The Tennessee Titans took a chance when they traded for defensive end Jermaine Johnson II during the offseason, sending T'Vondre Sweat to the New York Jets in exchange. The Titans hoped Johnson's previous experience with head coach Robert Saleh would further unlock his abilities. Through two weeks, that absolutely hasn't been the case.
Johnson broke out under Saleh as a sophomore in 2023, but tore his Achilles in 2024. He played under a different Jets coaching staff in 2025, but really struggled to recover his peak physical condition. The early indication is Johnson's devastating Achilles injury may have zapped his juice and explosiveness.
Johnson has been Tennessee's least-impactful pass rusher. If his efficiency issues keep up, he shouldn't be playing at the expense of Femi Oladejo and Keldric Faulk. The Titans need to consider replacing Johnson with their younger pass rushers.
Titans cannot keep relying so much on Jermaine Johnson II over others
Johnson leads all Titans defensive ends in snaps (93) through Week 2. Fellow veteran pass rusher Jacob Martin has been his most frequent running mate (80). Meanwhile, Faulk (39) and Oladejo (36) have played less than half Johnson's snaps.
Among the Titans' four defensive ends, Johnson currently has the lowest pass-rushing grade (43.6) via Pro Football Focus. In fact, it's the lowest score on the entire defense. Martin has generated more pressures (8) than Johnson (6) has.
Johnson also hasn't recorded a sack. His PFF pass-rush WIN% of 2.1 is shockingly low, significantly below that of Faulk's (6.7%), Oladejo's (8.3%), and Martin's (10.4%). Essentially every advanced metric tells you Johnson has been Tennessee's worst pass rusher (so does the tape). If this continues, there's no justification for him to keep playing over Oladejo and Faulk.
Femi Oladejo should be playing over Jermaine Johnson
The Titans are understandably bringing Faulk along slowly. The rookie 31st overall selection was considered a raw product coming out of Auburn. In truth, his play hasn't justified an increase in snaps yet either.
That makes Oladejo the clear-cut choice to replace Johnson. It's surprising he's played slightly less snaps than Faulk. This is a defining season for the sophomore Oladejo, who looked raw as a rookie himself before suffering a season-ending injury before the midway point.
Oladejo has looked explosive in limited action, registering a QB pressure in each of Tennessee's outings. The former UCLA standout has also been credited with four tackles and four run stops. If everything keeps trending in its current direction, the Titans need to be playing Oladejo (and eventually Faulk) over Johnson.
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