The NFL announced Friday that the league’s 2026 schedule will be released on Thursday May 14, setting the slate for the Tennessee Titans last season in the original Nissan Stadium.

We’ve known the Titans 2026 opponents for months, and soon we will get to dissect how the 18 week calendar falls in every angle. We’ll have more predictions and rumblings as we get closer to release day, like primetime opportunities, international game chances, toughest stretch, and more.

I’ll kick things off with three (kinda five) Titans 2026 schedule predictions:

Titans’ Week 1 schedule trend begins to even out

Week 1 is obviously what first jumps off the page of every new schedule as everyone wants to know who’s up first.

The Titans have played on the road three straight seasons in Week 1, with the last home Week 1 opener in 2022 against the New York Giants. When going back to 2017, Tennessee has only started the regular season at Nissan Stadium in Nashville three times: 2022, 2021 (Arizona Cardinals) and 2017 (Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders).

Do I see the NFL having a franchise start a season on the road at a 70% clip over a 10 season span? That seems lopsided. 60% is justified, especially with a smaller market team.

Prediction: the Titans open up the season at home in Week 1. Why, other than the 10 year trend? This is the last season of the current Nissan Stadium before the new one opens for 2027. It’s an easy opportunity to tease the last year in the stadium, and for the NFL to flex the new building next door as Super Bowl hosting rumors continue.

Bonus prediction: the opponent is the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Aaron Rodgers at the helm. Young vs old QB match up (teasing for later) as Cam Ward faces Aaron Rodgers for probably the only time in their careers. Don’t forget, new Pittsburgh coach Mike McCarthy interviewed in-person for the Titans head coach job the Saturday before Robert Saleh was hired.

(The Giants could be an option for Week 1, but the NFL usually doesn’t do the obvious. It would be a great storyline to kickoff the season with the Giants beating out the Titans to hire head coach John Harbaugh, and both teams hired the other’s fired head coach. More on that later here.)

New England Patriots WR A.J. Brown has the Philadelphia Eagles and Titans on common ground

The second worst kept secret in the NFL this Spring is that A.J. Brown will be traded from Philadelphia to the New England Patriots to be with his former head coach Mike Vrabel, who is the male lead for the first worst kept secret in the NFL this Spring.

Brown (or his agent) trade-tactic’d his way out of Nashville before the 2022 NFL Draft and the past season he (or his agent, or Vrabel) allegedly started pushing his way out of Philly.

The Eagles definitely got the best of the first trade, winning a Super Bowl and playing in another, while Brown set franchise receiving records in a smily, fun first three seasons, before turning sour in 2025. Eagles fans and Titans fans now have more in common. A.J. Brown’s tweets hit different once he forces his way out of town.

Prediction: Brown gets traded to the Patriots on June 6 (same date as Julio Jones), with the Pats sending a 2027 second round pick, and a 2028 first round pick.

NFL attempts to lay early foundation for Cam Ward QB rivalries with other young gunslingers

The NFL is at its juiciest with top NFL quarterbacks dueling against one another in January, fighting for limited Super Bowl slots.

Cam Ward doesn’t yet have a built in QB rival entering his second season, but there are a few different opportunities on the 2026 Titans’ opponents list depending on how the cards fall.

Prediction(s): the NFL sets up the following three Titans matchups hoping for Cam Ward vs young QB battles:

• Tennessee at the Las Vegas Raiders will be a post Thanksgiving game: Kirk Cousins is likely to start the season for the silver and black over first overall pick Fernando Mendoza, especially with Tom Brady running the show. If the NFL wants the last two first overall picks to face one another, give it time for the Raiders to stink and insert the rookie to get live reps.
• The Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders home & home deal is a goal. The December win in Cleveland last season was one of the three the Titans had last year. While Sanders won the box score battle, Cam won the scoreboard. The Browns come to Nashville in 2026. What week, month is Shedeur most likely to start at QB for the Browns? This is a game of roulette. DeShaun Watson will start the season, but Sanders takes over around Halloween. Book the Browns at Titans in November.
• The Giants will play in Nashville in Week 3 or Week 4, to best guarantee Jaxson Dart is healthy enough to face Ward, the two first round QBs from the 2025 NFL Draft. The list of crossover personalities between these two teams is crazy long. Both teams hired the other’s fired head coach (Brian Callahan, Giants QB coach and Brian Daboll, Titans offensive coordinator). The Titans fired defensive coordinator, Dennard Wilson is in the same role under new NYG head coach John Harbaugh. Daboll/Saleh hired Carmen Briscillo to be the offensive line coach in Tennessee. The Titans signed nearly all of the Giants valuable free agents in March. WR Wan’Dale Robinson, CB Cor’Dale Flott, TE Daniel Bellinger, and C Austin Schlottman all are likely to be in starting roles.

We’ll have the Titans schedule release covered in every way on our A to Z Sports Nashville YouTube Channel, as well.

<iframe id=”totalpoll-iframe-416″ src=”https://atozsports.info/poll/what-do-you-think-of-the-oilers-throwback-jerseys/?embed=1″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”100%” height=”700″></iframe>