The Tennessee Titans are heading into a fundamentally different era on defense under Robert Saleh. Nobody is immune to the changes, not even star defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons.

Simmons, Saleh, and DL coach Aaron Whitecotton have talked about the adjustment that will take some getting used to. But when you compare the snap count data from Saleh’s past to Simmons, courtesy of The Tennessean’s Nick Suss, it paints a clear picture of what Simmons’s workload could look like in 2026.

Get ready for fewer total snaps, a higher percentage of pass-rushing opportunities, and a philosophical overhaul that will test whether Tennessee’s defensive depth can hold up without its best interior lineman on the field as often.

Here’s the big picture: since Simmons’s first full season in 2020, he has never averaged fewer than 50 snaps per game. Last year’s 49ers team, under the direction of Saleh, didn’t have a single interior defensive lineman average more than 30 snaps per game. That’s a 20-snap-per-game difference! Even when you account for stars in Saleh’s past who were exceptions to the rule, the gap remains significant.

The efficient ambitions of Simmons’ new role

Take Quinnen Williams in New York from 2021 to 2023. The All-Pro defensive tackle averaged 43 snaps per game across those three seasons under Saleh. Keep in mind, 50 isn’t Simmons’s average. That is his lowest single-season average as a full-time starter. So the apparent ceiling for a star player in Saleh’s system still falls well short of Simmons’s previous floor.

But the reduction in total snaps is by design, of course. Saleh himself has talked about wanting Simmons’s snaps to be almost entirely pass-rush snaps, and the data backs him up. Simmons was on the field for 81% of the Titans’ third-down pass defense snaps last season. By comparison, Saleh had Williams on the field for 95% of the Jets’ third-down pass defense snaps in 2023. Only 17% of Simmons’s total snaps in 2025 came on third-down pass plays, while third-down pass plays accounted for 23% of Williams’s usage that year. That’s a big increase in deploying your interior star to attack the quarterback on money downs.

Can the Titans stop the run without Simmons on the field?

This is where the conversation gets interesting. I think this approach maximizes what he does best as a pass rusher. He’s obviously a fantastic run defender too, but the question is whether you need him out there on every early-down snap when you have other guys who can handle that role.

Let me be clear: I don’t want to minimize the run game. I’m a pro-establish-the-run guy. But between Cedric Gray, Anthony Hill, Cody Barton, and the safeties who will come down into the box, the Titans should have enough bodies to handle the ground game on the back end. Kevin Winston is a proven tackler. Tony Adams fits the run-stopping mold and can flow through traffic. Up front, Jordan Elliott, Solomon Thomas, Keldric Faulk, John Franklin-Myers, and Femi Oladejo all bring the heft and mass to be stout against the run.

The Titans are going to want to play lighter boxes as a fundamental of this defense. And yes, I’ve talked all offseason about how I wish they had more speed on the defensive side of the ball. But what they lack in speed, they make up for in size and strength. I don’t care if it’s lighter boxes if you’ve got big dudes who should be able to stop the run without Simmons out there on every snap.

I do fear we’re going to start talking about Saleh’s system as a magical cure-all for this defense. If this was simply the best way to play defense, every team would play this way. There are trade-offs. You’re liable to get burned more often with this approach than the alternative. But the numbers suggest the Titans are going to use Simmons the way Saleh has always used his best interior players: fewer snaps, more of them on passing downs, and a whole lot more aggression getting upfield.