The Tennessee Titans may have landed one of the most intriguing defensive picks in the 2026 NFL Draft when they moved up into the back end of the second round for Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.
Hill arrives in Tennessee with a résumé that jumps off the page: 249 total tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, 3 interceptions and 8 forced fumbles in college. The former five-star prospect delivered on the hype at Texas, and if that production carries over, he could end up looking like one of the draft’s best value picks.
What makes the landing spot even more interesting is who will be coaching him. Titans head coach Robert Saleh has built a reputation as one of the NFL’s best linebacker developers, and Hill is stepping into a situation that has historically boosted players at his position.
Saleh’s track record stretches back to his first NFL job with the Houston Texans in 2005, when he worked as an intern before moving into defensive quality control in 2006. That same year, the Texans drafted DeMeco Ryans, who broke out immediately and won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
By 2009, Saleh had been promoted to assistant linebackers coach, and Houston used a first-round pick on Brian Cushing. He also won Defensive Rookie of the Year, made the Pro Bowl as a rookie alongside Ryans, and helped form one of the league’s top linebacker tandems.
Saleh’s next stop came with the Seahawks in 2011, where he joined a staff that drafted KJ Wright in the fourth round. Wright became an immediate starter. The following offseason, Seattle spent a second-round pick on Bobby Wagner, who went on to become one of the defining linebackers of his era.
In 2014, Saleh landed his first NFL job as a position coach with the Jaguars. Jacksonville drafted Telvin Smith in the fifth round that year, and Smith started as a rookie while piling up 104 tackles.
Then came Saleh’s first defensive coordinator job in 2017 with Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers. During that first four-year run in San Francisco, he helped develop Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, who were drafted in 2018 and 2019.
That kind of history is hard to ignore. Every linebacker who has spent meaningful time around Saleh in the NFL has either become a Pro Bowl player, earned a major contract, or both.
So while Hill may have wanted first-round status, he may have ended up in the better place anyway. Saleh has spent two decades showing he knows how to put linebackers in position to play fast, play aggressive and stay effective on all three downs.
If that pattern holds, Anthony Hill Jr. could be the next linebacker to thrive under what looks a lot like Robert Saleh’s magic touch.
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Now the challenge is less about what Harrell showed than where he fits. He enters 2026 training camp fighting for a roster spot in a crowded edge group, with Jermaine Johnson, Keldric Faulk and Femi Oladejo all in the mix and Jacob Martin also potentially part of the conversation. Harrell has already made himself harder to overlook, but the Titans still have to decide whether that late-season surge was enough to carve out a real place in the rotation. [Read more 🡒]