PHOENIX – The Titans leaned heavily on guys they knew in putting together their free agent class, with five out of their six top acquisitions having played before for Robert Saleh or Brian Daboll. The depth additions were also heavily connected.
That raises a big question: how well can the Titans identify, develop and integrate veteran players they don’t already know?
Mike Borgonzi said some of the players he chose coincidentally overlapped -- with quality ascending talent who matched the Titans' needs and budget, having happened to have played for the Jets, the 49ers or the Giants.
“When the new coaching staff came in, there was familiarity with a lot of these players that we had high on the board,” Borgonzi said of his second free-agent stack. “(John Franklin-Myers) was like top of our board, it just so happened that Saleh and (Aaron) Whitecotton had him before.”
The new staff also knew Wan’Dale Robinson, Cor’Dale Flott, trade acquisition Jermaine Johnson and Daniel Bellinger.
“I think that helps when you acquire guys in free agency that the coaching staff is familiar with,” Borgonzi said. “You have your college background information on these guys in terms of their character. Until they get into an NFL building, and these guys have gone through four years of it, a coach sees them, sees how they approach practice, how they approach game day, they’ve been with you, and plus they are system fits too. I think it just kind of happened that way, too.”
Robert Saleh spoke of the safety of knowing what to expect from men who know their coaches’ expectations, systems and routines.
Familiarity helps. It reduces risk. But it can also shrink a search.
Alontae Taylor was the only major addition they found outside their own network. Was he the only guy out there that the Titans didn’t know who could help them?
It’s challenging to find good people you don’t know, but it’s part of what good teams with cap money have to do.
The Patriots turned things around last year, moving from a losing season into title contention with a new coaching staff and an infusion of talent. Mike Vrabel leaned on players he knew from his time with the Titans like Harold Landry, Austin Hooper, Jack Gibbens and Robert Spillane.
But New England mixed in “outsiders” including Milton Williams, Stefon Diggs, Carlton Davis and Garrett Bradbury. Those players were not previously connected and played major roles in a dramatic turnaround that led to a trip to the Super Bowl.
“You just have to be very careful,” Vrabel said. “It happens so quick. You’re looking at the player on film. You can watch as many games as you want to watch, but you really don’t have an opportunity to know who that person is, unlike the draft when you have so many touchpoints -- from scouts, from coaches, from pro days, from visits, from the combine.
“So you just have to be very careful with the type of people that you’re bringing in in free agency.”
Chicago didn’t shop its own network while adding pieces that helped win a division title under a new staff in 2025. It shopped the league in free agency and through trades, paying five players an average of $14 million or more, with guard Joe Thuney at the top.
Jacksonville didn’t lean on familiarity either. It built from the outside, targeting value and fit across the league while improving by nine wins.
How the Patriots, Bears and Jaguars Built for Big Turnarounds
Despite the success stories of those three teams that went from out of the playoffs to division champs last year, Saleh is wary of the sort of costly mistakes that have often been big storylines of NFL free agency.
“More often than not, you see the big-money free agents just kind of fail wherever they go next,” he said. “If you look at the history of free agency, the teams that go in blind on character, where nobody knows anybody, those are the players who usually -- I’m not saying it’s 100 percent or anything -- but those are the players that have a higher risk of busting.
“Versus players who have familiarity with the coaching staff, familiarity with the schemes, those guys usually have a greater chance of 
having success in their new building. So we loved the player and it helped that the familiarity was there.”
The Titans have certainly brought in the sort of costly duds, the sort Saleh worries about. Dan Moore is trending that way, though they knew who they were paying. Lloyd Cushenberry didn’t pan out, just like Andy Levitre and Adam Humphries.
But Tennessee has made a few good additions at relatively high prices in the past, like DeAndre Hopkins, Rodger Saffold and Brian Orakpo.
Some good players connected to their leadership have joined the team and been helpful pieces: Ben Jones, Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan.
Familiarity can raise the Titans’ floor. But if it limits their reach, it may also cap their ceiling.
