The Titans enter Week 7 with momentum from their first win of the season, but the noise around the team hasn’t quieted down much at all. Tennessee is 1-5, and the next stretch could determine whether this season stays buried or starts to look a little more salvageable.
Sunday’s matchup with the Browns looms large for that reason. After Cleveland comes a run that includes the Bengals, Jaguars, Cowboys, and then the Jaguars again.
The softest part of the schedule is gone now. No more Jets.
No more Giants. The road gets sharper from here.
That makes the Browns a real pivot point. Cleveland is 4-2 and, in its first year with Todd Monken running the show, looks like a solid team.
But the Browns also feel beatable. Deshaun Watson is set to come to Nissan Stadium in Week 7, and Tennessee will need another strong defensive showing to have a shot.
Robert Saleh’s aggressive D-line approach from last week worked in a big way, and another six-sack outing would obviously help, even if that’s asking a lot.
Still, this is the kind of game the Titans have to target if they want to change the feel of the season. A win over a good opponent before the schedule tightens further would mean something.
Off the field, the trade chatter is already picking up. FOX Sports put WR Calvin Ridley at the top of the Titans’ trade-candidate list, pointing to his "career-low 13.5 receiving yards per game" and a snap share that barely clears 50%. FOX Sports also said, "Ridley would be best utilized on a contending team with a receiver need."
Shaun Calderon made the same basic case, suggesting Tennessee send Ridley to the Rams for a sixth-round pick in next year's draft. Anything in that range would seem workable for the Titans.
The fit issue is pretty clear. With Carnell Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson in the mix to handle the passing-game load, Ridley’s place in the offense already looked shaky before the season started. Through six weeks, second-year receiver Elic Ayomanor has arguably had more standing in the group than Ridley.
Even Ridley’s offseason paycut doesn’t appear to be enough to lock him into Tennessee’s long-term plans. If the Titans decide to move a piece before November 10, his complimentary role makes him an obvious candidate.
Then there’s Alontae Taylor. Saleh said Taylor was deactivated against the Colts last Sunday to give him a "reset." Tennessee went on to turn in its best defensive performance of the season without the recently signed cornerback.
DC Gus Bradley said today the Titans still believe in Taylor and expect him to play meaningful snaps going forward. Whether the benching was simply a response to poor recent play is still up for debate, though it feels like a sharp move for a player Tennessee paid $58 million for.
For now, though, the door doesn’t seem to be closing on Taylor. A trade could still happen, but the more immediate read is that Saleh was trying to give the Tennessee native a clean slate.
Taylor’s response to being approached by Saleh about the decision was simple: "you gotta take it to the chin."
That sounds like a player willing to stay in the fight. If Tennessee keeps winning, the details around the benching may matter a lot less than the result.
In Other News...
Titans Suddenly Face A Real Question About Alontae Taylor
A quiet but notable subplot emerged before Tennessees game against Indianapolis when Robert Saleh made the call to bench starting cornerback Alontae Taylor as part of a reset. Saleh framed the move as a way to help Taylor adjust to life as an outside corner in the teams defensive system, and Taylor took the news in stride, acknowledging the decision while stressing his motivation to adapt and improve.
For the Titans, the situation raises a real roster and development question at a position that has been under the microscope all season. It also landed on a day when there was some good news elsewhere, with Julius Chestnut earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his punt block, while the team continued sorting through injury updates and practice participation ahead of the matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Fans Noticed A Familiar Voice Suddenly Missing In Nashville
For more than a decade, Blaine Bishop has been one of the more familiar football voices around Nashville, mixing his former Titans perspective with weekday radio on 104.5 The Zone. The ex-safety had been with the station since January 2010 and had co-hosted the Cover Two show with Zach Lyons, giving listeners a steady, recognizable presence well after his playing days ended.
Bishop is no longer part of that lineup. His last appearance on Cover Two came on Oct. 15, and producer Ross Johnston has been filling in since then, leaving a noticeable change for Titans fans who had grown used to hearing Bishop's take alongside Lyons every week. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Could Make A Painful Deadline Choice Fans Knew Was Coming
At 1-5, the Titans are once again staring at the kind of deadline that usually forces a hard reset, and this time the conversation is not about buying help but about deciding which veterans still fit the long view. The reported stance is clear enough: outside of the rookie class, Cam Ward and Jeffery Simmons, just about everyone else can be discussed if the return helps Tennessee build draft capital before the Nov. 10 deadline.
That makes the next two weeks worth watching around players like Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard and Cody Barton, all of whom could draw different levels of interest depending on what a contender needs. Ridley has been linked to the Rams, Pollard has been tied to the Bengals and Barton has been floated to the Bills, but those are only speculative fits for now, the sort of deadline chatter that says as much about where the Titans are headed as it does about where these veterans might land. [Read more 🡒]