The Tennessee Titans are back in camp, and for Malik Herring, the timing could hardly be tougher.
Tennessee officially reported Tuesday and will open its first practice Wednesday, kicking off a 90-man roster battle under Mike Borgonzi. One of the most interesting fights on the board is at defensive end, where the Titans are sorting through a group without a clear top-tier EDGE. Jermaine Johnson II and Jacob Martin are trying to carve out roles, while rookie Keldric Faulk and sophomore Femi Oladejo are also in the mix.
That leaves Herring in a difficult spot.
Even if Tennessee keeps five defensive ends, Jaylen Harrell looks like the early favorite to land behind Martin, Johnson, Oladejo and Faulk. That puts Herring squarely on the roster bubble before camp even gets rolling.
Borgonzi’s connection to Herring goes back to Kansas City, where he was the Chiefs’ assistant general manager when Herring signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021. That relationship clearly mattered when Tennessee brought him in this offseason, hoping a familiar face could help deepen the competition.
But the recent production hasn’t given Herring much margin for error. In 2025 with the Chiefs, he played only six defensive snaps and finished without a tackle, sack or pressure. Kansas City released him from the active roster in November, and he then returned to the practice squad.
The Titans signed him to push the pass-rush group, but the room got even more crowded once Faulk was drafted in April. That makes Herring’s path to the 53-man roster even narrower.
He entered the league as a promising prospect in Kansas City. Now, in Tennessee, he’s staring at a camp where the pressure is real and the runway is short.
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For Titans fans, the interest is obvious even before Seattle begins taking the show into the kind of daily camp grind that makes Hard Knocks such an easy summer watch. Any time a team is getting that kind of national access, there are ripple effects around the league, and the Seahawks could wind up being one of the more closely watched clubs of the preseason. What makes this one especially intriguing is the early-stage feel of the project, with a new coach, a new quarterback centerpiece and a team that will be judged as much by how it handles the spotlight as by what happens on the field. [Read more 🡒]