Tennessee Titans

Cam Ward took fifty-five sacks as a rookie. Fifty-five. That's the number that defines Tennessee's 2025 — and the door into everything else: how the passing game cratered, why Tony Pollard quietly put together one of the more overlooked seasons in the league, and what a defense with real teeth but no takeaways actually looked like. Three wins, fourteen losses. No playoffs. The Titans finished ninth among AFC non-playoff teams, and by every available measure, the year was a muffed one — but there are threads worth pulling.

Start with the team-level portrait, because the numbers are stark. Tennessee's offense finished at minus one hundred fifty-eight point nine in total expected points added — a measure of how much every play helped or hurt their chances of scoring, and minus one fifty-nine is thirtieth in the league, ninth percentile. The defense allowed plus ninety-nine point five, twenty-eighth, sixteenth percentile — and on defense, you want that number going the other way. Third down is where the season lived and died: thirty-three point two percent, dead last in the NFL. Can't move the chains, can't get off the field, you lose fourteen games. And this wasn't boom-or-bust — outside the Week Sixteen smashing of Kansas City, twenty-six to nine, this was a steady, grinding floor. Seven losses by sixteen points or more.

Now let's talk about the passing offense, because this is where the season got muffed the hardest. Tennessee threw for one hundred ninety point six yards per game and finished at minus one hundred thirty-seven point three in passing expected points added — thirty-first, sixth percentile. Ward threw for three thousand one hundred sixty-nine yards with fifteen touchdowns and seven picks, and his completion percentage came in three points below expectation, thirty-second among qualified starters. But the headline is the protection. Fifty-six sacks allowed on six hundred forty-six dropbacks — an eight point seven percent sack rate, sixth-most in football. You can't develop a rookie quarterback when he's hitting the turf every twelve dropbacks. The brutal example came Week Seventeen against New Orleans — second quarter, first and twenty, Ward gets sacked, fumbles, and the Saints scoop it for a thirty-three yard touchdown. Minus eight point eight expected points on a single snap. That play was the season in eleven yards. The lone bright spot in the receiving room: tight end Chig Okonkwo, fifty-six catches, five hundred sixty yards, two touchdowns — and the team's leading receiver, which tells you everything about the wide receiver group.

Now let's dig into the rushing offense, and here's the one genuine smash story of Tennessee's year. Tony Pollard. Two hundred forty-two carries, one thousand eighty-two yards, four point five a clip, five touchdowns — and plus one hundred twelve point seven rushing yards over expected, meaning he gained a hundred twelve more yards than an average back would have given the same blocking and the same boxes. Trended up as the volume grew. As a unit, though, the rushing offense still finished at minus twenty-five point one in expected points added, twenty-seventh, because volume couldn't flip the math when the passing game was a black hole. Four point two yards per carry as a team, thirtieth. But the Pollard tape — the Week Fourteen win in Cleveland, his sixty-five yard touchdown run on first and ten in the first quarter — that's the kind of explosive play this offense almost never had. Fifty-one explosive plays all year. About three a game. Pollard was carrying water for an offense that couldn't get out of its own way.

Next up, the pass defense, which is a more complicated story than the bottom-line ranking suggests. Tennessee allowed plus ninety-three point three nine in passing expected points added — sixteenth percentile, not good — but the pass rush showed up. Forty-two sacks, fifty-ninth percentile, with Jeffery Simmons living in opposing backfields. The problem was the takeaway column: six interceptions, six fumble recoveries, twelve total — twenty-ninth in the league, thirteenth percentile. They got pressure. They didn't finish. When they did, it was season-defining — Week Fourteen in Cleveland, fourth quarter, Tennessee up twenty-one to seventeen, cornerback Roger McCreary punches the ball out on a completion, Cody Gray scoops it and returns it to the Cleveland eight. That single play swung the game by more than six expected points and got them one of their three wins. They had the juice up front. They just didn't get their hands on enough footballs.

And the run defense — this is the soft underbelly. One hundred sixteen yards per game allowed, twenty-one rushing touchdowns surrendered, and a per-carry expected points added of plus zero point zero one. Thirty-first in the league in run defense expected points added — second-worst in football, steady floor of bad all year. Opponents converted forty-one percent of their third downs, and a big chunk was second-and-medium becoming third-and-short because the front couldn't hold up between the tackles. No individual to single out here — when your run defense is bottom-of-the-league, it's a structural problem, not a personnel highlight reel. That's where the rebuild has to start.

Welcome back to Muffed. Mike Borgonzi walked out of this weekend with eight picks, two in the top 31, and one clear thesis: rebuild the passing game on both sides of the ball. The headliner is Carnell Tate, the Ohio State receiver at fourth overall — but the more interesting story is what Tennessee did at picks 31 and 60. Offense at the top, defense at the edges of round one and two, then a Day 3 grind on the trenches and the back end. Let's get into it.

The passing game got the marquee picks because it had to. Tennessee's 2025 passing offense generated minus 137.54 expected points added across 17 games — minus 0.22 per dropback, just 15 passing touchdowns, 56 sacks absorbed. That unit needed a real number one. Enter Tate at four: 51 catches, 875 yards, 9 touchdowns in the Big Ten, with a per-play predicted points added of plus 1.04 and a season total of plus 67.76. Those 9 scores ranked 6th in the Big Ten and 31st nationally. He's 21, he was the engine of a championship-level passing game, and he steps into a room starved for a target who finishes drives. Then late in round seven at 225, Jaren Kanak — the Oklahoma tight end, former linebacker who picked up the position late, bounced to H-back and fullback, and tested at an 8.62 Relative Athletic Score. That's the top 14 percent of tight ends measured since 1987. He caught 44 balls for 533 yards in the SEC, and Borgonzi said straight up: special teams contributor, day one.

The defensive front got the other premium capital, and the case writes itself. Tennessee's defense allowed plus 93.39 passing expected points added in 2025 — plus 0.17 per dropback — surrendered 30 passing touchdowns, and generated only 42 sacks. At pick 31, Keldric Faulk, the Auburn edge: 21 years old, 27 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 4 pass breakups in the SEC, and a Relative Athletic Score of 9.10 — top 9 percent of edge players ever tested. The production line is modest for a first-rounder; the athletic profile and the age are not. In round six at 184, Jackie Marshall out of Baylor: 30 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and a Relative Athletic Score of 8.77, top 13 percent at defensive tackle. Borgonzi was explicit — 5-technique, 3-technique, twitchy and explosive on contact, with the flex to kick out. Coach Aaron Whitecotton coached him at the East-West game and ran his pro day workout. They know exactly what they're getting.

Run defense wasn't a screaming need — Tennessee allowed just plus 6.13 rushing expected points added in 2025, league-average per carry — but they spent a second on it anyway, and the player justifies it. Anthony Hill Jr., Texas linebacker, pick 60: 21 years old, 70 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks in the SEC, and a Relative Athletic Score of 9.81. That's the top 2 percent of linebackers measured since 1987 — a rare profile at an off-ball spot, paired with real production against elite offenses.

The ground game got one swing. Tennessee finished 2025 at minus 21.32 rushing expected points added on 372 carries — minus 0.06 per carry, 9 rushing touchdowns. At pick 165, Nicholas Singleton from Penn State: 549 yards and 13 touchdowns on 123 carries, 24 catches for 219 yards, those 13 scores 5th in the Big Ten. Borgonzi's comp was Isiah Pacheco from his Kansas City days — runs angry, catches it out of the backfield. There's a noted injury without a timetable, but Singleton's in the building this spring.

The offensive line got two Day 3 picks, both stamped tough-smart-dependable. Fernando Carmona Jr. at 142 brings a Relative Athletic Score of 8.42 at guard — top 16 percent. He's 24, played left tackle at San Jose State, kicked to guard at Arkansas, and Borgonzi said he can play center too. Pat Coogan at 194, the Indiana center, tests middle-of-the-pack at 6.83. The selling point isn't athleticism — it's that he was the Rose Bowl MVP as an offensive lineman, something Borgonzi said he'd never seen before. Both can compete physically right now.

Pick of the draft. You can argue Tate at four. You can argue Hill at 60 on athletic rarity alone. The answer is Keldric Faulk at 31. Tate is a great prospect taken where great prospects are supposed to come from. Hill is an elite athlete in a round where you can find starters. Faulk is a 21-year-old SEC edge with a top-10-percent athletic profile falling to the last pick of round one — and he addresses the single biggest hole on the roster: a pass rush that mustered 42 sacks while the secondary bled 30 touchdowns. Edges with this age-and-testing combination don't usually make it to 31. Tennessee got one.

The big question for 2026 is whether Borgonzi did enough on the back end. He addressed it at the podium — Tennessee added Cor'Dale Flott, Alontae Taylor, brought back Marcus Harris, signed Tony Adams, and decided that was enough to skip a defensive back entirely. With 30 passing touchdowns allowed and 248 passing yards a game given up last year, that's the bet the season turns on. If Faulk and Marshall get the rush home and Hill closes throwing lanes underneath, the free-agent corners hold up. If the rush doesn't show, the secondary is where it bleeds.