The Tennessee Titans are heading into 2026 with plenty of questions, and on The Athletic Football Show, the conversation centered on whether the new pieces on both sides of the ball can actually move the team forward.
Derrik Klassen pointed first to Robert Saleh’s defense as the part he’s most eager to see take shape. Tennessee has “at least five new starters on defense,” and Klassen noted that several of them already know Saleh’s style.
He mentioned John Franklin-Myers, who had played for Saleh before, and Jermaine Johnson, who posted a strong 2023 season under him with a Pro Bowl nod and 7.5 sacks. Johnson then tore his Achilles the following year and spent this past season working his way back.
Klassen said he has some belief that Johnson can be a “year-after-the-year player with the injury.” He also said he liked Keldric Faulk “a decent amount,” especially if Faulk can settle into an early-down role and “be an early-down glass-eating type in this defense.”
Klassen wasn’t predicting a shutdown unit, but he did say Saleh’s 2025 49ers defense showed how hard a group can play even when the roster gets stripped down. His view was that Tennessee’s defense has more talent than that version did, especially with Jeffrey Simmons in the middle, and the big question is how quickly it can get rolling.
Dave Helman said he’ll be watching the first month with an open mind, and he singled out Wan’Dale Robinson as a player who could help stabilize things for Cam Ward in the slot. Helman called Robinson reliable, even if not especially flashy, and said the bigger issue is whether the Titans can look “consistent and respectable.” From there, he framed the early part of the season as a test of the club’s spending: are the big-money additions worth what Tennessee paid, or were they “A money for B players”?
Robert Mays focused on the quarterback problem that can swallow a season whole. He noted that in Cam Ward’s first 17 games, his EPA per dropback per TruMedia sat between J.J.
McCarthy and DeShone Kizer. Mays pointed out that some first overall picks have climbed out of rough rookie stretches, including Jared Goff, Caleb Williams and Trevor Lawrence, but often with major upgrades in offensive infrastructure.
That led him to the key question: whether Brian Daboll can be the kind of coach who changes Ward’s trajectory. Mays said he has “serious concerns about that,” and that concern is what’s keeping him up at night.
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