As if often the case with a franchise working to emerge from a multi-year rebuild, the jumping off point for the Tennessee Titans remains a hot topic. Even with Robert Saleh taking over and new pieces being put into place across the board, it’s impossible to tell right now whether or not this Titans team is actually poised to compete.
We’ll always prefer winning now to stocking up for the mere hope of winning later, and veteran DT Solomon Thomas just so happens to agree. Speaking with Titans media today, Thomas addressed the team’s rebuild, setting a bold bar for the season to come.
“We’re not culture-building here, we’re winning here,” Solomon said. He went on to charge those aforementioned new pieces, specifically the ones that have won elsewhere, with creating a belief in the players that have long bided their time in Nashville.
Tennessee hasn’t been the darling of preseason projections this season, but is that a surprise? More importantly, should that have anything to do with what is expected of Saleh’s first year?
The Titans must push to win now
The answer is very clearly in the negative. Thomas was traded from the Dallas Cowboys to Tennessee back in March, joining a spring wave of fresh faces coming in to redefine the Titans’ roster. Thomas, at 31 years old, isn’t a stash and save addition. He’s a win-now guy.
The same goes for DE John Franklin-Myers, the former Denver Bronco that Tennessee signed in free agency. At age 29, Myers joins veteran Jeffery Simmons (also 29) to form a dynamic duo on the defensive line that will only remain dynamic for so long.
Tennessee has invested in young talent where it matters too, especially on offense. But after two years of unproductive rebuilding under Brian Callahan, Saleh wasn’t brought in to stall with that same momentum.
Robert Saleh was hired to bring change to Tennessee
Saleh doesn’t have to come out and make a Super Bowl run this season, but surpassing the Titans’ three-win count from each of the past two seasons should be the absolute floor in his debut run.
As Thomas pointed out, none of the momentum that Tennessee has picked up this offseason has been to gradually build a reimagined culture. The energy is different, no doubt, but it’s because Saleh’s regime is basically turning left everywhere that Callahan turned right.
With Cam Ward expected to take a sizable leap and Tennessee seemingly renting Brian Daboll’s services as offensive coordinator for this season, the goal is no longer to play spoiler where you can and cross your fingers for a lucky break in the draft.
Veteran assets are here to win, Carnell Tate was picked to make an impact from day one, and Robert Saleh was hired to orchestrate the change that Brian Callahan could not. That doesn’t start a few years from now.
It starts this coming Sunday, Sep. 13, against the New York Jets.
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