Alontae Taylor didn’t wait long to get a feel for the Tennessee Titans’ new-look defense. Once he got to Nashville, the cornerback went straight to Jeffery Simmons and started asking questions about what had gone wrong over the past couple of seasons.
On In the Bayou, the podcast hosted by retired 12-year NFL safety and three-time All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu, Taylor said Simmons was blunt about the issues.
“I talked to Jeff as soon as I got there, and I just kind of asked him what he thought the problems have been the past couple of years,” Taylor said. “He expressed a couple of things - coverage, getting to the quarterback, stuff like that.
And he always says, 'Bro, you cover those guys, we're going to get to the quarterback. I promise.'”
Taylor’s response was just as direct.
“I told him, that's why they brought us here - me and my boy Flott,” Taylor said, referring to fellow free-agent cornerback Cor'Dale Flott. “We're going to change that dynamic.”
That belief is tied to the way Tennessee attacked the offseason. Taylor pointed to the additions along the defensive line and the edge as the foundation for what the Titans are trying to build.
“We've added a lot of additions to the D-line - some good edges. We got John Franklin-Myers from Denver, and we got Jeff,” Taylor said.
“I think our defensive core is really good. If we can get the offensive side of the ball rolling...we've got a good chance.
That's all you can ask for. We're just putting the pieces together.”
One of the first things Taylor noticed in Nashville was the effort up front.
“To have a D-line that will run to the ball - one thing I can say since being in Nashville is that the D-linemen run to the ball,” Taylor said. “That's something you love to have as a corner, or as a nickel, or as a safety.
Them boys are hunting. [Simmons is] leading that D-line the right way, so I think he's going to be special.”
Taylor’s arrival was part of a major overhaul on the back end. He and Flott essentially rebuilt the middle of Tennessee’s secondary, while Amani Hooker remains a steady presence as one of the defense’s elder statesmen alongside Simmons.
The Titans are also banking on younger players to take a step. If second-year safety Kevin Winston Jr. and cornerback Marcus Harris can handle bigger roles, a unit that was among the league’s worst in 2025 could move in the other direction in 2026.
That kind of jump would be a best-case scenario, but it’s not out of reach. Secondary play often depends on what happens in front of it, and Tennessee clearly tried to fix that by adding more ways to pressure the quarterback.
John Franklin-Myers gives the Titans another interior threat next to Simmons, and that pairing gives them a lot of force in the middle. Tennessee also traded nose tackle T'Vondre Sweat to the Jets for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II, reuniting Johnson with Robert Saleh, his former head coach in New York.
Then came another move on the edge: the Titans traded back into the first round and selected Auburn’s Keldric Faulk at No. 31 overall after dealing picks to the Bills.
The edge group still may not have the kind of proven star some observers would want, but Tennessee has at least assembled enough talent for Saleh to create pressure from different spots. There’s juice inside, and there’s help coming off the edge.
That’s why Taylor’s comments matter. He didn’t sound like someone tossing out empty praise. He came off measured, calm, and specific - the kind of veteran who doesn’t hand out compliments unless he means them.
So when he says the line has been flying to the football early, that carries some real weight. For a defense trying to dig itself out, that kind of early buy-in from a newcomer is exactly the sort of sign Tennessee wants to hear.
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