Top Titans veterans with the biggest questions to answer in their second year with Tennessee: L'Jarius Sneed, JC Latham, and more

Vets need to set the tone in 2025

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Tennessee Titans center Lloyd Cushenberry III gives an interview as the team cleans out their locker room at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
© Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As of the beginning of Tennessee Titans OTAs, there are at least eight starting jobs expected to be filled by newcomers to the team. The Titans have been busy this spring filling out both the starting roster and its depth with prudent free agent additions, roughly 25 rookies, and a couple waiver claims to boot.

A lot is going to asked of these new Titans, but until they’re up to speed, it’s going to be on the returning members of the team to carry the slack and set the tone. I’ve identified the six returning starters with the biggest questions they have to answer in 2025. Here they are, and here’s what to look for:

C Lloyd Cushenberry

The Titans paid Cushenberry a 4yr/$50,000,000 contract last spring as the top center in free agency, and a Week 9 Achilles tear took him out halfway through his first season with the team. All indications since then are that his recovery has gone to plan and the timetable for his return to play has him fit to start for this team again in 2025, but will he hit the ground running?

Cushenberry is only 27 years old, but an Achilles tear took often leaves athletes never looking like their true selves again. Perhaps a positive angle here is the fact that we typically associate that "lost gear” with skill players and their explosive movement or top speed. How will an Achilles repair impact a center, aside from forcing him to get over the mental hurdle of trusting his leg to bear the full weight of a 300+ pound defensive lineman leaning on you? How quickly—and how well—Cushenberry is able to come back will be a big deal for this revamped Titans OL and rookie QB Cam Ward.

RT JC Latham

Not all of the questions on this list are inherently negative. I have a handful for JC Latham, but I’m really interested in his upside having made two significant changes ahead of his sophomore campaign.

Not only is Latham moving back to the right side of the line—where he played in college—but he’s also made a dramatic physical change. Take a look at these recent pictures of the big man:

I’m no carnival barker, but I’m going to guesstimate he’s down 20-30 pounds from last season based on how he looks today. The coaching staff challenged him to lose weight this offseason, and he’s seemingly knocked it out of the park. But how will that transformation impact him playing RT? Anchor was always a super-strength of Latham's, but will that falter at his new size? And will there be a trade-off for improved athleticism and agility, something he was sometimes beat at in his rookie year? I’m very curious to see his new game.

CB L’Jarius Sneed

Whether the Titans CB room is a strength or a weakness for them in 2025 may hinge entirely upon how L’Jarius Sneed looks in his 2nd season with Tennessee. There was a lot of context necessary to understand how his first year with the Titans went, but the bottom line is that he played just 4 games and didn’t look like the star he’s paid to be in them. Internal faith in him bouncing back is high, but he has a lot to prove and a shorter leash (at least in terms of patience) to do it this fall. You can read more about the latest on Sneed’s rehab right here.

CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr

Jarvis Brownlee Jr. should have been drafted much higher than the 5th round. I didn’t understand it at the time, and I’m not sure anybody understands it today. He looked in his rookie year just like the player everybody could see on his college tape and at the Senior Bowl: a certified dog who will find a way to hang with anybody and play physical as hell.

He’s exactly the kind of player Titans DC Dennard Wilson wants in his defense, and that’s why he’s heading into Year 2 as a starter. But as a longtime card-carrying member of the JBJ fan club, I’d like to suggest we pump the brakes just a TINY bit. His rookie tape is FILLED with promise, but the bar is raised this season. He’s a starter, and starters don’t get credit for “promise”. They get credit for results. I think he’s going to go out there and solidify himself as a starter in this league, but until he shows us he’s taken a leap, he remains a question mark on this roster.

LB Cedric Gray

The Titans need a linebacker to emerge from camp alongside Cody Barton. Desperately. They have a handful of talented options in competition for this mantle, including James Williams, Otis Reese, and David Gbenda. You could tell me any one of them is who earns that starting job by September, and I won’t be shocked one bit. However, the guy who has the most to prove is 2nd year LB Cedric Gray.

He’s the fourth man in the running for that position, and his status as a high 4th round pick means he has the most promise he needs to pay off. He was invested in, and his rookie year left a lot to be desired. By no fault of his own, it was somewhat scuttled out of the gate when he sustained an injury that had him rehabbing through much of the summer. But once he was back, he still struggled to break through in any meaningful way. I’m looking at him to come out swinging this offseason, or his rope may get short in a hurry.

DL T’Vondre Sweat

T’Vondre Sweat is another second-year player whose questions are all about upside. He proved himself and then some as a rookie who was a very controversial pick in the 2nd round last spring. Those who were champions of him (COUGH me COUGH) as a fantastic prospect throughout that process felt very vindicated throughout 2024, as he solidified himself quickly as the thunder to Jeff Simmons’ lightning along the interior of the DL.

He tallied 23 total pressure, 2 sacks and a forced fumble (don’t forget his electric fumble return either) which constituted a great start to a career as a 3-down lineman. But now it’s fair to ask: does he have another gear? At his size, his prototype as a player will never have the pass rushing teeth that somebody like Jeffery Simmons has, and that’s ok. That’s quite literally not his role. But how much bonus upside can he provide in that department as he continues to develop as a player? If he takes just one more step as a well-rounded DL, the Titans interior front will be one of the best in the league.

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