Alontae Taylor’s postgame tweet after Week 6 benching left plenty of Titans fans confused, and I’ll admit I didn’t get it at first either
The Titans got their first win of 2026 without their $58 million cornerback on the sideline. Then Alontae Taylor took to social media with a message that needs some context. Here’s your PSA:
The Tennessee Titans got their first win of the 2026 season in Week 6 against the Indianapolis Colts, but they did it without one of their highest-paid free agency additions from this spring. Starting outside CB Alontae Taylor was inactive on game day as a “coach’s decision”. In other words, he was a surprise healthy scratch.
The move followed Taylor’s particularly poor play against the Houston Texans in Week 5, and it went beyond a simple benching. He was not a part of the Titans sideline at all against the Colts. After that Texans loss, it certainly felt like there needed to be some real consequences for starters on this team to send a message.
Why Alontae Taylor was the Titans’ healthy scratch
Taylor was the most reasonable switch to make, based on his level of play against Houston and the backup situation in Tennessee’s secondary. Joshua Williams returned to the active roster, and that gave the coaching staff the flexibility to sit Taylor without leaving the cornerback room short-handed.
It didn’t cost them in the end, because Tennessee walked away with its first win. That said, I wouldn’t say the Titans secondary got substantively better without Taylor in the rotation. And it’s a tough look when a player you gave a $58 million multi-year contract to is already inactive roughly a month and a half into his time with the team.
So the Titans head back home with a win in hand and a problem left here to solve. Figuring out how to remedy the Alontae Taylor situation is now near the top of the to-do list.
What Taylor’s postgame tweet actually means
Taylor took to social media after the win and posted something that, to be transparent, is very misleading for anyone who doesn’t understand the reference. I can say that from experience, because I didn’t really understand it at first either! I have to put my hand up on this one.
After the win, he posted a simple message: “Titans win!” with a fire emoji and then two thumbs down emojis.
I quickly quote-tweeted it and screenshotted the post. This is a textbook kind of thing that athletes often post and then delete, I thought.
If it had been a negative post, that is. I misunderstood.
It took me a second to realize the two thumbs down is simply Taylor’s go-to celebration. Looking back, I can picture him doing it in Titans gear. But to be totally honest, until now, I hadn’t put two and two together that it was his celebration. I filed it away as one of the many moves you see in the bag of defensive back celebrations. I didn’t realize it was his trademark. Whoops.
I’d imagine plenty of people following this situation saw that post and were just as confused as I was. So consider this your PSA. Two thumbs down is what Taylor does to celebrate. It is not him being cheeky, sarcastic, or salty with Tennessee about being inactive for the game. He is celebrating the win.
There may be some trouble in the relationship between Taylor and the Titans because of the benching, who is to say. But if there is, he isn’t voicing it on social media here.
The bigger questions remain unanswered. When will he come back? In what capacity will he return? What kind of explanation will we get this week as to what happened here? I have no idea yet, and I’ll be watching closely for answers once the team is back in the building.
But is Taylor using social media to air frustration over his team’s decision to leave him inactive? He is not.
