Since Delanie Walker’s dominant era, Tennessee has struggled to find a consistent elite tight end. Texas standout Gunnar Helm now arrives to finally stabilize the position's future.
Over the years the Tennessee Titans have been hit or miss on tight ends.
In the beginning, there was Frank Wycheck.
Wycheck's best season with the team was in 1998, just one year before the team changed its name from the Tennessee Oilers to the Tennessee Titans.
Wycheck had 768 receiving yards and two touchdowns. In the Titans' inaugural 1999 season, he had 641 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
After his final season with the franchise in 2003, the Titans had Erron Kinney and Ben Troupe in 2004.
Those two were the tight end tandem in Music City for a few years, but neither was a real receiving threat, and neither had more than 600 receiving yards with the Titans.
Bo Scaife was later added to the mix but was never really a threat either.
Jared Cook joined the Titans in 2009 and had a productive season in 2011, finishing with 759 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
His production fell in 2012, and then he joined Jeff Fisher at the St. Louis Rams in 2013.
Then came Delanie Walker in 2013.
Walker joined the Titans after many years with the San Francisco 49ers. He was 29 when he joined the team that season, but proved he still had plenty left to offer.
His best years were from 2014-17.
He is the only Titans tight end to ever finish with over 1,000 yards in a single season, doing so in 2015 as one of Marcus Mariota's favorite targets.
Unfortunately, in his final two years with the Titans, he was never the same. In the first game of the 2018 season against the Miami Dolphins, Walker suffered a serious ankle injury and missed the entire year.
That ankle injury impacted his play again in 2019, and he played in just seven games that year.
Jonnu Smith showed good signs but didn't have the same impact that Walker did.
After Smith left, the Titans were in limbo again at tight end. Chig Okonkwo is the latest tight end to not work out in the Music City. He has since left and joined the Washington Commanders in free agency.
However, there is hope in the form of Gunnar Helm.
Helm was a selection in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Texas and could give the Titans just what they need in a tight end. Head coach Robert Saleh is already a big fan of Helm, but it's the moves the Titans made this offseason that show their faith in him.
Instead of re-signing Okonkwo after his rookie contract expired, the Titans stuck with Helm and brought in former New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger to be an extra blocker.
We saw how useful he is for a young quarterback like Cam Ward last season, and he could blossom into a player that teams may have to account for when preparing for the Titans.
The Titans have had tight ends like Walker and have seen glimpses of that with players like Smith and Cook in the past. Helm has the tools you need to become a dynamic weapon for this Titans' offense.
With more consistency on the coaching staff, expect him to have a bigger impact on offense in year two.
