The Tennessee Titans are one of 10 teams in the NFL that hired new head coaches this year, a record-tying number of changes. Last year saw Mike Vrabel and Liam Cohen take their respective teams from the bottom of the league to the playoffs in their first season with their teams, so former NFL player and scout Bucky Brooks took a deeper look at this year's changes. Brooks, now an analyst for NFL.com, ranked every head coach with a new team by which of them will win the most games. Believe it or not, Titans head coach Robert Saleh didn't come in last. He ranked 7th out of 10.
Given some time to reflect on his 20-36 tenure as head coach of the New York Jets, Saleh now has a chance to transform those losses into valuable lessons that produce better results in Tennessee. In his second head-coaching gig, Saleh has decided to serve as defensive play-caller, allowing him to take a hands-on approach to building that group around a disruptive front led by DT Jeffery Simmons. Offensively, Saleh handed the call sheet to Brian Daboll, giving the unit an experienced play designer and quarterback developer to work with Cam Ward as last year's No. 1 overall pick looks to ascend after a challenging rookie season. Although Saleh is tasked with creating a playoff contender in a rough-and-tumble division that features a pair of emerging Super Bowl contenders in Jacksonville and Houston, Tennessee could start to look the part under a taskmaster with a clearer vision for constructing a winner a second time around.
After Saleh's preseason opener, he should have a good idea of what the Titans need to work on over the next few weeks before the regular season starts. And with the Titans coming off a four-win season, the bar isn't that high for Saleh to be successful in 2026. As for the rest of the list, Brooks' ranking from the top is Jesse Minter, Joe Brady, John Harbaugh, Mike McCarthy, Kevin Stefanski, Klint Kubiak, Saleh, Todd Monken, Mike LaFleur, and Jeff Hafley. The Titans' final two preseason games will be held at Nissan Stadium against the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks and then the Chicago Bears. Those two games will give us further indication of what this team will look like, and whether Saleh has a chance at winning more than four games in 2026. This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Titans' Robert Saleh among new head coaches expected to have success