NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans are rolling through training camp, including two days in full pads. Enough football has been played to start identifying which players have helped themselves and which ones have not. 

Five names land on the stock-up list, and five names or situations belong on the stock-down side for the Titans heading into the 2026 NFL season. The exercise is straightforward. These are early impressions from padded practices, not projections carved in stone. 

Trends matter, and the trends through the opening stretch of camp tell a clear story about where this roster stands.

Stock up: Elic Ayomanor, James Williams, Nick Singleton, Keldrick Faulk, Carnell Tate, and Jermaine Johnson

Second-year wide receiver Elic Ayomanor is coming off a reasonably productive rookie season (41 catches, 515 yards, four touchdowns) as a former fourth-round pick. 

Ayomanor was thrust into a role he was not ready for. He and Chimere Dike were pressed into action because of attrition with Calvin Ridley and because Tennessee simply did not have better options at the position. The results were mixed, about what you would expect.

Through the first handful of camp practices, Ayomanor is drawing a number of positive reviews. He looks bigger, faster, and stronger. A player who formerly would have been relied upon as the wide receiver two or three depending on the day is now a depth piece fighting for snaps, and he’s out there making plays against first-team and second-team guys alike. He’s finding ways to get open behind the defense. He’s understanding how to use his size and physicality to get off press coverage and create separation downfield. He has become a more refined route runner, and new wide receivers coach Greg Lewis, a former NFL wide receiver himself, appears to be helping Ayomanor capitalize on that momentum.

Linebacker James Williams has had a strong couple of practices. 

He’s one of those players who just looks good getting off the bus, but the question is whether or not he ends up playing for you. He could have to, depending on how attrition hits position groups across an 18-week regular season. Williams is down 20 pounds from 240, moving exceptionally well in coverage, and hauled in a one-handed interception off what appeared to be a Mitch Trubisky pass floated over the top of him. The converted safety turned linebacker is 6-foot-3, borderline 6-foot-4, and seems very comfortable in this defense. If inside linebacker Cody Barton is not long for this roster beyond the season, there’s reason to think Williams can start transitioning into that role as early as 2026.

Three rookies also land on the stock-up list. Fifth-round running back Nick Singleton is getting a lot of run and could really push Tyjae Spears for the third-down role. There’s a world in which, if Tony Pollard is not on this roster beyond 2026, Singleton could emerge as a starting-caliber back. That’s premature, but Spears is in a contract year and Tennessee’s running back depth chart will look different in 2027. For now, Singleton should see a fair amount of work as long as he’s healthy.

First-round defensive lineman Keldrick Faulk is in a great situation because he gets to learn. 

He does not yet have a full pass-rush arsenal or the diversity of skill set to be a three-down defensive lineman in this system, but he has the build and the correct mentality. He’s surrounded by veteran players like Jeffrey Simmons, John Franklin-Myers, and Malik Herring. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s plan is to have eight or nine defensive linemen active on game day, and Faulk will be one of them. He may start a game here or there, but he does not have to, and I think he’s in a very good position to grow so that when he is required to carry a heavier load, he can live up to his first-round billing.

Carnell Tate, the No. 4 overall pick, is as advertised. 

He may not end up having the career or the spectacular highlights of Julio Jones or other players drafted in similar positions, but he very much reminds you of Davante Adams. That is a player Tate himself has referenced repeatedly in media availabilities and on the radio show. They play very similar styles of football. I am not saying Tate will have Adams’ career, but I can say definitively that he is the Titans’ wide receiver one and probably the target you trust the most. A ton of pressure, but he seems built for it.

Then there is Jermaine Johnson, who just looks great two years removed from an Achilles injury. He understands Saleh’s defense from prior experience, and he has been a menace on the practice field. I do not want to say unblockable, because I do not know how he would fare against above-average starting-caliber NFL tackles. The Titans do not have either of those. But Johnson has been whipping everybody out there. For a team in desperate need of a true edge rusher, he is the best one Tennessee has had since the best version of Harold Landry.

Stock down: Pat Coogan, the tackle situation, Solomon Thomas, cornerback acquisitions, Gunnar Helm hype, and all 3 QBs

Sixth-round center Pat Coogan out of Indiana has not proven himself to be anywhere close to Austin Schlottmann or Andre James in the starting center competition. 

He has had a problem with high snaps in the early going, has struggled in pass protection, and NFL-caliber defensive linemen have taken him for a ride in these first few days of camp. I do not think Coogan factors into the starting center conversation in his rookie training camp.

The tackle situation does not inspire confidence either. JC Latham remains an interesting project player heading into Year 3, but he is still very much that, and there are real unknowns about whether the former seventh overall pick in the draft can live up to expectations. Dan Moore is already dealing with a few nicks and bruises from the second day of padded practice, though nothing is expected to keep him out long term. Even when Moore is available, he is a perfectly average NFL left tackle, and perfectly average left tackle play is fine if you have better offensive linemen around you. Tennessee does not. The swing tackle situation features Brandon Crenshaw-Dixon, the undrafted free agent out of Florida, and Austin Deculus, who was the worst-graded tackle per Pro Football Focus last season.

Depth defensive lineman Solomon Thomas brings system familiarity and is a net positive, but he is not a terribly impactful player. That has been the book on him his entire career as a former No. 3 overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers, and the first opportunity to see it up close in person has confirmed it.

The cornerback acquisitions have not wowed me. Cor’Dale Flott and Alontae Taylor are getting beaten on a regular basis by the Titans’ wide receivers, who are probably the deepest position group on the roster. Starting-caliber corners, especially given the money Tennessee paid them, should not be losing as often as they are. There is still the better part of a month of camp for them to respond.

Gunnar Helm hype is not a real thing based on how this offense is going to operate, it seems. 

I think Daniel Bellinger, the tight end who came over from the New York Giants with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, will get the primary amount of snaps as a more well-rounded veteran. Helm heading into Year 2 has potential as a pass-catching weapon, but big-body 6-foot-5 tight end targets are not usually featured in a Daboll offense. Tennessee has enough players to feature as is. That does not mean Helm is doing anything wrong. It just means I do not think the offense is going to favor him the way a lot of people seem to want to create.

All three quarterbacks round out the stock-down list. 

Hendon Hooker is on the roster but is not taking snaps in team drills. Cam Ward, Will Levis, and Mitch Trubisky have not been awful, but they have not been great. They have been a work in progress across the board, and none of the three have differentiated themselves in a meaningful way through the first two weeks.

Tennessee has a long way to go before September, and the early returns from camp suggest there is plenty of work left.