As another entry in a wave of mid-week updates leading up to the Tennessee Titans' first game, the team captains for the 2026 season have officially been announced. The trio leading Robert Saleh's first Titans roster will be QB Cam Ward , DT Jeffery Simmons , and LS Morgan Cox .
On Brian Callahan's way out last season, Tennessee went all out on captains. The Titans gave that honor to seven players; on top of the three who will carry the crown this season, RB Tony Pollard , WR Calvin Ridley, S Amani Hooker, and LB Cody Barton .
Tennessee trimming that list to one player per side of the game, all three of whom took up that responsibility last season, is both sensible and still predictable. However, these three players represent two very different corners of the Titans' 2026 roster.
Simmons has been around in Nashville since Tennessee called his name in the 2019 NFL Draft. Through four head coaches and now a complete aesthetic overhaul for the franchise, Simmons has remained loyal to a team that has only intermittently found success with him.
On the other hand, Ward is entering just his second year under center for the Titans. Yet, the QB has the weight of the world on his shoulders as the face of a franchise in flux. The 40-year old Cox notably joins Simmons as a six-year veteran, signing with the team back in 2021.
Not only should it be a benefit for Tennessee that their three team captains remain unchanged through yet another head-coach hiring and firing, but those two sides of the roster represent one unified coin.
A crucial part of every rebuild is the connective tissue that a previous regime leaves behind. As much as some fans may like to entirely do away with what caused the Titans' historically bad previous two seasons, keeping veteran bright spots in place to build around is what gets a team off the ground.
Simmons get an obvious nod there, as well as guys like the aforementioned Pollard and Ridley, who carry over as playmakers who now have to carry less weight than before due to the young talent around them.
Ward, on the flip side, leads the battalion of that young talent. WR Carnell Tate is the offense's most noteworthy name in that regard, while fellow rookies Keldric Faulk (EDGE) and Anthony Hill Jr. (LB) are pushing the new era on defense.
It all comes together to create a vision that just convinced a Good Morning Football analyst that the Titans are a playoff team. Not only did going down to three captains make the title mean more, but the selections represent all the best parts of this Tennessee team.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/titans/onsi as Titans' Team Captains are Exactly as Expected - Why That's a Good Thing .
