In some ways the Titans plan for 2026 looks a little bit like their plan for 2024, which turned out to be a colossal failure.
So how is this plan different from the one Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan put together two years ago that produced a three-win season?
The Titans spent heavily in free agency and on the trade market, bringing in the likes of Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard, L’Jarius Sneed, Lloyd Cushenberry, Kenneth Murray, Chidobe Awuzie and Tyler Boyd.
For all that spending, the Titans did very little winning and now, two years later, only Ridley and Pollard are still on the roster from that spending spree.
In looking at what went wrong, the Titans completely failed to properly address the tackle situation as Nicholas Petit-Frere, Andre Dillard, Jaelyn Duncan and a cast of other more forgettable names all took turns being turnstiles in pass protection.
But that wasn’t the only reason things went wrong. The Titans handed the keys to a young QB in Will Levis and promoted him as a possible franchise guy after half a decent season as a rookie in 2023.
But the offensive line problems, receiver issues, a new offensive system that didn’t really fit Levis and the whole inexperience of the coaching staff all worked to doom the 2024 Titans.
Callahan was a first-time head coach and play-caller and had first-time coordinators on offense, defense and special teams. That inexperience might have worked with a 10-year vet at QB, but it was too much to ask of a guy with nine games of experience.
It might seem the Titans are doing the same thing for Cam Ward, who has one full year under his belt and will be learning a new offense for a new coaching staff in year two.
Can it be different this time? The Titans certainly hope so, and would appear to have a better chance to succeed because the new coaching staff has much more experience – even if Robert Saleh and Brian Daboll didn’t succeed in their previous stops.
The familiarity that Saleh has with many of his defensive players and that Daboll has with many of the Titans’ new additions on offense should benefit Ward in his growth. The goal is for him not to struggle like Levis did in his second year, but to grow along with the rest of the young offensive players the Titans are banking on to turn things around.