Jacob Martin quietly emerges among Titans' biggest offseason winners

It's not often in the NFL you see a player make a huge leap forward in his career and have a breakout season at the age of 30, but that's exactly what happened in 2025 for Tennessee Titans newcomer Jacob Martin.

Martin is an NFL veteran and journeyman at this point, appearing in 119 total games with seven different franchises. The Titans will be his 8th, and he's got some momentum to build on coming out of last year with the Washington Commanders.

Martin has been a top-tier special teams player his entire career, which is one of the main reasons he's stuck around so long. But he's also proven when he gets chances, he can be effective in rotation defensively. Playing for Dan Quinn last year, Martin logged a career-best 700 snaps and set career-highs with 5.5 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, and 26 pressures.

Coming out of Titans OTAs and minicamp, even without the pads on yet, Martin is making a quiet but important first impression that has flown under the radar.

Jacob Martin already proving to be a free-agent steal for Titans

One thing Martin consistently brings to the table off the edge is effort and hustle. Those traits alone won't make a great edge rusher in the NFL, but Martin has carved out a long career because of them, and he has started to pair that with some regular success in terms of pass rush productivity.

For a total of just $9 million on a two-year deal, Martin is feeling like he could be the steal of the offseason for a team that went aggressively after free agent targets.

Nobody is going to be writing home about 5.5 sacks, even if it was a career-high, but look at the company Martin was keeping at one point last season. Anytime you have a stretch of games where you're keeping up with players like Aidan Hutchinson, Myles Garrett, and Will Anderson Jr., you're doing something right.

The Titans had 42 sacks as a team last season, which ranked a respectable 12th in the NFL. They were actually tied with the Commanders in the sack category, ironically, and under Robert Saleh, everyone expects all aspects of this Titans defense to improve dramatically.

Martin's name routinely popped up from those covering OTAs and minicamp as someone who was causing havoc as a pass rusher. Having a disruptive presence in rotation off the edge with the group the Titans have assembled for this season could raise the floor of the team significantly.

And in a worst-case scenario, the Titans will get elite special teams play out of Martin.

Although this isn't a player who's going to sell a bunch of jerseys, he's a player who could be instrumental in taking the Titans to the next level and ushering in a new era for the team.

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