If you’ve been paying attention to the Tennessee Titans throughout the 2025 offseason so far, their master plans aren’t too difficult to figure out.
So much was up in the air coming into the new year. Obviously, we needed to know who they were going to get at quarterback. But a slew of big additional questions remained: what would be the solution at right tackle? Could they fill either of their glaring needs at EDGE? Could the add enough depth in one cycle to restock the cupboard at enough positions? Would there be any big ticket items in Free Agency, or would this new regime swing in the complete opposite direction as the old one?
Well one week into free agent acquisitions, the picture has come into focus pretty significantly.
Cam Ward is in position to become the next QB in Tennessee. Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker swung big at tackle, landing former Pittsburgh LT Dan Moore in a splashy signing. EDGE is something they’ve addressed modestly already, are liable to add to once or twice more before free agency ends, and the star of the show (at least in theory) will likely be added with a premium pick in a loaded EDGE draft class.
As for other positions of need—of which the Titans have plenty—they’re being dealt with via a smattering of short-term contracts for useful players from the B, C, and D classes of free agency.
I can’t remember the last time a Titans offseason path seemed this clear. But one really big question still sticks out as a serious unknown: wide receiver.
The Titans current receiver situation is bleak. Calvin Ridley remains under contract, but beyond him you’re looking at newly-acquired journeyman Van Jefferson and 2nd-year UDFA Bryce Oliver (don’t sleep on him, but there are levels to this).
They really need a WR2 and WR3, especially to set up a young QB for success. They came into this offseason with WR listed alongside OT and EDGE as priority needs, but unlike those two positions, the offseason stars haven’t been easy to align. At EDGE, there are some FA stopgap options and the draft class is great. At OT, they found a very rare, capable long-term starter on the open market. But receiver is just plain tricky this cycle.
It was a deeply uninspiring crop of free agents from the start, and if you look at who remains today, it’s flat out bleak. There are 2 or 3 intriguing options left who you could pay, but any of them would honestly be a stretch as a starter at WR3. Meanwhile in the draft, it’s not as bad a class as many made it out to be at the start. But the Titans picks at 1 and 35 appear to be tied up in other priorities. So how do you make this work?
This is where the comparison between the Titans 2025 offseason and the Commanders 2024 offseason becomes unnervingly similar. This is a comparison Tennessee brass has made themselves on more than one occasion. The way Washington rebuilt modestly around the eventual addition of Jayden Daniels with modest, smart, small contracts is something they’ve studied and really admire. It’s how they’re structuring their offseason, though any expectation of hitting at Daniels-levels of success in Year 1 are admittedly quite lofty. It doesn’t have to work so spectacularly at the outset to be a success. If the Commanders found a 99th percentile outcome in the process, the Titans landing in the 50th percentile would still be a definitive win in 2025. That’s what they’re hoping for.
But the unsavory similarity is at the wide receiver position. This isn’t a part of how Washington did it last year that the Titans would like to replicate, but unfortunately it’s the path they’re headed down so far. When you go back and look at who the Commanders won with last year at wideout, it’s a surprising reminder of the unlikely success they enjoyed.
Terry McLaurin is an undisputed stud, of course. But beyond him, Daniels was throwing to Olamide Zaccheaus, Dyami Brown, Jamison Crowder, KJ Osborne, Luke McCaffrey, and Noah Brown. It wasn’t exactly a murderer’s row of receiving talent!
Daniels and OC Kliff Kingsbury did a lot of heavy lifting throughout the season. And where the Titans are at—whether they grab a couple early Day 3 rookies or shoot for volume in free agency—the QB and playcaller in Tennessee this year are likely to have to do the same.
