When you think about breakout stars in the NFL, it's easy to focus on the headline-makers - the quarterbacks lighting up scoreboards or the wideouts making acrobatic grabs on primetime. But every team has that one player quietly doing the dirty work, making game-changing plays without the national spotlight. For the Tennessee Titans, that player is linebacker Cedric Gray, and it’s time more people took notice.
Gray’s 2025 season was a clinic in run defense, and the numbers back it up. According to Pro Football Focus, his 92.7 run-defense grade was the second-best in the entire league - not just among rookies or linebackers, but across all defenders.
That’s elite company. What makes that even more impressive is how he did it: with instincts, physicality, and a nose for the football that consistently put him in the right place at the right time.
Let’s break that down. Gray made first contact on 110 plays - that’s not just leading the Titans, it’s blowing past the next closest teammate, who had 69.
That’s a massive gap and a testament to just how active and disruptive he was. He also led the team with 13 tackles for loss or no gain, a figure that ranked him 15th in the entire NFL.
For a fourth-round pick who started the season before last on injured reserve, that’s a major leap.
And that’s the thing - Gray’s rise wasn’t immediate. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, he landed on injured reserve in August and missed the first half of his rookie year.
He came back in Week 12, flashed some potential, but didn’t have enough time to make a real impact. That changed in 2025, when he looked like a completely different player.
Gray didn’t just earn a role - he became a cornerstone. His 164 total tackles (with 97 solo), one sack, one fumble recovery, and four pass deflections only tell part of the story.
Watch the tape, and you’ll see a linebacker who plays fast, diagnoses plays quickly, and isn’t afraid to take on blocks or shoot gaps. He worked in tandem with Jeffery Simmons to form a disruptive front that gave opposing offenses fits, especially in the run game.
What makes Gray’s emergence so compelling is how seamlessly he stepped into a leadership role on the field. He’s not just cleaning up plays - he’s initiating them. Whether it’s stuffing a run on third-and-short or sniffing out a screen before it develops, Gray is playing with the kind of awareness and confidence you usually see in seasoned vets.
The Titans have had their share of ups and downs over the past few seasons, but in Cedric Gray, they’ve found a foundational piece on defense. He may not be the flashiest name on the roster, but he’s the kind of player every winning team needs - smart, tough, and relentless. And if he keeps playing at this level, he won’t be a “secret superstar” much longer.