Solomon Thomas rejects the rebuild narrative, challenging a revamped roster to embrace a win-now mentality and transform Tennessee’s culture after years of double-digit losses and coaching turnover.
The Tennessee Titans brought in plenty of veterans from other teams this offseason.
From Wan'Dale Robinson, Alontae Taylor, Cor'Dale Flott, Jacob Martin, and John Franklin-Myers, there's a lot of experience among them.
The Titans even traded for another veteran this offseason, bringing in defensive tackle Solomon Thomas for a seventh-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys.
Thomas has been with Robert Saleh at both the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets. He's played in 131 games with 36 starts, accounting for 239 total tackles, 36 TFLs and 18.5 sacks.
From the outside, the Titans appear to be in another rebuild. It's felt that way since the 2021 season.
The Titans haven't been to the playoffs since that season and have gone through two head coaches since. Mike Vrabel was fired after the 2023 season, and Brian Callahan didn't even spend two years with the team before being fired last year.
Thomas doesn't see the Titans as a team that is going through a rebuild or trying to build culture. He believes that the team has what it takes to be a winner.
His message to the team is that there is no time for a rebuild. Winning starts now. He said that it's the responsibility of the new players to come in and help the rest of the team believe.
"We're not culture building here," Thomas said. "We're winning here."
There have been a lot of ideas floating around about what a successful season looks like for the Titans this year.
The franchise is coming off multiple 3-14 seasons, so there's been mixed responses.
Some think the Titans just need to be more competitive in games this year. The Titans lost six one-score games last year. If the Titans can be in closer games in 2026, that may check the box for certain people.
Technically, winning more than three games this year could be seen as a successful season. The Titans haven't done that since they went 6-11 in 2023. Anything better than three wins could arguably be seen as a success.
There's also recent history that shows us what is possible.
Teams like the Washington Commanders and New England Patriots made the playoffs after finishing with a losing record the year before. The Commanders won four games in 2023, and the Patriots did the same in 2024.
Washington then went to the 2024 NFC Championship Game, and the Patriots made the Super Bowl last season.
There are many ideas out there about what constitutes a successful season.
For Thomas, he came here to win football games.
