The Titans’ Alontae Taylor situation has turned into one of those roster puzzles that sounds simple on paper and gets messy the moment you dig in.
Taylor has now missed the last two games for Tennessee, sitting out the 26-20 Week 6 win over the Indianapolis Colts as a healthy inactive before being active in the 27-24 Week 7 loss to the Cleveland Browns and still not seeing a snap. According to Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team, head coach Robert Saleh wants to move the soon-to-be 28-year-old back into the nickel role. The problem is that Tennessee’s defensive setup makes that a tougher fix than it looks.
“Titans CB Alontae Taylor was active Sunday vs. the Browns after being a healthy inactive last week-but did not play a snap. The plan to use him at outside CB has not worked thus far, and moving him back to nickel is not so simple in Tennessee's defensive scheme.”
That wrinkle matters because second-year pro Marcus Harris has handled most of the nickel work so far. For Taylor to get back on the field in that spot, Saleh would likely have to pull Harris from the lineup.
So far, Taylor’s first five games with Tennessee haven’t produced the kind of return the Titans were hoping for when they signed the former second-round pick to a three-year, $60 million deal in the offseason. He has 25 combined tackles, including 19 solo stops, and one sack, but no interceptions or pass deflections.
Taylor’s background adds another layer to the situation: he has naturally played nickel throughout his career with the New Orleans Saints. The Titans brought him in to help the secondary, but the fit has not clicked yet, and the uncertainty around his role has only grown.
That uncertainty has even fueled trade chatter, especially with Tennessee sitting at 1-6 through seven games and looking more likely to be sellers before the November 10 trade deadline. For now, Taylor is a name to keep an eye on as the Titans head to Cincinnati to face the Bengals in Week 8.
In Other News...
Titans Loss Just Fueled Another Brutal Officiating Debate
The officiating chatter around a recent NFL game in Nashville has lingered long after the final whistle, and not just because of the outcome. Several errors were noted in real time, including a missed false start on a key play, a facemask penalty that went uncalled on a third-down sack, and a likely missed touchdown by Titans quarterback Cam Ward that had plenty of fans and observers rewatching the sequence.
For Tennessee, the frustration is less about one isolated play than the pattern that emerged across the afternoon. The calls, or non-calls, quickly took over social media and added another layer to a familiar league-wide complaint about consistency, leaving the Titans with more questions about how the game was officiated than about the snap-by-snap action itself. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Ward Offered A Frustrating Explanation For That Late Titans Miss
Cam Ward had a chance to help the Titans extend a late drive against the Browns, but the rookie quarterback sailed a wide-open throw to tight end Daniel Bellinger in a moment that stood out immediately on a frustrating afternoon. Ward finished 15 of 29 for 142 yards with one interception and three sacks, and the miss came in a game where Tennessee needed every clean snap it could get.
Ward later pointed to excitement as the reason for the errant throw, and the encouraging part for Tennessee was how quickly he moved on. He settled back in and hit key passes later in the drive, a small but meaningful sign that the mistake did not linger even if the result still did. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Just Claimed The NFL Spot Every Contender Wants
After seven weeks, the NFLs poles have been set, and for teams like the Titans, the gap between those extremes only feels wider. Minnesota is still the leagues lone unbeaten team, while the Chargers remain stuck as the only club without a win, a strange place for a contender landscape to be this early. Tennessee, meanwhile, sits at 1-6 and is dealing with a far more familiar kind of pressure, the kind that starts inside the building when losses keep piling up and the answers are getting harder to find.
Robert Saleh has already made his frustration with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll clear, and for a Titans team that badly needs stability, that tension matters as much as the record itself. The Chargers had the week off and still came out of it carrying the same issues that have haunted them all season, injuries and inconsistency among them, but Tennessees situation feels more immediate because the frustration is now public. At this point, the Titans are not just chasing wins - they are chasing calm. [Read more 🡒]