The Tennessee Titans are coming off back to back three-win seasons and are desperate to climb out of the hole.

Last season the New England Patriots made that climb all the way to the Super Bowl under Mike Vrabel, and more dots are connecting between the two off-seasons. Ever since the Titans hired Robert Saleh as head coach, offseason similarities between the Patriots before the 2025 Super Bowl run and the 2026 Titans continue to get stronger.

The NFL Schedule released just added another layer to this storyline leading to either universe foreshadowing or complete ironic coincidence.

2026 Titans’ offseason similarities to the 2025 Patriots’ offseason

2024 New England Patriots:

• Drake Maye was the prized future of the organization after being the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft
• New England finished dead last in the AFC East with a 4-13 record
• Jerod Mayo was fired as, failing quickly in his first head coach opportunity
• Maye, started 11 games and threw 15 touchdowns to 10 interceptions
• The narrative around Maye was that his film was significantly more impressive than his box score stats due to the poor roster situation

2025 Tennessee Titans:

• Cam Ward was the prized future of the franchise as the number one overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft
• Tennessee finished dead last in the AFC South with a 3-14 record
• Brian Callahan was fired after five games in his second season as an NFL head coach
• Ward, started all 17 games, threw 15 touchdowns to 7 interceptions
• The narrative around Ward was that his film was more impressive than his box score stats due to his lack of supporting cast and coaching staff change

2025 Patriots offseason events:

• Hired re-tread, defensive minded, “leader of men” type head coach Mike Vrabel
• Hired a fiery, fired head coach at offensive coordinator: Josh McDaniels
• Held the fourth overall draft pick
• Spent the most money in the NFL during the free agency cycle

2026 Titans offseason events:

• Hired re-tread, defensive mind, “leader of men” type head coach Robert Saleh
• Hired a fiery, fired head coach at offensive coordinator: Brian Daboll
• Held the fourth overall draft pick
• Spent the most money in the NFL during the free agency cycle.

At this point you’re saying “alright, man, we get it” after seeing the nine pretty direct Spiderman-meme crossovers between the two franchises.

But what, there’s more.

Titans 2026 schedule adds to the “next Patriots” narrative

The New England Patriots received the ultimate schedule luck in the history of schedule luck last season to ride a 14-3 record by playing 11 games against teams who fired their head coach, twice against the Jets, the Bengals, and the NFC South.

It was by far the easiest schedule in the NFL, while the Titans happened to luck into one of the hardest schedules in the NFL’s modern era in 2025.

ONE of the Patriots three losses was in Week 1 to the Las Vegas Raiders quarterbacked by Geno Smith.

The Titans open this season hosting the New York Jets quarterbacked by Geno Smith.

Smith and the Raiders had the season run off the tracks as the worst team in the NFL to draft Fernando Mendoza with the earned first overall pick. The Jets are one of the teams with strong odds to earn the first overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, battling the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns.

Can the Titans actually be the next worst-to-playoffs NFL team?

I won’t bet on it. NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt said at the Titans’ new uniform reveal party that he believes Tennessee is the team picking Top 5 in the draft most likely to make the playoffs.

The Titans can absolutely take the next step towards being a contending, competitive team in 2026. The expectations should be to have meaningful football games after the trade deadline, that aren’t about the top of the draft order.

If Tennessee can double its wins from last year to six that’s solid progress. Winning seven or eight games in 2026 is real progress that places real expectations on 2027.

Even if the trend is for a top five drafting team to make the playoff jump it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I don’t think it will for any of those five teams.