2026 Tennessee Titans in Three Players
The offseason is upon us. Let's take a look at all 32 teams.
Onto the 31st edition of our offseason series!
Instead of reviewing all 32 drafts and adding casual commentary, I will be doing this instead.
We will go through every single team, in alphabetical order, and quickly discuss three players:
a favorite free agent signing
a favorite draft pick
and a player already entrenched on the roster
Not necessarily the best, or the top, or the one's who will play the biggest role, just one of choice.
The Tennessee Titans are up.
Free Agent Signing
DB Alontae Taylor
Taylor was drafted in the 2nd round by New Orleans in 2022 and started 53 games over his four seasons with the Saints. He had 2 INTs, 11 PBUs, and 2.0 sacks in 2025.
The Titans signed him to a 3 year, $58m contract this offseason.
Here is a cut-up of the good from Taylor's 2025 season.
Tennessee spent big money in free agency this year to overhaul their defense, including handing out paydays to two CBs in Cor'Dale Flott and Alontae Taylor. Taylor's contract includes $10m more in guarantees, making him the big fish for this Titans secondary.
My biggest question immediately is, where does he play?
Over the years, Taylor has been a bit of a menace in the slot for the Saints. He's a physical tackler, and a guy who could blitz the QB effectively, racking up 6 sacks over the last two seasons.
In 2025, with a pair of departures in their CB room, Taylor took more of an outside role. Not full-time, but he had over one third of his snaps on the perimeter. Considering his contract, Taylor would be by far the highest paid nickel corner in the NFL. This, plus his play in 2025, make me believe Taylor will see more of an outside role for the Titans.
Taylor likes to be physical and have an aggressive mindset, but it was not all perfect last season. He really struggled to get off of blocks on screen plays, and seemed to miss open field tackles fairly consistently. These hallmarks for slot corners.
But Taylor still has solid recognition, which helps him when it comes to tackling. If Taylor is one on one, he may come up short. But that is not the case when he is already headed downhill with the ball in the air. Oftentimes he's already wrapping up the target before the ball is tucked away. And the physicality shows up there. I think he will be better on the outside, being able to come down on checkdowns in the flat, rather than having to deal with navigating blockers as a slot player.
Taylor was pretty strong in man to man coverage, especially impressive in his slot reps.
He is great at matching the pace and movement of the receiver, rarely losing ground. He knows when to start his long stride to chase, versus staying in an athletic position, anticipating another break or cut.
He also has great stamina play to play. He'll be sticky in coverage even after the QB escapes the pocket and the receiver abandons his route.
While Taylor is talented in coverage, he's playing under Robert Saleh, who is a zone heavy playcaller. And Taylor occasionally seemed lost in zone, clearly getting caught peeking into the backfield and losing track of his man. He'll be guarding just grass, and not an offensive player.
Alontae Taylor is good football player, but I am curious to see how he contributes to this Titans defense. Saleh values his slot defenders, but Taylor did not embody that in his 2025 performance. Will that change in 2026? Or will he just adapt to a zone heavy scheme and find success playing the ball and tackling downhill?
Regardless, this is a necessary talent upgrade for Tennessee's secondary. A moveable piece that will improve what was perhaps the worst CB room in the NFL last season.
Draftee
LB Anthony Hill Jr.
The 60th overall pick in this years' draft, Hill comes out of the University of Texas, Austin, at 21 years old. Hill is an athletic freak who started 32 games in his three years at Texas, totaling 32 TFLs and 17.0 sacks.
Here is a cut-up of the good from Hill's 2025 season, courtesy of @NFL_DF on Twitter/X.
Again, Tennessee really made an effort to fix their defense this offseason. Hill can be a big part of that. I personally believe that the Titans can have a really strong center line of the defense, and being strong up the middle really sets your defense up for success.
I like the safety duo of veteran Amani Hooker and Year 2 Kevin Winston. The DT starters contain the best in the NFL in Jeffery Simmons and free agent addition John Franklin-Myers. And at LB, I really like Cedric Gray, and Anthony Hill has the chance to start beside him.
To start with some of the less positives things about Hill, because there are so few to me.
A lot of his production came because of how Texas called their defense, which involved a lot of blitzes, run or pass. He's not getting a boatload of production because of perfectly timed blitzes or sliding perfectly into the backfield on run plays.
But, how is Hill able to make all those plays to get the production?
Well, he's ridiculously athletic. And he's good seeing how the blocking scheme develops, reading the offensive line and getting downhill efficiently.
By efficiently, I mean he does not waste movement, and he avoids taking on blocks. But when he does, he blows them up. It's hard for blockers to sustain their lane when taking on Hill.
The fluidity is just impressive with Anthony Hill. The way he moves to navigate downhill, the way he's able to move to create pressure off the edge, the ease at which he brings down ballcarriers. The game looked easy for a 20 year old starting in the SEC.
Hill also is capable in coverage, which is rare for linebackers these days. He relies a lot on instincts, but his coverage drops are solid as pass plays develop.
I really do think it is worth it for Tennessee to start Hill from Day 1. Respectfully to Cody Barton, but he doesn't have the potential to be a key piece of this teams' future. Anthony Hill Jr does. The fit next to the thumping Cedric Gray seems great, and it is historically wise to trust Robert Saleh's judgement on linebackers.
Hill is the type of player in the middle of the defense that can truly change the success opposing offenses have against you, or even how they approach their gameplan. His athleticism, sideline to sideline and downhill ability, are all so impressive. A potential great building block for a young, ascending team.
In-House Player
TE Gunnar Helm
Helm was the Titans 4th round pick in 2025, but started 10 games as a rookie, seeing over 50% of snaps. He had 44 receptions for 357 yards and 2 TDs as a rookie.
Here is a cut-up of the good from Helm's rookie season.
Helm got his starts not because he was TE1 for Tennessee, but because they ran a decent amount of 12 personnel. Or at least on their opening scripts.
But this season, TE Chig Okonkwo left for Washington, leaving the TE1 job in the hands of Gunnar Helm. New OC Brian Daboll did bring along TE Daniel Bellinger from New York, but Bellinger, who is a solid all-around TE, has never seen more than 35 targets in a season. He's clearly the second string in Tennessee, who is a great compliment as a bigger blocker.
Helm should see even more than the 55 targets he saw as a rookie, even with the additions of Carnell Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson at WR.
Helm had an efficient rookie season, catching 80% of his targets and finishing 21st in yards per route run. His overall season was not some outrageous year, but darn good for a rookie TE on the fourth worst team in football.
The majority of his work was underneath on checkdowns, with only one deep target the entire season, which went for a TD. And Daboll's TEs in 2025 only combined for 6 deep targets. So this will likely be a similar intake for Helm in 2026.
His role really was being a checkdown target for Cam Ward. And he was reliable in this role, only dropping one pass all season. But it was mostly turning around and sitting underneath in Helm's rookie season film.
But, Helm is good at it. He finds the space in zone coverage well and has incredible hands. They're soft and can make adjustments, but he also is able to make tough catches. Checkdowns are easy completions, but they are also free target practice for linebackers. Helm was unaffected. His hands are strong in all areas of field, not only catching through hits, but through contested looks from defenders.
It was hard to evaluate Helm as a route runner, because of the heavy dosage of checkdown routes, but I liked what I saw. Helm is slow, but effective. He's a subtly good route runner who can set up defenders. He had a patented out and up in the Titans offense, which he sold by lazily jogging to his checkdown landmark in the flat, before turning upfield.
Helm isn't fast or explosive, so he does not create separation. But he makes up for it with his hands and impressive body control. It's an elite combination.
Because of his lack of speed and explosion, Helm doesn't separate nor have much YAC production. As I mentioned in his route running, he is subtle. And this shows up a a ballcarrier, occasionally making a defender miss in slow motion.
The negatives with Helm are clear, like I mentioned about.
He's not very fast despite being listed at under 250lbs as a TE. And he's not explosive. It does not allow him to separate at a high level as a route runner, and his ability after the catch is mediocre for a tight end. Yes, he can break some tackles, but that's what happens when you outweigh CBs by 40 pounds.
Tennessee used Helm a lot in the screen and RPO game in 2025. It wasn't totally ineffective, but Helm is not the ideal option for that role in an NFL offense.
I believe Gunnar Helm is a good NFL TE, and hopefully packs on more weight before Year 2. He is already effective with his hand in the dirt, so it is not like he's too small to survive inline, but not athletic enough for the slot. He's more than capable at both.
With his pass catching prowess, I see Helm excelling in the redzone, assuming Tennessee can get there more often, and continuing to be Cam Ward's safety net underneath. A 70 catch, 700 yard, 8 TD season is in Helm's future.
Thanks for reading through our 31st edition of previewing all 32 teams in 3 players!
One more to go, and one day until the preseason!
Let me know who else on the Titans is worth monitoring this season, good or bad!
Stay tuned for more NFL and 49ers articles, news, and opinions!
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