The Tennessee Titans were one of the five teams that don’t have a primetime game lined up in 2026. While that might seem embarrassing for fans, Tennessee actually possesses a favorable schedule going into Year 1 of the Robert Saleh era. The Titans are one of those teams that not a lot of people are talking about, but that is okay. Let the product on the field do the talking.
No one can deny the fact that the Titans had a great offseason with their additions. The hiring of a new coaching staff led by Saleh, Brian Daboll, and Gus Bradley brought immediate stability and quality coaching experience. Then the additions in free agency fixed immediate problems that the Titans had, with a majority of them on defense. They also added Wan’Dale Robinson as a weapon for Cam Ward.
Then Mike Borgonzi brought in some more offensive help through the draft with WR Carnell Tate and RB Nicholas Singleton. Everything will have to work on the field to make this work, but Tennessee is in a much better position now than they were a year ago.
Even though the Titans made a great amount of additions and got a good amount of breaks on their schedule, the NFL schedule makers still found a way to benefit another AFC South rival.
NFL hands Texans unfair schedule advantage going into 2026
Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis put together an NFL schedule rest differential analysis of all 32 teams which shows the net rest that each team has for the upcoming season. The Titans land on the list at +6 which landed in the Top 10. With the way the schedule turned out for them along with having a last place schedule, it’s not a surprise to see them benefit from this analysis.
However, they don’t have the best net average in the division; the Houston Texans do at +8. It’s unfair about this setup considering that Houston has been a consistent playoff team the last couple of seasons and already has the best defense in the league by a mile.
If the Texans offense can pick up their slack, and if the defense picks up where they left off last season, Houston could very well be the most unstoppable team in the NFL. Giving them an advantage where they will have extra time to rest throughout the season makes life harder for the Titans to make a serious run at the division.
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