Tennessee went into 2026 expecting Gunnar Helm to be a real piece of the passing game. Four weeks in, the sophomore tight end has been on the field plenty - just not making nearly enough noise.
Helm is third on the Titans in catches with nine, and he’s also third in targets with 12. But the production has been thin: only 60 receiving yards, which puts him fourth on the team, and no touchdowns.
Rookie Carnell Tate has taken over a huge share of the air-yardage work, and his Week 4 breakout pushed that gap even wider. Helm did, however, finish on Cam Ward’s two-point conversion on Sunday.
What stands out most is where the targets have not come. Helm has not seen a single red-zone target.
That’s despite the Titans leaning hard on the run once they get inside the 20, sometimes stubbornly so. If Helm keeps producing at this pace over a full 17-game season, he’d finish with fewer receptions, fewer yards, and fewer touchdowns than he posted as a rookie in 2025.
Last year, he caught 44 passes for 357 yards and two scores. His yards per catch have also dipped, falling from 8.1 to 6.7.
The playing time tells a different story. Helm has actually logged 78.85% of the offense’s snaps, a clear jump from his 50.47% snap share as a rookie.
He’s also been on the field more than veteran Daniel Bellinger, the three-year, $24 million free-agent addition who was expected by some to chip away at Helm’s workload. Instead, Helm has outsnapped Bellinger 179-85.
The bigger surprise is how the Titans are using Helm. He’s been asked to do more blocking than he did a year ago, even though the expectation was that Bellinger would handle most of the in-line work. Pro Football Focus has Helm with 67 run-blocking snaps, compared to 49 for Bellinger.
So the issue isn’t opportunity in a pure snap-count sense. Helm is out there.
The ball just isn’t finding him often enough, and Brian Daboll may need to adjust how he’s deploying the tight end. Tennessee’s uneven offense and possession problems haven’t helped, but through four weeks, Daboll still hasn’t put Helm in the cleanest spots to thrive.
In Other News...
Titans Suddenly Have A New Concern In Their Passing Game
The Titans passing game picked up a new wrinkle this week when Carnell Tate landed on the injury report with a back issue ahead of Sundays game against the Houston Texans. Tate had been a full participant on Wednesday before being limited on Thursday, a shift that stands out on a roster already dealing with multiple players showing up on the report with assorted injuries.
For Tennessee, the timing matters because Tate has become a meaningful part of the offense as the team tries to keep its attack steady against Houston. The Titans have been monitoring several health questions this week, and Tates status now adds another layer of uncertainty to a passing game that could use as much stability as it can get heading into a divisional matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Carnell Tate Could Put Texans In A Tough Spot Again
Carnell Tates Week 4 breakout gave the Titans another layer to work with, and it came at the right time. The rookie wideout caught nine passes for 145 yards, flashing the kind of versatility that can make an offense harder to pin down when a defense starts keying on where a receiver lines up. Tennessee has already shown a willingness to move Tate around, using him on the boundary and also inside, which has helped expand how the passing game can attack different coverage looks.
That flexibility could matter again soon against Houston, where the Titans are likely to keep searching for favorable matchups by shifting Tate pre-snap and changing his alignment from play to play. If Tennessee can keep defenses guessing about where he will show up, it can force the Texans to sort through more decisions than they may want to make, especially after Tates emergence has given the Titans a young weapon worth building around. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Secondary Suddenly Has A Big Problem Before Texans Game
The Titans secondary took a hit heading into Sundays matchup with the Texans, with Amani Hooker unavailable after not clearing concussion protocol. Hooker has been a key part of Tennessees back end, so his absence changes the look of a group that already had to keep one eye on Houstons passing game this week.
Tony Adams is expected to step into Hookers role, while Isaiah Oliver is likely to be elevated from the practice squad to give the Titans more depth at safety. Cornerback Joshua Williams also returned to practice after being designated to come back from injured reserve, though his game status remains unsettled as Tennessee sorts through its defensive options. [Read more 🡒]