The Tennessee Titans’ starting defensive line stands apart from every other position group on this roster. Through training camp and joint practices, though, the unit has been quieter than expected. Titans fans hoping for big sack numbers and dominant pass rush reps from Jeffrey Simmons, John Franklin-Myers, and Jermaine Johnson have been left waiting. The question now is whether the lack of disruption is a product of preseason limitations or a genuine cause for concern heading into the 2026 regular season.

I’ve talked about and written about all summer long how much bigger my expectations are for this group than pretty much any other position group on the team. They’re the only unit I’m willing to say a league-average season from would be an abject disappointment. They need to be well above average based on the influence of coach Robert Saleh and the history he has with his defensive fronts, combined with the caliber and pedigree of players the Titans have on paper. There really is no excuse for them, outside of catastrophic injuries, not to be a well-above-average group. They have the potential to be one of the best, if not the best, defensive fronts in the entire league this year.

The eye test hasn’t matched the paper yet

It’s easy to come to that conclusion on paper. So far through training camp, though, we haven’t seen them pop in a way that reinforces what the roster suggests. The proven commodities on both the coaching and player sides buy them a leash, and that leash is keeping most everybody from really freaking out over the fact that we’re not getting massive sack reports.

A lot of the focus on trench play so far has been on the Titans offensive line, where there are serious questions. Any day the defensive line doesn’t demolish the offensive line is being interpreted as an impressive day for the O-line, because we know so much less about them. Mentally, most of us are baking in the expectation that the defensive line will become what we think they’re going to be because they are so much more proven.

And yet, when Tennessee traveled to San Francisco this week for joint practices, they faced another shaky offensive line situation with the 49ers, and they weren’t massively disruptive then either.

A perspective from the Bay Area

That’s where an interesting conversation with NBC Bay Area’s Jennifer Lee Chan came in. Chan, who covers the 49ers, joined us on the A to Z Sports YouTube channel, and we discussed disruptive patterns in Saleh’s defense from a defensive front standpoint. She talked about what that has looked like in previous preseasons when Saleh coached in San Francisco and what to expect once the regular season starts.

Some fans are going to take this talking point as cope. Some are going to see it as hope. Some are going to see it as a downright expectation. I lean toward the very latter point: this is the expectation. It makes sense logically.

But I don’t bring this up to say “don’t worry about lack of disruption in the preseason because it’ll all be okay.” I think that’s a lazy way of thinking about it. The reality is it better be this way. I’m not saying it will be. I’m saying it better be, or the Titans are going to be in real trouble.

When I asked Chan whether solid defenses in the past have been quieter in the preseason before their front reared its ugly head in the regular season, she offered some useful perspective:

“I mean, I think, you know, it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen during a preseason, during training camp. And then you do get into those early season games and you’re like, okay, here we go. You know, if you don’t see it during the preseason, don’t be surprised if you see a little bit more impressive performance once you get to the actual regular season. They just have to protect each other. They have to protect the other teams. I mean, that’s why those fights started, is because someone was taking a little bit— was tackled a little bit too hard. Players ended up on the ground. And so everybody takes that personally. So that’s why those skirmishes start up. But I mean, I thought there were some good plays by the Titans defense too.”

The leash has a limit

The bottom line is that tackling periods in training camp and joint practices are not live. Quarterbacks are in red jerseys. You can’t touch them. You can’t even really get close to them. There was a clip from the current season of Hard Knocks in Seattle where one of the defensive linemen got into it with coach Mike McDonald for getting too close to Sam Darnold during a pressure simulation. McDonald yanked him from the drill after a warning. That’s how careful teams have to be around the franchise quarterback.

That’s a convenient excuse to wash away concerns about disruptive pressure, though. Franklin-Myers has also missed the past couple of practices, and he is the top pressure artist on this team outside of Simmons. These guys are still ramping up, and I do think it’s reasonable for them to have a leash.

That said, once the regular season starts, the leash disappears. Simmons, Franklin-Myers, and Johnson are all going to have to prove they were worth the investment, that they are worth being the centerpiece of this team, and that they have the highest ceiling on this roster. The talent is there on paper. The coaching pedigree is there. Now it has to show up on the field.