The Jacksonville Jaguars have spent the early stretch of this AFC South series looking down the road at a division opponent that feels a long way off, and the Tennessee Titans are the obvious place to start. The Titans still haven’t beaten the Jaguars since the finale game of the 2023 season, when Mike Vrabel, Doug Pederson, Derrick Henry, and Ryan Tannehill were all part of the matchup.
The biggest issue in Tennessee starts with the sideline. Robert Saleh’s arrival as head coach has been treated as a win for the Titans, but the staff around him doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Saleh will run the defense, and he brought in Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator. That pairing has Jaguars fans plenty familiar with Bradley’s defenses, and Trevor Lawrence has spent years carving up units tied to him.
On offense, Saleh hired Brian Daboll, who was fired by the New York Giants probably two years or so too late. Daboll still carries the shine from his time coaching Josh Allen in Buffalo, but that was also the last time he guided an offense that wasn’t near the bottom of the league.
That stands in sharp contrast to Jacksonville’s coaching setup, which the piece describes as having two future head coaches at the coordinator spots. Against that, the Titans’ staff looks like a long shot to close the gap.
Quarterback is the next major problem. Cam Ward is viewed as a talented player, and he was seen as the only semi-decent prospect in the 2025 class.
But he landed in a Titans organization that the source describes as rudderless, with Brian Callahan’s hire already labeled one of the worst in recent NFL history. Ward enters 2026 in his second season, while Trevor Lawrence is heading into his sixth and could be better than ever.
Ward does have a better supporting cast than he did a year ago, though it is still below average, and the numbers from last season paint a bleak picture: he was one of the least productive passers in the NFL. Lawrence, meanwhile, was an MVP finalist a year ago and is expected to be even more explosive in 2026.
Up front, Tennessee does not look much sturdier. Dan Moore struggled badly with the Steelers, then got a massive deal from the Titans and had another rough season.
J.C. Latham has also been a target for Josh Hines-Allen, who has treated him like the NFL’s highest-paid turnstile over the last two seasons.
That line simply does not look equipped to handle a pass rush led by Hines-Allen and Travon Walker. Ward was hit far too often last season, and there has not been enough progress to suggest that changes in 2026.
There is one real star on Tennessee’s defense: Jeffery Simmons. He has repeatedly given the Jaguars problems, and recent Jaguars-Titans games have at times looked like 1-on-11 affairs.
But after Simmons, the roster thins out fast. The Titans are short on blue-chip talent and, in the source’s view, may even be short on players who are merely good.
There are no top defenders beyond Simmons, no other pass-rushers, no top blockers, and no skill players who command much fear until Carnell Tate proves himself. Years of draft misses have left the roster without the kind of talent needed to keep pace with the Jaguars and the Houston Texans in 2026.
Then there is the front office. General manager Mike Borgonzi has not exactly inspired confidence, and his offseason spending suggests pressure more than patience.
Even in what was described as one of the worst free-agent classes in recent memory, the Titans spent heavily on Wan'Dale Robinso, John Franklin-Meyers, Alontae Taylor, Cordale Flott, Daniel Bellinger, and Mitch Trubiski. The draft has not helped the case much either.
The 2025 class included Oluwafemi Oladejo, who finished with just two quarterback hits, Kevin Winston, who only disrupted two passes, and a few backup skill players. The group also included a solid move tight end and return man, which the source notes with only faint praise.
Taken together, it is not hard to see why the Jaguars are being framed as the far superior team heading toward 2026. The Titans have a new coach, a shaky staff, a quarterback still trying to find his footing, a battered offensive line, and a roster that looks thin in all the wrong places. Jacksonville, by comparison, has the clear edge.
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