Despite aggressive roster overhauls and a new coaching staff, analysts project another dismal year for Tennessee. Can Cam Ward defy the skeptics and spark a swift turnaround?
The Tennessee Titans are coming off another one of their worst seasons in franchise history.
Three wins isn't the worst that the Titans have done since their inaugural season in 1999. In 2014, they went 2-14 under former head coach Ken Whisenhunt.
After finishing at 3-14 for the last two seasons, it was time to make some major changes.
General Manager Mike Borgonzi's main goal this offseason was to give Cam Ward more weapons and get help for Jeffery Simmons on the defensive line.
He added Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin-Myers, Keldric Faulk and many others to the defensive line. Wan'Dale Robinson and Carnell Tate were added to the receiving corps to upgrade the positions.
Going from worst in the AFC South to first will be a long shot, but it wasn't too long ago that a team in the division did something similar.
The Jacksonville Jaguars finished third in the AFC South in 2024 with a 4-13 record. Then, they hired Liam Coen, and he turned things around as they went 13-4 last season and won the division.
So, why can't the Titans do it in 2026? They've improved multiple positions on their roster after a massive free-agent spending spree and have promising draft picks joining the franchise.
The Titans are taking a similar approach to that of the Jaguars, Washington Commanders, and New England Patriots in recent years.
They have a defensive-minded head coach in Robert Saleh, who has two former head coaches on his staff in Brian Daboll and Gus Bradley. Daboll's calling card is working with young quarterbacks like Ward, and Bradley is helping the Titans install Saleh's system on defense.
It's not guaranteed that the Titans have what it takes to go from worst to first, but NFL media is already doubting them. NFL Network's Colleen Wolfe, Nick Shook, Lance Zierlein, Grant Gordon, Dan Parr, Brooke Cersosimo and Bucky Brooks all predicted how the Titans would do in 2026.
Not one of them had the Titans winning more than seven games.
The best record predictions came from Gordon and Cersosimo, who both had the Titans going 6-11. The worst was from Shook, who thought the Titans would actually regress this season and go 2-15.
After all the improvements this team has made, I think that the floor is at least seven or eight wins. To think the Titans will be worse after all the moves made doesn't make sense.
For one, Ward didn't even have the same head coach for all of last season. He got halfway through his rookie year when Brian Callahan was fired and replaced by Mike McCoy as interim HC.
I'm not entirely sure the Titans are a playoff team just yet, but I think they can still do better than these NFL Network predictions.
This is nothing new for the Titans, who have been doubted a lot lately. This is the same franchise that doesn't have any prime-time games, even though it has a former No. 1 overall pick on the roster.
Yet, a team like the Cleveland Browns, who had two more wins than the Titans did last season, has one prime-time game.
The 2026 season will be crucial for many reasons, but even more so given the NFL's apparent lack of faith in the Titans.
