The Tennessee Titans have made a lot of changes in the 2026 offseason. They hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their new head coach, who managed to get former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll as his offensive coordinator. Second year GM Mike Borgonzi made notable changes to the roster for his new coach.
There are so many offseason storylines to watch as everyone tries to find their place on this new-look Titans team. While everyone will naturally get excited to hear about players like Cam Ward and Gunner Helm as well as new offseason additions like Carnell Tate, Wan'Dale Robinson and Anthony Hill Jr., it is important to pay attention to other areas of the roster as Saleh and Borgonzi continue to find out their new identity.
With that, we've identified five Titans players facing big summers as OTAs start winding down.
5 Tennessee Titans players facing make-or-break offseasons
Jackson Slater, right guard
Possibly the most talked about issue the Titans are facing this offseason is their holes at right guard and center. Kevin Zeitler doesn't appear to be coming back and both Lloyd Cushenberry and Corey Levin are gone as well. The Titans failed to bring in any premium interior lineman in free agency, but did bring in New York Giants center Austin Schlottmann and Cincinnati Bengals guard Cordell Volson to compete for starting offensive line jobs.
They also drafted Arkansas guard Fernando Carmona and Indiana center Pat Coogan on Day Three of the 2026 NFL Draft in the hopes that they would compete for starting jobs. Although the veteran additions provided some much-needed depth, they aren't long-term solutions. Enter second year interior offensive lineman Jackson Slater.
After being picked 167th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, Slater didn't really play much in his rookie season, only earning 34 snaps all season. However, he filled in admirably for an injured Zeitler at right guard in the season finale loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, earning a 79.2 pass blocking grade on Pro Football Focus and allowing just one pressure.
Saleh has already talked about Slater's chance at starting, as well as his versatility along the offensive line earlier this month at OTAs. "We're allowing him to work into that competition in regards to that right guard spot. He also has flexibility, we're helping him in regards to center too. But we're giving him every opportunity to win that right guard spot."
The hope around the team seems to be that Slater is able to beat out Volson and Carmona for the starting right guard job. If that hope comes to fruition and Slater is able to play well enough to become a part of Borgonzi and Saleh's long term plans, consider the right guard issue solved.
Will Levis, quarterback
At this point, Levis isn't worth watching because of anything he may do for the Titans on the field, but rather what they could get for him. After a rookie season where Levis showed enough flashes for then-GM Ran Carthon to try and build around him in the spring of 2024, Levis' sophmore season was a disaster filled with injuries, lopsided losses and viral memes, resulting in the firing of Carthon and the Titans picking number one overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, where they selected Cam Ward to replace Levis.
Despite speculation, Levis was not traded after the selection of Ward. However, he did opt for season ending surgery later that summer to repair an AC joint injury in his throwing shoulder, the injury which hampered his 2024 season. Going into the 2026 offseason, there were rumors that Levis would be moved either before or during the 2026 NFL Draft. Fast-forward to late May with no trade coming to fruition, Levis is still a Titan, and it does not seem like there is a lot of interest for the 26-year old around the league.
Levis' situation is very similar to Malik Willis' in the 2024 offseason. After it was clear the team was moving forward with Levis as their starter and signing Mason Rudolph to back him up, Willis no longer relevant. However, after the hiring of Brian Callahan as head coach and offensive playcaller, Willis impressed throughout the offseason and preseason, and was shipped off to the Green Bay Packers for a 6th-7th round pick swap after the final preseason game. Now in 2026, Levis has been replaced by Cam Ward and quarterback Mitch Trubisky has been signed as the likely backup.
Maybe there is a chance that Levis could stick around. New offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has been complimentary of Levis throughout the offseason.
Despite the kind words from his new offensive coordinator, the hope likely still remains that Levis shows enough life throughout the offseason programs and preseason under Daboll for him develop into a decent backup that garners annual trade interest, like Houston Texans backup quarterback Davis Mills or Philadelphia Eagles backup Tanner McKee. If not, Borgonzi and the Titans may just need to bite the bullet and set him free.
Femi Oladejo, EDGE
Coming out of UCLA in the 2025 NFL Draft, Femi Oladejo was seen as a raw pass rusher with massive developmental upside due to his long frame and athleticism. Despite his inexperience on the edge, Borgonzi was high enough on Oladejo to select him in the second round. However, after struggling as a pass rusher in the first five games of his career and earning a 48.2 grade from Pro Football Focus, Oladejo would suffer a fracture in his leg in a Week 6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders and miss the rest of his rookie season.
The 2026 offseason has seen Oladejo's role become more of a question mark. The hiring of Saleh brings in a new 4-3 defensive scheme for Oladejo to try and fit into. There were also many additions along defensive line for him to compete with, as the Titans traded for Jermaine Johnson, signed John Franklin-Meyers, Jacob Martin, and Solomon Thomas, and drafted Keldric Faulk at the end of the first round.
Saleh has already spoken highly of Oladejo multiple times since being hired in January.
"He has all the talent in the world," Saleh said about Oladejo during the NFL Combine in February. "He has length, he has speed, he has pass rush ability, he plays with violence. He's a good football player, and for him it is just going to be transferring, getting your hand in the ground and going vertical every snap rather than having to think about coverages and all that."
As a second round pick going into just his second season, Oladejo will obviously have plenty of opportunities to prove himself to Saleh and the new staff. But he will have to become more effective as a pass rusher in order to keep his role and not get lost in the shuffle of the Titan's new look defensive front.
Calvin Ridley, wide receiver
Calvin Ridley was supposedly the crown jewel of Ran Carthon's aforementioned 2024 free agency spending spree, signing a four-year, $92 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. However, after posting 64 catches, 1,017 yards and four touchdowns in his first year as a Titan, Ridley would massively disappoint in 2025, recording just 17 catches and 303 yards in seven games while struggling with drops and injuries before breaking his fibula in Week 11.
The Titans shifted focus to Day Three rookies Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor, both of whom flashed throughout the season in their expanded roles. Because of Dike and Ayomanor's rise, and the assumption that the Titans would continue to revamp their receiving core in free agency and the draft, most fans guessed that Ridley would be released.
But even after the Titans signed former New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson in free agency, Mike Borgonzi opted to restructure Ridley's contract after the wideout accepted an $8.75 million paycut to stick around, freeing up about $11.25 million in cap space. A month later, the Titans drafted Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate No. 4 overall to further add to their receiving room and send Ridley farther down the chain of command.
Ridley's situation is one of the most fascinating because it didn't seem likely that he would still be on the team once the season ended. Now, after seemingly already being passed on the totem pole by Tate and Robinson, he will now have to fend off Dike and Ayomanor for the third wide receiver spot on the depth chart.
If Ridley is able to perform well enough throughout the summer to keep his spot, he could slide in perfectly as a veteran presence on a young offense. Depending on how the season goes, he could also emerge as a trade candidate at the November deadline as the Titans look to add picks in a supposedly stacked 2027 NFL Draft.
Kevin Winston Jr., safety
Winston slid down in 2025 NFL Draft due to a torn ACL he suffered during his final season at Penn State, where the Titans scooped him up in the third round. Winston didn't play until October, but flashed throughout the season as a big, physical safety with box and nickel flexibility, and showed even more promise as a run defender and in blitz packages. In 10 games, he had six starts where he had 34 total tackles, two passes defended, four quarterback hits, a sack, and recorded a 89.4 run defense grade on Pro Football Focus, as well as a position-leading 91.7 pass rush grade.
Winston goes into his second NFL season as a starting safety alongside veteran Amani Hooker and brings plenty of excitment for Titans fans. While still listed as a safety, Winston could emerge as a big nickel option that Saleh has alluded to wanting to utilize. Saleh has talked about wanting to have "a little bit of size" at the nickel position, and even hired Dalton Hilliard to be the teams new nickel coach.
Even if Winston isn't used as much in the nickel as we may think, he's still a super intriguing piece of this secondary. With as versatile and athletic as Winston is, it will be very interesting to see how Saleh will use someone like him.
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