Tennessee Titans 2025 Profile

Today’s post is the first of our 32-part series previewing each NFL team. We plan to focus mostly on the changes made during the offseason, how they addressed their holes, and the questions that remain entering Week 1.

We’ll start with the team that held the first pick in this year’s draft - the Tennessee Titans.

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Brian Callahan
Offensive Coordinator: Nick Holz
Defensive Coordinator: Dennard Wilson
Special Teams Coordinator: John Fassel

2024 Summary (W-L Record: 3-14)

In Brian Callahan’s first season as head coach, the Tennessee Titans earned the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Based on their team stats, it’s not hard to understand why:

And yet, the Titans largely kept the band together with no changes at head coach or offensive and defensive coordinator. Although they did add special teams coach John Fassel and bring in a new GM in Mike Borgonzi, who comes over from Kansas City.

The Titans actually weren’t as bad on defense as some of their numbers suggest. Despite finishing 30th in scoring they were 2nd in total yards allowed, which is an odd combination.

This is largely due to the fact that the Titans’ passing game specialized in turning the ball over. Tennessee had the 2nd-most giveaways in the NFL and led the league with 4 pick-sixes.

The turnovers, combined with poor special teams, left the Titans defense with the 3rd-worst average field position in the NFL last season. That would help explain both the discrepancy in yards vs. points allowed as well as the decision to bring in Fassel.

It also explains why the Titans decided they were done with Will Levis and the egregious mistakes he routinely makes. They used their #1 overall pick to take Cam Ward, who has the potential to be a difference maker.

You can find my detailed breakdown of his college tape at the link below:

Key Additions

QB Cam Ward (1st Round, 1st Overall)
WR Tyler Lockett
WR Van Jefferson
WR Chimere Dike (4th Round, 103rd Overall)
WR Elic Ayomanor (4th Round, 126th Overall)
TE Gunnar Helm (4th Round, 120th Overall)
LT Dan Moore
RG Kevin Zeitler

EDGE Dre’Mont Jones
EDGE Oluwafemi Oladejo (2nd Round, 52nd Overall)
EDGE Lorenzo Carter
LB Cody Barton
S Xavier Woods
S Kevin Winston (3rd Round, 82nd Overall)

Key Losses

QB Mason Rudolph
WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
WR Tyler Boyd
TE Nick Vannett
C Daniel Brunskill
RG Dillon Radunz
RT Nicholas Petit-Frere

DE Harold Landry
LB Kenneth Murray
LB Jerome Baker
CB Chidobe Awuzie
S Daryl Worley
S Quandre Diggs

Did They Address Their Holes?

The biggest hole the Titans had entering the offseason was at the quarterback position. Levis clearly didn’t develop into a reliable signal-caller, so they addressed the need with the first overall pick.

But Cam Ward alone doesn’t solve the Titans’ offensive problems. There were holes just about everywhere last season, and Tennessee needed to put a good support structure around the quarterback position.

Nothing is more important in that regard than the offensive line. The Titans ranked 21st in pressure percentage allowed and 27th in sacks last season.

In the run game, they ranked 27th in yards before contact. And despite running against light boxes (6 or fewer defenders) with the 7th highest frequency according to NFL Next Gen Stats, they finished just 22nd in rushing yards per attempt.

All of these are decent indicators that the O-line needed some substantial upgrades.

So Tennessee added free agents Dan Moore (Steelers) and Kevin Zeitler (Lions) to play left tackle and right guard. They’ll also be moving J.C. Latham, the 7th overall pick in last year’s draft, from left tackle to right tackle. The hope here is that they’ve upgraded 3 positions on the offensive line with these moves.

Ward’s evasiveness and 2nd-reaction play-making ability should go a long way towards mitigating the effects of pressure as well.

The Titans also needed to improve their pass catchers this offseason. And with the exception of Calvin Ridley, they largely re-made this area of the team.

They added Van Jefferson and Tyler Lockett via free agency. Lockett, in particular, brings 10 years of experience and savvy, which should help make him a nice security blanket for Ward.

The Titans also added receivers Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor, and tight end Gunnar Helm in the 4th round of this year’s draft. All three are over 6’1” and will provide Ward with some larger targets. If they hit on just one of those three rookies, to go along with Ridley and Lockett, Ward will have a pretty decent combination of play-makers surrounding him in his rookie season.

Biggest Questions Entering 2025

Aside from the #1 question of how well and how quickly Cam Ward’s game will translate to the NFL, there are some big questions for the Titans on the other side of the ball.

Tennessee’s defense is designed to keep everything in front of them. Last season, they played the 9th most 2-shell coverage, according to

Cody Alexander

of Match Quarters. This certainly played a role in the Titans allowing the fewest air yards per completion and the 3rd-fewest passes of 20 yards or more.

But to be a truly effective defense while playing this style, the pass rush has to be a factor. Last year, it was not.

The Titans finished 29th in sacks and 31st in pressure percentage. All of that certainly contributed to their inability to get off the field consistently on 3rd down (22nd in the NFL) and their inability to create takeaways (25th in % of drives ending in a turnover).

It certainly doesn’t help, then, that they lost their sack leader (Harold Landry) this offseason.

And quite frankly, I’m not sure they did enough to address this hole. The edge rushers charged with picking up the slack are free agents Dre’Mont Jones and Lorenzo Carter, as well as 2nd-round pick Oluwafemi Oladejo.

Jones has never had more than 6.5 sacks in a season. Carter has never had more than 5, and he had none last year across 13 games (11 starts).

Oladejo is a long, athletic pass rusher. But he’s still raw and inexperienced in this area considering he didn’t start playing the majority of his snaps as an edge rusher until last season.

None of these additions signal quick fixes to the Titans’ inability to get to the quarterback.

2025 Outlook

The Titans got better at the most important position and in the units that support it. But leaning on a rookie quarterback to turn your team around isn’t a great proposition.

As a whole, I think the defense is underrated, and they’ll benefit from improved special teams, field position, and hopefully a reduction in back-breaking turnovers (although Ward is likely to toss up a few of his own). A healthy L’Jarius Sneed, who played in just 5 games last season, could help too.

But possibly the best thing the Titans have going for them is their division, which is winnable for all four teams. I’m not predicting it, but if they went 9-8 and won the AFC South, I wouldn’t be surprised.

The bottom line, however, is that this season is all about the Titans’ #1 overall pick. Everything in the building has to revolve around Cam Ward’s growth. As long as he shows promise and the team as a whole shows improvement, Callahan can survive another losing season.