Titans Mailbag: What Defines Success for Cam Ward, Brian Daboll and the Titans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The mailbag is stuffed and I’ve left it unattended for too long.

So here are my best replies to your best questions as we head into the big weekend.

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It’s too independent of a stat to say it will determine their success.

Four teams with top 10 defenses didn’t make the playoffs last year – Minnesota was still a good team at 9-8. But the Browns (5-11), Saints (6-11) and Chiefs (6-11) were poor even with strong yardage defense units.

Scoring defense is a better way to look at it, I think. Only two teams that were top 10 in scoring defense missed the playoffs last year, the Chiefs and Vikings. I’m not factoring in, as these stats don’t, a pick or fumble return for a TD or a special teams score.

The Rams were 10th giving up 21.3 points a game. The Titans gave up nearly a TD more a game at 28.1.

If the Titans have a Top 10 scoring defense via giving up about a touchdown less a game, I think they’d have a chance of being a playoff contender, yes.

The Titans were 30th at 16.7 points per game in 2025.

A 10-spot jump would mean 4.6 more points a game and get them to 21.3, their highest per game average since 2021 when they scored 26.4 a game en route to an 11-5 record and the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Scoring wasn’t as big a playoff indicator last season as scoring defense. Four of the top 10 didn’t make the field last season – Detroit, Dallas, Indianapolis and Baltimore.

Jim Belaskie I just don't see the wisdom of cutting Cushenberry and not signing Zeitler especially when the plan was to sign 2 back ups, rely on a 2nd year player with very limited game experience and drafting a guard in round 5 and a center in round 6.

If they don’t think Lloyd Cushenberry can play anymore, they don’t think he can play anymore. Then it’s not about hanging onto him, it’s about finding a replacement. Kevin Zeitler is still out there, as is Greg Van Roten who played for Brian Daboll and Carmen Bricillo last year.

But before they decide what they have is insufficient they have to see it in action. So it sure seems they will put these five guys on the field and watch them for a while. If they are unsatisfied, perhaps they look outward. But first they will give Bricillo a chance to earn his money by developing a unit out of what they’ve collectively decided should be a sufficient group.

No matter what the performance? No way.

Why would Brian Daboll, a year removed from being fired in season by the Giants and coming off a poor season of Cam Ward development with an offense where he was especially influential with personnel acquisitions, be that hot of a property?

No, to be in the head coaching pipeline in January of 2027, Daboll’s got to help Ward make some serious improvements. And serious improvements by Ward will come with significant improvements by the team. That is entirely possible.

Barring injury, Tony Pollard is the starter. I don’t think they are in any hurry to move away from him. While backs like Nick Singleton can come in and hit the ground running, there is no feeling that they are pushing to replace him.

Carry distribution is always a big topic. I think he’ll start out getting an occasional series. 

As the season goes on, if he’s doing very well with his chances and Pollard is continuing to slow, maybe we see a bit of a transition. Tyjae Spears is still there too and they’ve talked him up. I don’t find him particularly threatening between the tackles.

Tyler Bailey Is Nick Singleton fully healthy and I'm worried about the oline but have hopes for coogan seems like a lewan type player

The Titans didn’t put a timeline on Singleton to be fully recovered from the foot injury he suffered at the Senior Bowl. He and the rookies arrive on Monday and he’ll be further assessed.

Pat Coogan is a great story and the Titans are confident he will reach his ceiling, whether that is starter or solid interior backup. But he is not a Taylor Lewan-type player. Lewan was an incredible athlete. Coogan lacks athleticism. His game is grit and smarts, not that Lewan didn’t have those qualities in combination with the thing that set him apart in a major way.

Zero. 

Do Titans fans think that saints have been heading up this organization for its time in Tennessee and run teams around the league? 

What Mike Vrabel appears to have been involved with was absolutely inappropriate, but owners don’t generally monitor the bedroom behavior of their employees. Does your boss poke around to find out what you and your colleages may or may not be up to outside of work?

I’m only concerned with such things if they affect one’s work, and the thing that affected Vrabel’s work above all else was the team’s terrible roster – some of which he had a hand in creating, and some of which he did not.

Certainly, this is more complex because of who he was with -- and Dianna Russini's ethical violations are extreme

But it’s pretty clear why the Titans fired Vrabel. He was a strong-willed alpha working for people who wanted a kumbaya environment and both sides tired of each other. Two years later he was in the Super Bowl and the Titans had won six of 34 games. He won.

I’ve said it doesn’t make me happy that I was not competing for stories on even footing. But despite pleas to keep discussing this story, with losing news stories as my major theme, repeating it merely makes me seem like I am whining. I am busy working and enjoying some offseason.

And as one reader pointed out: For those who want me to vilify and cancel Vrabel, while a coach and player are certainly different, what exactly was your stance on Steve McNair’s infidelity?

The idea that Vrabel giving Russini insider info amounted to tampering hits me as a stretch. Lots of coaches give lots of inside information to many reporters. No, they may not be sleeping together. 

But floating information on a source's behalf is a good share of what a lot of insiders do. Do we not think Jay Glazer is doing that for all his coaching friends who come to his pool party at the owners' meetings?

Are we calling for his sources to be investigated?

Before camp. Why such impatience for something with no impending deadline? He certainly is due a raise, but he’s also signed through 2027.

Seems pretty set that they will not have an extra leg in camp. Joey Slye is the kicker, Tommy Townsend is the punter, the JUGS machine will back them up at practices as needed.

The Titans and Team Saleh HAVE to be the same team. That can't be a question. 

And you can't have a team be a defensive tackle's team. (Maybe if that tackle is Aaron Donald, but still.) That was out of a deficiency of talent. When a player has that kind of ownership/ identity, it needs to be the quarterback or a Hall of Fame level talent. And still that sort of leadership is a subset of the coach in an effective organization.

The No. 1 thing that makes it successful is that Cam Ward is established as the quarterback heading into 2027 with zero questions about his status or his course. He's the Titans' ascending guy, with everything needing to continue to line up around him.

That could take on a lot of different shapes.

Who gets the blame if that doesn't happen? Well, we'd have to see why it doesn't happen. But I imagine it would be largely Ward, with some Daboll and some Shea Tierney in there and a degree of offensive line and skill position failures. 

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