By securing Jeffery Simmons with a record-breaking extension, Mike Borgonzi is finally rewarding homegrown talent and reversing a decade of draft-and-depart frustration in Tennessee.
It's a new era of Tennessee Titans football.
The franchise has a new General Manager, Mike Borgonzi, and is about to begin the first year of head coach Robert Saleh's tenure. They also released their new logo and uniforms ahead of the 2026 season, and have a new stadium set to be completed in February of next year.
The Titans have a new look on both sides of the ball, with the offseason additions of Wan'Dale Robinson, John Franklin-Myers, Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott in free agency.
Then, Tennessee selected Carnell Tate, Keldric Faulk, Anthony Hill Jr., Fernando Carmona, Nicholas Singleton, Jackie Marshall, Pat Coogan and Jaren Kanak in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The way that the front office operates is even changing.
The Titans had President of Football Operations Chad Brinker step down from his role, signifying that Borgonzi was being given more control over this team's decisions.
There's another recent change with the Titans, and it sounds like more could be coming in the near future under Borgonzi's leadership. The Titans just awarded defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons with a massive extension.
He signed a three-year, $105.9 million extension with the Titans, making him the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. The next closest defensive tackle in terms of contract worth is Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Simmons became the first Titans' first-round pick to get a second contract from the team, dating back to 2015. Simmons signed a rookie extension that was good from 2023-2027 before his recent extension.
The Titans could've waited until his old contract ran out to give Simmons an extension. However, they decided to get it out of the way early, which could mean that they may be willing to stop adding to that unfortunate streak that Simmons broke.
Before we talk about who could be the next first-round pick to give a second contract, let's look at all the first-round picks since 2015 aside from Simmons.
It started with Marcus Mariota in 2015.
He went No. 2 overall to the Titans after winning the Heisman at Oregon. While he showed a lot of promise at the beginning of his Titans career, it became clear towards the end of his rookie contract that he didn't have what it took to get a second contract.
Mariota is now a backup around the league and was last with the Washington Commanders.
After Mariota, it was Jack Conklin.
He held down the right side of the offensive line for many seasons but was traded to the Cleveland Browns just before his rookie deal ran out. He has played for the Browns ever since.
Corey Davis and Adoree' Jackson were next after Conklin.
He went No. 5 overall after a monster college career at Western Michigan. He had a breakout year in 2020 in the final season of his contract, but the Titans weren't willing to pay enough for his extension.
With Jackson, he was a solid returner and cornerback in college at USC. However, once he got to the NFL, he dealt with numerous injuries in his final two years.
Rashaan Evans was the first-round pick in 2018. He was another player who showed a ton of upside, but contract negotiations broke down, and he wasn't offered a fifth-year option and was released.
Then came a string of massive disappointments.
There was Isaiah Wilson, Caleb Farley and Treylon Burks who couldn't stay on the field. Wilson had his own off-the-field issues, but Farley and Burks were never healthy during their time with the Titans.
Peter Skoronski, J.C. Latham, Cam Ward, and Tate are going to be the next first-round picks up for second contracts soon. For Skoronski, it seems more like a sure thing after how quickly the Titans handled Simmons' latest extension.
In case the Titans needed more reasons to extend him, he had a breakout year after securing a 96% pass-block win rate last season. Tennessee has already picked up Skoronski's fifth-year option this offseason.
Like Simmons, Skoronski's contract also runs out in 2028, but I don't think that the Titans are going to wait that long either.
It sounds like the Titans may be shifting their philosophy when it comes to first-round picks. Skoronski, Tate, Latham and Ward will be up for extensions in the near future.
Could the Titans be changing their philosophy on first-round picks? Recent history seems to tell us the answer is yes.
