One Titans Rookie Stood Out to Head Coach Robert Saleh

The fact that the Tennessee Titans were able to get a player like Nicholas Singleton in the 2026 NFL Draft when they did was pretty remarkable.  The Titans drafted Singleton in the fifth round back in April out of Penn State. He fell to the fifth round after sustaining a foot injury at the Senior Bowl in January.  Singleton left Penn State as the all-time leading scorer, with 55 career touchdowns. He's also fourth in program history in career rushing yards (3,461).  The kind of foot injury that Singleton had typically needs about three months to heal properly. He had surgery to repair the injury in February and was able to play in Thursday night's game with the San Francisco 49ers.  Singleton put together a solid outing. He finished the night with eight carries for 31 rushing yards. That means he averaged nearly four yards per carry, which is very productive.  Head coach Robert Saleh liked what he saw from the rookie and was asked what qualities made him so effective as a runner at Friday's Zoom call. Saleh highlighted Singleton's vision and really loved that he isn't afraid to lower his shoulder to pick up extra yards.  "You know, he's got great vision," Saleh said. "He's got great feet. You know, his start-and-stop is pretty **** good. You know, he can go 0 to 60 pretty quick. And what I loved about him, he was finishing runs violently. Getting his shoulder down, running people over, moving forward. Gaining three of four yards after contact. So, again, he's got a lot to him. Obviously, still a lot of things that he's got to clean up also, but again, for a rookie first start was pretty good."  Singleton has responded well to Saleh's comments from earlier in the offseason.  Saleh was asked a few months ago about how the running back hierarchy was shaping up, and he said that Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears would be the main running backs. Saleh also stated that Singleton would have to work to earn his spot.  Singleton was recently listed as the last running back on the depth chart, behind Kalel Mullings and Julius Chestnut.  There's going to be a lot of players competing for that No. 3 spot in the rotation. Along with Chestnut and Mullings, there's also veteran running back Michael Carter vying for playing time.  It will be hard for a rookie like Singleton to beat players with more experience like Mullings, Chestnut and Carter, but he's off to a good start.  He'll need to keep having these kinds of outings to secure his place in the Titans backfield.