m not quite sold on Tony Pollard. L’Jarius Sneed is the easiest decision. Lloyd Cushenberry is coming off two very poor seasons and there should be replacements available. Perhaps there might be an attempt to trade Calvin Ridley just because of his past success and overall temperature of the wide receiver market, but I ultimately don’t see him back in Tennessee on his current contract.
Aside from cuts, I’m thinking CB Darrell Baker is in line for the Right of First Refusal RFA tender. I am estimating that Tennessee can pick up Peter Skoronski’s 5th year option in 2027 at a cost of $20.5m. The number is calculated on all offensive linemen, so it’s a little heavy for a guard, but I think Tennessee will take it. It’s a situation where they’re in no condition to turn down extra years of team control at market price.
The Salary Cap
In the image below, each blue bordered rectangle is equivalent to the cap hit of a single player. Within that rectangle, there are more rectangles that break down the player’s cap hit. Areas colored green can be pushed entirely into a future cap years via max restructure. Areas with vertical bars are “locked in” and the team cannot open them up by releasing the player. They represent either fully guaranteed cash that hasn’t been earned yet or remaining proration from cash earned in previous league years.
Cap space shouldn’t be a consideration for Tennessee in any form. Their focus should be getting good young players at good numbers as frequently as they can.
At $181m of cash penciled in to be spent right now, I have Tennessee as the league’s lowest spender. With no major extensions to work on, expect to see them spend another year trying to turn a free agent class into the catalyst that turns the franchise around.
Draft Capital
The Titans will make 8 picks in the 2026 draft with their first selection coming at 4. As you may expect, Tennessee posses as haul that my trade-based draft pick model sees among the five most valuable.