The Tennessee Titans finished the 2024 season as the worst team in the NFL. That netted them the first overall pick and while there's certainly excitement surrounding Cam Ward and what he can do as an NFL quarterback, tempering expectations is the right approach, especially for the 2025 season.
Aaron Schatz of ESPN ranked every division's last place team based on their chances of going from worst to first in 2025 and while the Titans were only in the fifth of eighth spots, their odds of winning the division and making the playoffs were both incredibly slim.
According to Schatz, the Titans' odds of winning the AFC South (a winnable division, mind you) are a mere 8.9% and their odds of making it to the postseason for the first time since the 2021 season are a depressing 14.8%. Schatz wrote that teams shouldn't be expecting a rookie quarterback to have a good season but his real issue with the Titans was their defense.
"[T]he Titans have bigger issues on the other side of the ball -- their defense projects at 30th in DVOA. There's a lot of hope around veteran cornerback L'Jarius Sneed bouncing back from injury or a big season from unheralded additions such as edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones. But the Titans really didn't gain much defensive talent this offseason and haven't drafted many contributors in recent years. They haven't used a first-round pick on a defensive player since Jeffery Simmons in 2019."
Analysts aren't giving the Titans much hope for 2025
The Titans defense used to be a much more feared unit but, as Schatz pointed out, that's not the case anymore. Banking on L'Jarius Sneed to have a bounce back year is risky considering he couldn't stay healthy during his inaugural season in Nashville but if he can play to the level that he did while he was with the Chiefs, that'll already make a huge difference for Tennessee's defense.
Titans fans aren't exactly surprised to hear that the team's chances of winning the division or even making the playoffs as a wild card team are low. This squad still has a long way to go and that path doesn't get easier with a rookie quarterback stepping into the ring. The hope is that Ward experiences some growing pains but learns from them and can be the quarterback the Titans are hoping he can be for 2026 and beyond.
The good news is that the AFC South is a very winnable division and while the Titans have a ways to go before they're truly competitive, they're in arguably the easiest division in the league. Hopefully that speeds up the process of making it into the playoffs.