Free Agency vs The Draft: Where the Titans should look to address wide receiver, cornerback, edge, and other roster needs in 2026

The Titans have a lot of money, a lot of draft picks, and a lot of needs. Here’s where I think they need to address the biggest ones.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Carnell Tate (17) celebrates a touchdown Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, during the Big Ten football championship against the Indiana Hoosiers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Tennessee Titans are heading into a pivotal offseason. They have the most cap space in the NFL to spend in free agency, and they have four draft picks in the top-101 to use.

This roster needs a lot of help, chiefly at three premium positions flashing red on the dashboard: CB, EDGE, and WR. Here’s the landscape for each Titans need in both free agency and the draft, and where I’d recommend trying to address each.

Cornerback

Cornerback is one of the stranger premium positions in football. To me, each individual player’s ceiling is very important. But altogether as a unit, it’s the premium position I’m most concerned about establishing a firm floor at. You really are only as good as your third cornerback a lot of the time.

With such a dramatic need for quantity at this position right now, I’ve got my eye on the possibilities in free agency. I don’t generally condone swinging for the fences at the top of the market at CB, but I do think they should spend a serious chunk of money establishing that floor. So I would sign at least two guys in the range of Joshua Williams from the Chiefs or Alontae Taylor from the Saints. Two or three signings at or near $10M AAV would be perfect to me. Of their three biggest premium needs, this is the one I’m most inclined to turn to free agency for.

Then you turn your sights to a promising draft pick or two. Allow for EDGE and WR to be the priorities with the first two picks, but a Day 2 CB is very firmly in play too. I really like the idea of doubling up in the draft, and I did so at corner both here and here if you want some examples of players in this range I’d target.

Edge Rusher

Edge is the simplest position to figure out how to meaningfully address, and that’s because it is the hardest to meaningfully address. History is crystal clear on this: if you want a star EDGE1, you have to spend a first round pick. The exceptions to this are few and far between. The Titans have the fourth round pick, and you’re going to see Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, Miami’s Rueben Bain, and Texas Tech’s David Bailey mocked to them a lot this year. Those three options are the kind of players who have star pass rusher upside, and if you want that, you must take one.

In free agency I think the Titans need to throw some bodies at this position, but not a ton of money. They found a pair of useful players here last offseason in Dre’Mont Jones and Jihad Ward. Both are free agents again, and that’s the tier of mercenary they need to target. Like CB, go set the floor.

Wide Receiver

Wide receiver is tricky, because it’s a projection game. Who will actually be available in free agency? Right now, the top names on paper are Alec Pierce from Indianapolis, Mike Evans from Tampa Bay, Romeo Doubs from Green Bay, Wan’Dale Robinson from New York, and Jauan Jennings from San Francisco. I’d bet at least three, if not four of those guys sign back with their current team. That’s just how this always seems to go.

So once again, I take a premium need and I look towards the draft. As strong a historical argument as there is for EDGE at 4 overall, I’m not going to rule out Ohio State’s Carnell Tate just yet. More discussions need to be had, so keep an eye on the Combine at the end of the month for potential intel. I like some of the early Day 2 options as well though, such as Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr, Louisville’s Chris Bell, and Tennessee’s Chris Brazzell.

Best of the Rest

At tight end, there’s a nice crop of players set to hit the market in free agency. David Njoku from Cleveland is my favorite, but Isaiah Likely from Baltimore and Cade Otton from Tampa Bay are also attractive options. Pitts and Goedert will be too if they actually hit the market, which I don’t expect. The Titans need to add at TE to get with the times and improve their ability to dictate terms to opposing defenses in 12 and 13 personnel. There are some starter-ready veterans out there, go get one. In the draft, this TE class is really deep. More tight ends got invited to this year’s Combine than I can ever remember seeing. Keep an eye out for a lot of serviceable Day 3 options who could come in and be instant impacts like Gunnar Helm was last year.

At running back, it really depends on what the front office wants to do with the two veterans under contract. Tyjae Spears and Tony Pollard will play for this team in 2026 if no moves are made, but Pollard in particular could be a cut candidate if this team chooses to try and upgrade. I know they’d like to, but is that high on their list of priorities? I’m not sure. If you want an immediate upgrade, free agency is the way to go. Sign Breece Hall from the Jets, Travis Etienne from the Jaguars, or Tyler Allgeier from the Falcons and hope they bring a youthful infusion of juice to the position. If you want to add depth and prepare for 2027 when the position likely turns over, draft a guy on Day 3 to develop.

At linebacker, there are attractive options in both free agency and the draft if you ask me. My stance on the modern linebacker position is that we underrate just how hard a transition it is from college to pro, and I’ll always lean towards a veteran unless you’re swinging for the fences on a top draft pick. The Titans don’t really have the luxury of doing that right now (we can talk about what Arvell Reese would mean later). As a proponent of swinging on non-premium positions in free agency, I wouldn’t hate targeting Devin Lloyd from Jacksonville, Devin Bush from Cleveland, or even the oft-injured Leo Chenal from Kansas City.

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