After a gruesome injury stalled a promising rookie campaign, Tennessee's coaching staff is reimagining the edge rusher’s role within Robert Saleh’s new-look 4-3 defensive system.
The Tennessee Titans chose nine players in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The highlight of that draft class was obviously quarterback Cam Ward, who went No. 1 overall out of Miami.
The Titans also selected UCLA edge rusher Femi Oladejo, Penn State safety Kevin Winston, Florida receiver Chimere Dike, Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor, Texas tight end Gunnar Helm, Sacramento State guard Jackson Slater, Cal defensive back Marcus Harris and Michigan running back Kalel Mullings.
Many of last season's rookies played significant minutes. Ward was the starting quarterback, while Dike and Ayomanor got valuable experience at receiver. Harris played corner and slot corner for the Titans in 2025.
For Oladejo, he played in six games with two starts.
His rookie season came to an abrupt end after suffering a fractured right leg in Week 6 versus the Las Vegas Raiders. He recorded 13 total tackles, two TFLs and two quarterback hits before his season-ending injury.
Oladejo was expected to make a full recovery in time for the 2026 season, but now he's suffered another injury this offseason and hasn't been able to practice much.
The road is going to get even tougher for him to get consistent minutes on the defensive line after all the additions the Titans made in the offseason.
Tennessee brought in John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson, Jacob Martin, Solomon Thomas, Jalyn Holmes, Malik Herring, Earnest Brown, Keldric Faulk, and Jackie Marshall in either free agency, trades, or the 2026 NFL Draft.
However, it appears the Titans are still considering the best way to use Oladejo. According to defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, the team has made good progress in figuring out what kind of rusher Oladejo is.
"Well, he's been here since day one and he's been working and working and even though he had, you know, the slight nicks and stuff that he's working through right now, we've made a lot of progress in really just defining who he is as a rusher and who he is as a defensive end versus some of the things that he's done in the past," Whitecotton said. "Which are different, but they're not wrong. They're just different and just defining what looks like for him and his body style and his talents. He's done a really great job of just soaking up that information."
Like all Titans players, Oladejo is adjusting to the system changes as well as trying to learn a new position this offseason
The Titans are moving from a 3-4 to a 4-3 system under head coach Robert Saleh. On top of that, Oladejo is going from an outside linebacker to an edge rusher in 2026. Outside linebacker is more familiar to Oladejo, since he played it in college and during his rookie season, so there's a learning curve there as well.
Even though it may seem like Oladejo is a little buried on the depth chart at this point in the offseason, the Titans are still trying to find a place for him.
With Saleh's system, the more defensive linemen you have, the better, and Oladejo definitely isn't being forgotten.
