The Tennesssee Titans are already off to a pretty strong start to the 2026 offseason. The Titans hired Robert Saleh as their new head coach, and followed that up by hiring former Giants head coach Brian Daboll as their new offensive coordinator.
They've also started the offseason player movement with a fun player-for-player deal sending T'Vondre Sweat to the Jets for 2022 first-round pick Jermaine Johnson, a player Saleh obviously has direct connections to from his time with the Jets.
The move to acquire Johnson is just the beginning for the Titans, who have a ton of salary cap space to work with entering NFL Free Agency. And with the arrival of Johnson (and the departure of Sweat), the first move the Titans make this offseason might be a no-brainer to upgrade the interior defensive line next to Jeffery Simmons.
John Franklin-Myers is an obvious fit for Titans after Jermaine Johnson-T'Vondre Sweat trade
Not that this means a deal is already done, but Jermaine Johnson himself posted the "eyes" emoji in response to a Twitter/X post about John Franklin-Myers's numbers in recent years.
Johnson and Franklin-Myers were once teammates with the New York Jets, and they could soon be teammates on the Tennessee Titans. Franklin-Myers has been an outstanding piece of a Denver Broncos defensive line that has set franchise records in back-to-back seasons for sacks.
Franklin-Myers himself has set personal bests with 7 sacks in 2024 and 7.5 sacks in 2025. He's been a model of consistency throughout his NFL career already, but under Vance Joseph with the Broncos, he's been able to turn more of his pressures and QB hits into sacks.
Perhaps the most attractive quality for a player hitting free agency is availability. Franklin-Myers has only missed one game over the last five years. He's been durable, consistent, and it's time for him to get paid. The Titans make more sense than probably anyone else, especially because of the connection to Robert Saleh.
The trade to acquire Johnson from the Jets cost the Titans T'Vondre Sweat, and while Franklin-Myers isn't the same type of player, you can already see the vision for Saleh with Johnson coming off the edge, and the duo of Jeffery Simmons and John Franklin-Myers attacking from the inside.
If the Titans want to make a big jump in 2026, and it looks like they do, then they're going to need to raise the level of play on that defensive front. Simmons has been basically doing it all by himself. But the combination of Simmons, a player like Franklin-Myers, and a talent like Jermaine Johnson off the edge -- with Saleh calling all the shots -- could instantly transform this Titans defense.