What Inspired Titans to Use Michael Carter Over Nick Singleton vs. Browns

The Tennessee Titans took a gamble on Nick Singleton in the 2026 NFL Draft. 

They drafted him out of Penn State in the fifth round back in April. Based on the player he was in college, the potential is there. 

Singleton was a touchdown machine at Penn State. He finished fourth in all-time career rushing yards (3,461) and has the most touchdowns (55) in program history. 

Singleton hasn't seen the field very much. To be fair, he did have to recover from a foot injury in the offseason that he sustained during the Senior Bowl. 

Still, he was able to recover in time for the preseason and saw the field then. Now that the regular season is here, we haven't seen very much of Singleton. He's played in three games so far. 

When he has seen the field, it hasn't been for very long. Singleton has seven carries for 12 rushing yards this season. 

On certain Sundays, the Titans have ruled him inactive. This past Sunday, he was ruled inactive again, and the Titans went with Michael Carter over him. 

Carter has familiarity with Saleh from his time at the New York Jets while he was the head coach. 

Saleh was asked why the Titans are going with Carter over Singleton at this point. He shared that it had to do with Carter's ability to be a three-down back. 

He believed Singleton needed to work on being better at protections as well. 

"Michael's got three-down value with regard to protections and being able to understand how to play the game on third down," Saleh said. "Nick is still growing in that regard. But from a protection standpoint and route running and just over his overall three-down value is greater." 

It was thought that Carter and Singleton would be battling for the third spot in the running back rotation this season. It seems that Carter will have the edge until Singleton is able to learn how to be a blocker. 

Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears are the two main running backs at the moment. Carter got to see extra playing time due to Spears being ruled out for Sunday. 

Even though Carter got the nod, he only had three carries on Sunday. Pollard got the main workload, but it still wasn't enough to lift the Titans over the Cleveland Browns. 

It'll be interesting to see how the workload in the backfield changes throughout the season. The Titans had early success with Pollard. 

He scored all three of the team's touchdowns. Despite finishing with 129 rushing yards and three touchdowns, the Titans still lost 27-24 on a game-winning field goal. 

Singleton still has more work to do to earn his spot in the rotation, it seems.