When the Tennessee Titans started training camp, all eyes were on the interior offensive line, where center and right guard were up for grabs.
While that competition still rages on, another player seems to have lost the trust of the coaching staff, and they have been quietly looking at options to replace him if he has one more slip-up.
Kicker Joey Slye had an up-and-down season with the Titans in 2025. He has a cannon for a leg, which meant that the team was able to score field goals from 50+ yards out. That should have been a big weapon for a team desperate for more points, but unfortunately, he only made 80% of his field goals last year and wasn't someone who could be trusted week in and week out.
Titans kicker Joey Slye is suddenly defending his starting job
Since the highs were high and the lows were low, there was some thought that he could be replaced this offseason with a more stable kicker. However, it became clear that the plan was to bring him back for the 2026 season, with the hope that he could still threaten teams with the ability to kick long field goals and that he would hopefully become more consistent.
That hasn't been what he has shown in camp so far, with several days with multiple misses, including a particularly bad practice at the end of last week. Since then, the Titans worked out three kickers on Saturday and another kicker on Tuesday, and the presumption is that they want to find a guy they like if Slye can't get it together for the rest of camp.
Per Adam Schefter, the Titans had former Los Angeles Rams kicker Josh Karty in for a workout early this week.
There isn't any rush to make this decision, and the Titans should take as much time as they want, with multiple weeks of both kickers to make sure they get an accurate comparison. However, the pressure is now on Slye if he wants to keep this job.
His next big test is going to be in the team's first preseason game on Thursday, and depending on how that goes, the Titans could have a new kicker as early as Friday. Keep an eye on this situation because it could become a huge part of the 2026 season if the team makes a change.
Add us as a preferred source on Google