Tennessee Titans Top Breakout Candidate in 2026
Newsweek · C · trust 48/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The Tennessee Titans did everything they could this offseason to set Cam Ward up for a better second year in the NFL .
They hired quarterback whisperer Brian Daboll to take over as offensive coordinator, used the fourth overall pick in the draft to take the top receiver, Carnell Tate, off the board, and signed slot specialist Wan'Dale Robinson to a four-year, $70 million deal.
But there's another player on the other side of the ball who may be a household name by this time next year, linebacker Cedric Gray.
Behind a 3-14 team, the third-year linebacker out of UNC led the Titans and finished fourth in the entire league with 164 combined tackles, seven tackles for loss, four pass deflections, three quarterback hits, two fumble recoveries, and one sack across 16 games.
Gray earned an overall PFF grade of 78.9 , the seventh-highest mark among 88 qualified linebackers, and a 92.7 run-defense grade, which ranked second at the position.
Despite all of that, Gray still hasn't gotten much national recognition, and very few people outside of Tennessee even know his name. But that could change in 2026.
Gray played just seven games as a rookie in 2024, totaling 22 tackles in just 48 snaps. A year later, he won the starting job outright in training camp and posted one of the best seasons of any linebacker in the NFL.
He already looks like the clear centerpiece of Tennessee's defense, and now he gets to do it under Robert Saleh and Gus Bradley — two of the more experienced and successful defensive minds in football, and both former linebacker coaches themselves.
Both Saleh and Bradley have built systems around aggressive, zone-heavy playstyles designed to let instinctive, sideline-to-sideline linebackers fly around and make plays. Just think of some of their former players: Bobby Wagner, Zaire Franklin, Dre Greenlaw, and Fred Warner.
Gray has the chance to join that list this season.
Gray himself said in June that his focus this year is to become a more complete player — improving in coverage and as a pass rusher to go with the tackling ability he's already shown, with the aim of becoming "an elite player in this league."
If he takes that step, there's a real path to push into Pro Bowl and All-Pro conversations.
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