The NFL Schedule Release date is set for the evening of Thursday May 14, and I’ll have my eye on a few different items when dissecting the Tennessee Titans 2026 schedule for Cam Ward and Robert Saleh’s first year together.

Saleh’s first season as Titans head coach has a lot of juicy side stories with the opponents, and we’ll soon know when we’ll get to see him host the franchise who fired him as head coach, the New York Jets.

That’s just one example. Tennessee goes to the other New York team to play the Giants where the swap of fired coaches and free agent players is more than just ironic.

I’ve already done a handful of predictions, including the week 1 opener and Cam vs other young QBs. However, there are a few other things I want to dive into before seeing the schedule itself.

Titans home primetime game drought expected to continue

The last time the Titans hosted a primetime regular season game was the Thursday night squeezed between Christmas 2022 and New Year’s Day 2023 against the Dallas Cowboys. Tennessee was in the middle of a five game losing streak (which would turn to six that night) and started Joshua Dobbs at quarterback, for the injured Ryan Tannehill, less than a week after Dobbs was signed to the team.

The former Tennessee Volunteer QB had a valiant effort, but the Titans sat several other key players as the outcome vs the Cowboys had zero impact on the playoff race. Dobbs and the Titans lost in Jacksonville the next week in the ‘win and get in the playoffs’ game to end the year losing seven straight.

So why do I expect the Titans to go four straight seasons without hosting a primetime game?

New Nissan Stadium construction. Simply put, NFL primetime broadcasts take more trucks, equipment, space, than regular Sunday afternoon spots. The Titans broke ground on the new stadium next door to the current one in February of 2024, and will open the new building for the 2027 season.

The upset pick of the Titans schedule is for them to actually get a home primetime game so the league can show off the future home of an upcoming Super Bowl.

Does the NFL actually send the Titans across the pond this season?

Tennessee is ‘due’ in the rotation for another international game since last playing in London in October of 2023.

2026 is a season in which the Titans have nine road games in the 17 game schedule. NFL owners despise losing a home game to an international game (except the Jaguars), and the league taking one of nine home games in the debut season of the aforementioned New Nissan Stadium in 2027 feels cruel.

It makes sense to see the Titans get sent overseas this year. If not this year, then it would be 2028 and Saleh could have real expectations to win something of substance in his third season.

I’m sure Saleh would like to avoid any Jets flashbacks when he was fired after losing in London to the Vikings in 2024.

Titans ‘most winnable games’ list looks better than last year’s

Cam Ward had the privilege of facing the hardest schedule in the NFL as a 17 game starting rookie quarterback last season.

The first four weeks included: on the road vs the AFC runner up, home vs the NFC runner up, home vs the pre-broken juggernauts Colts, and at a playoff game winning Texans team.

The Titans had winnable games on the schedule last year and won two of them, in Arizona and in Cleveland. They couldn’t get out of their own way in Las Vegas, then got out-dueled by a much improved Saints team later.

Opponents I’ll list as ‘most winnable games’ without knowing any order to them:

• Home vs the Cleveland Browns
• Home vs the New York Jets
• Away at the New York Giants
• Away at the Las Vegas Raiders

Of course, a few others can find their way on the ‘winnable’ list with specific “if” parameters.

• Away vs the Cincinnati Bengals if Joe Burrow gets hurt again
• Either game vs the Texans if CJ Stroud is healthy and doing weird stuff
• Either game vs the Colts if it’s really early in the season and QB Daniel Jones isn’t healthy yet
• Home vs the Pittsburgh Steelers if Aaron Rodgers just wants to hang out with his wife

We’ll be here to break it down in every way, including our A to Z Sports Nashville YouTube channel.