2026 NFL PREVIEW: TENNESSEE TITANS

Tennessee went 3-14 last season and rarely made it a fight. They are already 0-2, but the two losses looked nothing alike. Week 1 looked disturbingly familiar: a 23-10 loss to the Jets, only 195 total yards, and Tennessee's lone touchdown in the final minutes. Week 2 was different. The Titans lost 24-20 to Philadelphia after leading 20-17 with 14 seconds left, and Cam Ward jumped from 140 passing yards and 4.4 yards per attempt in the opener to 183 yards at 9.2 against the Eagles.

They are still winless, but Week 2 offered the first evidence that the supporting cast around Ward might actually be changing. Last year's scoring was 16.7 points per game (30th) against 28.1 allowed (28th), then 1-16 against the spread and 11-6 to the over. Sharp's preseason forecast was 6.5 wins and fourth place in the AFC South, with a schedule ranked 13th (1 = easiest). Markets have them as underdogs in 15 of 17 games, a 3.5 average line that is 1.2 at home and 5.5 on the road. Robert Saleh (head coach ranked 25th), Brian Daboll, and Gus Bradley are new, Ward is in year two, and Sharp ranks the front seven 22nd and the offensive line 30th.

Research note. Warren Sharp's 2026 Football Preview sets the agenda for each team preview — what to cover and where to dig. Snapshot figures (forecast, SOS, unit ranks, Vegas lines) are credited to Sharp. Tables below are Hacking DFS calculations from nflverse (primary data source), including FTN charting data, plus NFL Next Gen Stats, 2025 play-by-play, snap counts, DraftKings weekly salaries, and NFL+ season averages. Play-level fantasy points are full PPR; weekly floor/ceiling numbers are DraftKings scoring. Please purchase the book for the full chapter, charts, tables and first-class expert commentary.

Team Snapshot

Win forecast, division finish, strength of schedule, and Vegas lines are from Sharp. 2025 record, ATS, totals, and scoring are Hacking DFS.

Coaches & Personnel Impact

Coaching Staff

Key Additions: John Franklin-Myers (DL), Alontae Taylor (CB), Wan'Dale Robinson (WR), Cordale Flott (CB), Daniel Bellinger (TE), Mitchell Trubisky (QB), Jordan Elliott (IDL), and Austin Schlottmann (C); Jermaine Johnson II (EDGE) (via trade).

Key Departures: L'Jarius Sneed (CB), Kevin Zeitler (RG), Arden Key (EDGE) to the Colts, Xavier Woods (S), T'Vondre Sweat (IDL) to the Jets, Kaiir Elam (CB) to the Chiefs, Johnny Hekker (P) to the Vikings, Corey Levin (C) to the Falcons, Brandon Allen (QB) to the Giants, Jihad Ward (EDGE), Darrell Baker Jr. (CB) to the Dolphins, Lloyd Cushenberry (C) to the Bills, Olisaemeka Udoh (LT) to the Cardinals, Van Jefferson (WR) to the Commanders, Chig Okonkwo (TE) to the Commanders, Blake Hance (RT), James Lynch (IDL) to the Bears, Mike Brown (S) to the Patriots, Joe Bachie (LB) to the Lions, Kemon Hall (CB) to the Buccaneers, James Proche (WR), Jalyn Armour-Davis (CB), Ali Gaye (EDGE) to the Texans, Anfernee Orji (LB), Blake Watson (RB), and Cordell Volson (LG).

Saleh, Daboll, and Bradley are a new staff, and the roster around Cam Ward changed in the same offseason. Ward keeps the job, with Mitchell Trubisky behind him after Brandon Allen left for the Giants. Carnell Tate is already starting outside with Calvin Ridley and Wan'Dale Robinson. Gunnar Helm is TE1 and Daniel Bellinger TE2, with David Martin-Robinson and Kylen Granson behind them. Van Jefferson and James Proche are gone, and Chig Okonkwo left for the Commanders.

Olisaemeka Udoh and Blake Hance were tackles, not interior linemen. Kevin Zeitler, Lloyd Cushenberry, and Corey Levin actually left the interior. Austin Schlottmann is starting at center, Peter Skoronski remains at left guard, and Fernando Carmona is the starting right guard. Cordell Volson was released at final cuts.

The defensive reset is larger. T'Vondre Sweat was traded to the Jets for Jermaine Johnson II. John Franklin-Myers signed from Denver as interior DL, and Jordan Elliott signed on the interior. The present front is Johnson and Jacob Martin at end, Jeffery Simmons and Franklin-Myers inside, with Keldric Faulk developing behind Martin. Arden Key, Jihad Ward, and Ali Gaye are gone from the edge. The secondary lost L'Jarius Sneed, Kaiir Elam, and Xavier Woods. Alontae Taylor and Cordale Flott signed to replace them.

2026 Draft Class

Draft Class Summary

The fourth overall pick is Carnell Tate, and he already has seven catches for 65 yards, lining up on the outside with Calvin Ridley the way Warren Sharp sketched it — a bigger DeVonta Smith type who caught 82 percent of his catchable targets at 15-plus yards at Ohio State, against a Titans room that caught 67 percent of those throws last year. Anthony Hill Jr. at pick 60 is past the green-dot projection. He is already the starting MIKE, had 16 tackles in his NFL debut, and Saleh has talked about the communication that comes with that job.

Keldric Faulk went 31st as a defensive end. He is not starting; Jacob Martin is the end ahead of him. Fernando Carmona is the starting right guard. Seven of the eight draft picks are on the 53-man roster. Jaren Kanak suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason opener and went on injured reserve August 16.

Day 3 is trench depth and a physical back: Pat Coogan on an interior that just lost its veterans, Jackie Marshall as a developmental three-tech, and Nicholas Singleton as early-down insurance behind Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears, while Sharp's two immediate-impact picks, Tate and Hill, are already playing.

Sharp Forecasts Tennessee Titans with 6.5 Wins

Over Case: Last year was not a pile of one-score losses waiting to flip, so even a modest improvement around Cam Ward is enough to clear 6.5 wins. Sharp's bet is that Brian Daboll gives him easier answers than a collapsing pocket, and that Wan'Dale Robinson's thousand-yard Giants season and Carnell Tate at receiver make that jump possible. The calendar helps the same case: Tennessee does not play a single rest-disadvantage game.

Under Case: Sharp's unit ranks still average out to the league's second-worst roster, and he does not think Alontae Taylor and Cordale Flott actually upgrade the secondary. Saleh's Jets tenure ranked 28th in accepted penalties, 32nd in penalty margin, and 30th in fourth-down decision EPA, the wrong pedigree for a club Warren Sharp already has as the third-most penalized team in the fourth quarter. The new interior is on modest deals plus Day 3 picks. They went 2-5 in one-score games.

Schedule Timing & Rest

Team timing ranks vs NFL (1=best)

Net rest edge rank is season net rest days (1=most helped, 32=most hurt); this club +6 days.

Warren Sharp charts Tennessee as the only team in the league without a single rest-disadvantage game. The net rest edge is plus-six days (10th), and the prep, rest, and negated-bye ranks are all first. Short-week road games rank 10th and games off a road Sunday or Monday night rank fourth, so the calendar is not asking them to survive compressed turnarounds on top of everything else.

Week 3 at the Giants is plus-one. The Week 9 bye then creates a plus-four edge at home against Jacksonville in Week 10, and Week 18 at Houston is plus-one. Rest does not score points. It just removes one of the excuses that defined last fall.

Critical & Game-Deciding Stats

Turnovers

Giveaways: Cam Ward (7 INT, 7 FL), Tony Pollard (3 FL), Chimere Dike (1 FL, special teams return), Brandon Allen (1 INT). Takeaways: Cody Barton (3 INT), Xavier Woods (2 INT), Kaiir Elam (2 FR), Roger McCreary (1 INT), Sebastian Joseph-Day (1 FR), Dre'Mont Jones (1 FR)

Tennessee gave the ball away 19 times (15th) and took it away 13 times (29th). The passers were careful: eight interceptions thrown, fourth-fewest, seven of them Ward's. The fumble problem was not. Eleven lost fumbles ranked 27th — Ward seven, Pollard three, Dike one on a return.

The takeaway side was already thin, and then the secondary was rebuilt. Six interceptions ranked 29th, matching the takeaway rank, with Cody Barton on three of them. Xavier Woods had two picks and Kaiir Elam two fumble recoveries; both are gone. Seven fumble recoveries ranked 16th. Hooker and Marcus Harris intercepted Hurts twice in Week 2.

Sacks

Yardage surrendered to sacks: Cam Ward 410 yards; Brandon Allen 7 yards. Formation-play sack shares divide sacks by all plays from that formation, including runs, so they are not conventional dropback sack rates: 50/711 ≈ 7.0% of shotgun plays; 6/267 ≈ 2.2% of under center plays. Coverage-shell rows are raw sack counts (and count ranks), not per-snap efficiency measures. The defense recorded sacks across several coverage looks; those splits describe where sacks occurred, not how efficient the rush was in each shell.

Sack leaders (defense): Jeffery Simmons (11), Jihad Ward (5), Dre'Mont Jones (4.5), Jaylen Harrell (4.5)

Most of the damage to Ward came from the gun. Fifty of 56 sacks taken landed in shotgun, 7.0 percent of 711 shotgun plays, against six sacks on 267 under-center snaps, and Ward lost 410 yards on those hits.

Tennessee's defense recorded 42 sacks (12th), 34 of them with four rushers (fourth). Jeffery Simmons had 11. Jihad Ward's 5.0 left with him. Cover 3 was simply where the most sacks happened (12). Franklin-Myers' 7.5 sacks in Denver sit next to Simmons on the interior.

Return Touchdowns

Punt & kickoff TDs scored: 2 (#4) — Chimere Dike (2 punt returns).

Kickoff returner Chimere Dike: 62 returns for 1588 yards.

Punt returner Chimere Dike: 23 returns for 398 yards.

Punt returns 24 for 399 yards; kickoff returns 65 for 1669 yards.

Chimere Dike scored both of Tennessee's return touchdowns, both on punts. Opponents scored none, which ranked first.

Penalties

Offense: 69 penalties for 507 yards (#24). Most common: Offensive Holding (25), False Start (20), Delay of Game (5). Most flags in Shotgun (17), Under Center (12), Pistol (1). Most flagged players: JC Latham (13), Kevin Zeitler (4), Olisaemeka Udoh (4).

Defense: 60 penalties for 479 yards (#32), including 2 Offensive Holding (punt returns) and 3 Illegal Formation (kickoffs/PAT) on special teams — not a pure scheme-defense total. Most common: Defensive Pass Interference (7), Unnecessary Roughness (7), Defensive Offside (7). Most flags on Cover 2 (9), Cover 1 (7), Cover 4 (4). Most flagged players: Jeffery Simmons (9), Jihad Ward (7), Cedric Gray (5).

League Rank polarity: #1 = fewest penalties (most disciplined); #32 = most flags.

Tennessee drew 129 penalties for 986 yards, 31st in the league. The offense was 24th with 69 flags; the defense finished last with 60, and that total includes special-teams holding and illegal-formation calls. Saleh inherits that volume.

Early Downs & Red Zone Efficiency

Early Downs: 728 plays, 37.9% success, -0.09 EPA/play (#30). Most efficient on early downs: Van Jefferson (37 plays, 0.29 EPA/play), Calvin Ridley (24 plays, 0.29 EPA/play), Gunnar Helm (42 plays, 0.19 EPA/play).

Red Zone: 101 plays, 45.5% success, 0.08 EPA/play (#8). Most efficient in the red zone: Elic Ayomanor (8 plays, 1.26 EPA/play), Tony Pollard (20 plays, 0.10 EPA/play), Tyjae Spears (17 plays, 0.04 EPA/play).

Tennessee could not stay on schedule on first and second down. The Titans ran 728 early-down plays at 37.9 percent success and minus-0.09 EPA per play (30th). Fifty-six percent of new first-and-10s in the first half turned into third down, second-worst in the league, and the second-down runs that were supposed to stay ahead of the chains ranked 30th in success and EPA. Ridley's 0.29 EPA on 24 early-down plays came in seven games; Jefferson's matching 0.29 is gone with him.

Inside the 20 they were a different offense: 101 red-zone plays, 45.5 percent success, plus-0.08 EPA (8th), with Ayomanor at 1.26 EPA per play on eight snaps. They could finish drives. They could not get those drives on schedule before the red zone, and that is what Daboll has to fix.

Pass Rate / Rush Rate

On neutral downs, pass rate over expected (PROE) was -6.0 (#30); they passed 48.9% of those snaps.

On pass plays: Cam Ward (36.8% success on 592 pass plays), Brandon Allen (16.1% success on 31 pass plays).

On rushes: Tony Pollard (39.3% success on 242 rush plays), Tyjae Spears (34.7% success on 72 rush plays), Cam Ward (63.6% success on 33 rush plays). Play-by-play rush-play success, not NFL+ success on official carries.

Overall pass rate was 62.6 percent (third), but neutral-down PROE was minus-6.0 with a 48.9 percent pass rate, showing a much more run-leaning neutral tendency. Neither the pass nor the run worked: 4.53 yards per pass play (31st) at 35.8 percent success, 4.30 yards per rush (25th) at 40.1 percent success. Ward was efficient on 33 designed rushes at 63.6 percent success, but Pollard and Spears carried the actual rushing volume.

Explosive Plays

Explosive play = 20+ yards gained on a rush or pass (2025 PBP). Rank 1 = most generated on offense / fewest allowed on defense.

Explosive Playmakers (Offense)

Coverages Beaten

Explosive plays are rushes and completions of 20 or more yards. Coverage totals reflect raw play counts rather than per-snap efficiency because usage rates vary across schemes.

Explosive Plays Allowed (Defense)

Coverages When Explosives Were Allowed

Tennessee created 51 explosives for 1,447 yards, 25th in raw count, and 41 of those were 20-plus-yard completions. Ayomanor and Ridley were the downfield names; Pollard had the explosive runs. Cover 2 and Cover 1 were the looks this offense beat most often.

The defense allowed 66 explosives for 2,160 yards (22nd), 58 of them through the air. Cover 3 accounted for the largest raw number of allowed explosives in 2025, 21 for 622 yards, with Cover 2 and Cover 1 at 14 each. Gus Bradley is a new defensive coordinator, so those are last year's shells, not a forecast of which coverages this defense will play.

Offensive Personnel Usage

FP/play is full PPR from 2025 PBP, not DraftKings.

RPOs are also counted in shotgun, pistol, or under center.

Eleven personnel was how Tennessee lined up last year: 725 plays at 1.14 full-PPR points per play, and 12 personnel was almost as productive on 236 snaps (1.10). Twenty-one personnel barely existed. Shotgun was 71.5 percent of the snaps and 1.22 points per play; under center lagged at 0.91. Brian Daboll is a new offensive coordinator, so that three-wide default is last year's offense, not a claim he will keep it.

Pre-snap Motion & Play Action

Motion rate rank #29; play-action rank #24 (32-team, 2025 PBP + FTN charting).

FPavg is full PPR per play.

Tennessee barely moved before the snap. Pre-snap motion was 44.7 percent (29th) and play action 12.2 percent (24th), and Ward ranked 30th in motion rate on dropbacks. Motion barely changed the fantasy output. Play-action snaps averaged 2.01 full-PPR points per play versus 1.00 without it, on a 121-play sample that still succeeded only 36.4 percent of the time. That split does not prove play action caused the difference.

Passing Game: 2025 Recap & 2026 Outlook

Cam Ward's rookie year finished last among 33 qualified quarterbacks in EPA per play. An 80.2 rating, 5.9 yards per attempt, and 9.8 yards per completion are the same season: the No. 1 overall pick spent too much of it in third-and-long. Only 60 percent of his 15-plus-yard attempts were catchable, fourth-worst. Brian Callahan was fired after a 1-5 start in Week 6, and Mike McCoy went 2-9 the rest of the way.

Warren Sharp wanted Daboll because he has already built offenses around quarterbacks who needed structure — Josh Allen's early years in Buffalo, Daniel Jones's contract season with the Giants, then Jaxson Dart — and he still only ranks this quarterback room 24th. That rank is the reminder that Ward has to stop putting the ball on the ground and forcing throws on late downs, even with a real receiving room around him now.

The 2026 sample is small and already split. Ward is 32-of-52 for 323 yards, one passing touchdown, zero interceptions, two rushing touchdowns, and five sacks. Tennessee converted 6 of 13 third downs against Philadelphia, 46.2 percent, its second-best mark since the start of 2025. This could be evidence that the results around Ward may be improving but two games do not prove a completely new offense.

QB fantasy metrics. DKavg, floor, ceiling, Slate Hit, Avg $, and FP/$ from weekly DraftKings logs. EPA/DB and CPOE from NFL+ regular-season averages. Slate Hit = weeks in the top N in DraftKings points at that position on the salary slate (QB 3 / RB 8 / WR 12 / TE 5). That is a slate-relevant ceiling finish, not a claim the player was needed to win the GPP. DK GP is the fantasy-tracked sample.

Receiving Game: 2025 Recap & 2026 Outlook

Tennessee wideouts combined for 9.2 receptions (26th) and 107.2 yards per game (27th). Ayomanor led the team with 89 targets and Dike had 74. Ridley posted a 22.6 percent target share, but he played only seven games, so the full-season volume belonged to Ayomanor, Dike, and Okonkwo. Okonkwo led the whole roster with 79 targets, 61 of them on early downs. Helm was next among tight ends with 55. Dike led the red zone with 14 looks.

Sharp ranks the receivers 27th, and the 2026 bet is that Carnell Tate, Calvin Ridley, and Wan'Dale Robinson change the room around Ward. Tate lines up outside with Ridley when Ridley is healthy enough to stay there. Robinson is the slot after 92 catches on 140 targets for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns with the Giants, and Daniel Bellinger had 26 Giants targets in 12 games as Gunnar Helm's backup. David Martin-Robinson and Kylen Granson are the rest of the tight ends. Ayomanor and Dike still have to earn snaps in that group this season. If this works, it is because those new names can separate, not because last year's target volume suddenly starts paying yards down the field.

TGT% / Rec EPA / AYavg are NFL+ season averages. TGT% is each player's share of targets over his NFL+ qualifying sample, not necessarily his share of every team target for the full season. For players traded midseason whose NFL+ sample includes games with another club (multi-team PBP targets), those three columns are left blank so prior-team production is not mixed into this club's row. DraftKings columns use this club's fantasy weeks only. Red-zone and early-down tables provide separate club-specific target splits.

Overall Targets

Overall Targets uses NFL+ season targets for players who spent the year with one club. Traded players who changed teams midseason (multi-team PBP targets) are left blank here so the NFL+ season total (which can blend both clubs) is not mistaken for this club's volume; use the red-zone and early-down tables for this club's hierarchy instead.

Red Zone Targets

Early Down Targets

Rushing Game: 2025 Recap & 2026 Outlook

Tony Pollard got 242 carries, minus-32.7 Rush EPA, 40.1 percent NFL+ success, and plus-0.5 yards after expected. He scored five rushing touchdowns and handled 19 of the red-zone carries. Tyjae Spears had 72 carries, minus-4.5 Rush EPA, and more of the red-zone passing work. Sharp's directional note is harsher than the counting stats: running backs gained five-plus yards on 38 percent of carries (third-worst) and were contacted at or behind the line on 47 percent (24th). They are running it back anyway, both in contract years, with Nicholas Singleton as the fifth-round physical insurance. Until the interior stays attached, Pollard's plus-0.5 RYOE is a back making something out of poor lanes, not a new rushing identity.

The 2026 backfield is already a live committee. Pollard has 21 carries for 99 yards (4.7 yards per carry). Spears has 53 rushing yards on 10 carries. Singleton already logged four carries in Week 2. Pollard missed Wednesday practice with an ankle injury and returned Thursday. Spears has missed both practices this week with an ankle issue. The 2025 efficiency-versus-contact problem is still the one this room has to solve.

Red Zone Rushing Scope

Team Scoring

PPG from 2025 regular-season finals. FP/G is full PPR per game from PBP (not DraftKings). Rank 1 = most scored / fewest allowed.

Offense TDs (rush/rec): Tony Pollard 5 rush; Chimere Dike 4 rec; Elic Ayomanor 4 rec. Passing TDs: Cam Ward 15. Defense TDs: Cody Barton (1 def TD). Special teams: Joey Slye 29/36 FG, 27/28 XP; Chimere Dike 2.

The touchdowns were real enough. Ward threw 15, Pollard ran for five, Dike and Ayomanor caught four apiece, and Dike scored twice on returns while Barton had the defense's only score.

Scoring By Quarter

Avg Pts are NFL points per game in that quarter. FPavg is full PPR per game from PBP, not DraftKings. Rank 1 = most scored / fewest allowed.

Tennessee scored 4.2, 4.0, and 2.9 points per game in Q1 through Q3, and allowed 5.5, 8.9, and 7.2. Third quarter was the floor: 2.9 scored (27th) and 7.2 allowed (31st), with 26.9 opponent fantasy points allowed. Warren Sharp had them minus-106 in first halves and minus-179 through three quarters.

Fourth quarter is the only frame that looks like a functioning team — 5.5 points scored and 23.1 fantasy points, while the defense allowed 6.4 and 19.5. The 2026 test is whether the first three quarters ever look like that fourth.

Defensive Outlook

Sharp's defensive Rank: Front 7 #22, Secondary #27.

Defensive Studs

Note: Combined tackles are 2025 regular-season nflverse totals (solo + assists). Traded players (in season) may include production from a prior club unless a single-club club-stint total is available.

Cedric Gray led the club with 164 tackles; Jeffery Simmons 11.0 sacks, Jihad Ward 5.0 sacks, Jaylen Harrell 4.5 sacks.

Defensive counting stats: Cedric Gray: 7 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 4 PD; Amani Hooker: 3 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 8 PD; Cody Barton: 4 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 3 INT, 11 PD; Jeffery Simmons: 17 TFL, 11.0 sacks, 3 PD; Darrell Baker Jr.: 7 PD; Sebastian Joseph-Day: 6 TFL, 2.0 sacks; Jihad Ward: 4 TFL, 5.0 sacks, 4 PD; Jaylen Harrell: 5 TFL, 4.5 sacks.

Jeffery Simmons is the holdover who already played at a high level: 67 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, 21 quarterback hits. Cedric Gray led the club with 164 tackles. Cody Barton had three interceptions and 11 passes defensed. Jihad Ward's 5.0 sacks and 22 hits left with him.

The front has Simmons. The secondary is why Sharp is uneasy. Hooker and Winston are the safeties who stayed. The corners are now Alontae Taylor and Cordale Flott, and that is the part of this defense he is least willing to trust.

Two games in, that group is already on the field. Anthony Hill has 26 tackles, 10 of them against Philadelphia. Against the Eagles, Hooker and Harris intercepted Hurts, while Simmons recorded a sack and seven quarterback pressures.

Fantasy Points Allowed by Coverage

Rank 1 = fewest PPR fantasy points allowed per snap in that coverage.

Cover 2 was the worst per-play shell in the league: 173 snaps, 2.23 fantasy points allowed (32nd). Cover 3 was 157 snaps at 2.10 (28th). Those were the base looks, and they paid opposing receivers. Cover 1 tightened to 1.89 on 116 snaps. 2-Man was actually stingy in a 22-snap sample; Cover 0 was the opposite.

Special Teams: 2025 Recap & 2026 Outlook

Joey Slye: 29/36 FG, 27/28 PAT.

Johnny Hekker led with 78 punts (22 inside the 20).

Kickoff returner Chimere Dike: 62 returns for 1588 yards.

Punt returner Chimere Dike: 23 returns for 398 yards.

Special teams tackler Julius Chestnut: 17 combined tackles on punts and kickoffs.

Joey Slye is still the kicker after going 29 of 36 last year, with a long of 58, nine makes from 50-plus, and 27 of 28 extra points. The punter job actually changed: Johnny Hekker punted 78 times, 22 inside the 20 and none blocked, then left for the Vikings, and Tommy Townsend has that job now. Chimere Dike is still first at both punt and kickoff return. Julius Chestnut led the coverage unit with 17 special-teams tackles.

Penalty Analysis

Warren Sharp assigns Tennessee a D for its 2025 Penalties & Discipline grade. The Titans ranked second-most in penalties per game, second-most in pre-snap flags, most illegal-formation penalties, most special-teams penalties per game, and most declined penalties per game. Defensive pass interference went 17.7 yards on average. They ranked 30th as a beneficiary of automatic first downs, and Cam Ward was the only starting quarterback who did not draw a single roughing-the-passer flag. Warren Sharp also has them as the third-most penalized team in the fourth quarter.

The one Sharp positive is opponent flags: 49 percent of the penalties Tennessee generated were false starts and offensive holding.

Types of Penalties

Offense: 69 penalties for 507 yards (#24). Most common: Offensive Holding (25), False Start (20), Delay of Game (5). Most flags in Shotgun (17), Under Center (12), Pistol (1). Most flagged players: JC Latham (13), Kevin Zeitler (4), Olisaemeka Udoh (4).

Defense: 60 penalties for 479 yards (#32), including 2 Offensive Holding (punt returns) and 3 Illegal Formation (kickoffs/PAT) on special teams — not a pure scheme-defense total. Most common: Defensive Pass Interference (7), Unnecessary Roughness (7), Defensive Offside (7). Most flags on Cover 2 (9), Cover 1 (7), Cover 4 (4). Most flagged players: Jeffery Simmons (9), Jihad Ward (7), Cedric Gray (5).

League Rank polarity: #1 = fewest penalties (most disciplined); #32 = most flags.

The offense's 69 flags were mostly holding and false starts, 25 and 20, and JC Latham had 13 of them. Shotgun is where those calls piled up (17). Delay of game and illegal formation were the next pile at five each.

The defense finished last with a different mess: pass interference, unnecessary roughness, and offside at seven apiece, and Cover 2 had the most of those flags (nine). Simmons led the club with nine. Jihad Ward had seven, and those leave with him.

Top Fantasy Player Targets

DFS Profile labels are Cash, GPP, or GPP/Cash from each player's 2025 DraftKings salary log (weekly salary, production, floor, ceiling, Slate Hits, value). They are historical archetypes, not 2026 slate recommendations. No 2025 salary-log sample means no Profile.

Fantasy Points & Expected Fantasy Points

FPavg and xFPavg are full PPR per game from 2025 PBP (not DraftKings).

GP is games with at least one scored skill play in the 2025 PBP fantasy sample — not necessarily official games played.

xFPavg uses expected receiving/rushing/passing fantasy points.

Top scorers: Cam Ward (11.0 FPavg), Tony Pollard (10.9 FPavg), Tyjae Spears (8.6 FPavg), Chig Okonkwo (7.3 FPavg), Elic Ayomanor (7.3 FPavg).

Rushes vs Defensive Front 7

Front 7 = rushes against 7 or more defenders in the box (2025 PBP).

Total FP and FPavg are full PPR (not DraftKings).

Fantasy Points vs Coverage

Coverage % is share of offensive plays facing a charted coverage.

Total FP and FPavg are full PPR from 2025 PBP (FPavg is per play).

Those play counts are team snaps facing the coverage, not a player's snap share in that shell. Historical leaders are in the rightmost column. Box count lives in the Rushes vs Defensive Front 7 table.

Most of last year's snaps came against Cover 3 and Cover 2, 191 and 175 plays, and the fantasy points followed the targets: Okonkwo and Helm against Cover 3, Ayomanor and Spears against Cover 2, Dike against Cover 1. They scored in those coverages at 1.26 to 1.48 points per play, which is what 16.7 points a game looks like.

Skill adds: Wan'Dale Robinson (WR), Daniel Bellinger (TE), and Mitchell Trubisky (QB).

Skill losses: Brandon Allen (QB) to the Giants, Van Jefferson (WR) to the Commanders, Chig Okonkwo (TE) to the Commanders, James Proche (WR), and Blake Watson (RB).

Skill draft picks: Carnell Tate (WR, Rd 1, Ohio State), Nicholas Singleton (RB, Rd 5, Penn State), and Jaren Kanak (TE, Rd 7, Oklahoma).

2025 DFS Profile — GPP/Cash: Tony Pollard was the 2025 volume back: 17 games, 12.2 DraftKings points, a 7.8 floor, a 19.9 ceiling, and one Slate Hit at a $5,400 average salary.

2025 DFS Profile — Cash: Tyjae Spears played 13 games at 8.6 DraftKings points, a 6.5 floor, a 17.2 ceiling, and zero Slate Hits on a $4,900 average salary. That is the other contract-year back in a split, not a tournament spike.

2025 DFS Profile — GPP/Cash: Wan'Dale Robinson's 2025 card is a Giants card: 16 games, 14.3 DraftKings points, a 7.8 floor, a 31.2 ceiling, and four Slate Hits on 140 targets. That is manufactured underneath volume with a real spike, and it is historical New York production.

2025 DFS Profile: Elic Ayomanor led last year's Titans in targets: 16 games at 7.7 DraftKings points, a 3.8 floor, a 14.0 ceiling, and zero Slate Hits at $3,800.

2025 DFS Profile: Chimere Dike was on the field all 17 games at 6.8 DraftKings points, a 2.8 floor, a 15.4 ceiling, and zero Slate Hits at $3,900.

2025 DFS Profile: Gunnar Helm is the tight end who stayed — 16 games at 5.7 DraftKings points, a 2.6 floor, an 11.1 ceiling, and zero Slate Hits at $2,800.

2025 DFS Profile — GPP: Daniel Bellinger's 2025 card is a Giants card: 12 games, 5.0 DraftKings points, a 1.8 floor, an 11.8 ceiling, and one Slate Hit. That is prior-club New York, not a Titans sample.

2025 DFS Profile — Cash: Cam Ward started all 17 games at a $4,600 average salary: 13.2 average, a 9.2 floor, an 18.0 ceiling, and zero Slate Hits. The floor is modest. The ceiling is last year's rookie season.

Inside Scoop

Two losses into the season, Tennessee is still searching for the first win of the Robert Saleh era, but the more important question is whether the Titans are beginning to look like a different football team. The opener against the Jets offered little evidence of it: 195 total yards, ten points and an offense that looked far too much like the one that left Cam Ward fighting uphill throughout his rookie season. A week later, the result was still a loss, but the shape of the game changed. Tennessee pushed Philadelphia to the final seconds, Ward nearly doubled his yards per attempt, and an offense that spent most of 2025 trying to survive finally showed stretches where it could dictate something instead.

That distinction matters because the rebuild was never going to be judged simply by whether Tennessee added recognizable names. The bet was that Brian Daboll could give Ward a better operating environment while the roster around him became younger and more functional. Carnell Tate is already starting on the outside, Wan'Dale Robinson gives Ward an established underneath option, Fernando Carmona has stepped directly into the offensive line, and Ward has opened 2026 without an interception after losing seven fumbles and throwing seven picks as a rookie. None of that makes two games a breakthrough, but it does give Tennessee something it rarely had last season: evidence that the quarterback and the offense around him might be developing together instead of merely enduring the schedule.

That is where Warren Sharp's preseason 6.5-win forecast becomes useful as a baseline rather than a verdict. Tennessee still owns a roster he graded near the bottom of the league, and an 0-2 start leaves little room for moral victories. The Titans do not need to prove in September that they are ready to contend; they need to prove that Week 2 was the beginning of a repeatable identity rather than one competitive afternoon. The upcoming road trip to the Giants is another opportunity to find out. If Ward continues protecting the football and the new pieces keep making the offense easier to operate, last year's 3-14 season can start to look like the bottom of the rebuild. If Tennessee slips back into the same long-yardage, low-efficiency football that defined 2025, then all the new names will amount to little more than a different cast running the same old script.

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Warren Sharp's 2026 Football Preview served as a research guide for this team preview. Hacking DFS tables, player-level analysis and fantasy metrics are independently calculated from the data sources noted above. Please support Sharp's work by purchasing the full preview for his complete team analysis. Verify against the latest market before betting.