NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It’s a big third down early in the season and the Titans need to get off the field.
They aren’t a good pass-rushing team and they face a stark decision, the sort that can split the front office and coaching staff.
Does the outside linebacker coach send on the two edge players who are most likely to get to the quarterback in the moment? Or does he include one who may flash but is a developmental player who desperately needs the experience now to help him be an unquestioned guy later?
That may be oversimplifying things. There will be more specifics to the situations, and packages built for them and for opponents and matchups that vary week to week. Still, based on what we’ve seen from Femi Oladejo, he is less likely than Dre’Mont Jones or Arden Key to apply pressure or hit the quarterback on a given play.
This dynamic may be in play at other spots to a lesser degree in a way many fans may hate, with Van Jefferson and Elic Ayomanor, Tyler Lockett and Chimere Dike, Xavier Woods and Kevin Winston.
Would you rather…
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) August 17, 2025
A) See the #Titans lean on more proven, but not-great, players who are more likely to produce at a crucial moment in the regular season or…
B) Have them turn to youth even if they will get less now in the name of long-term development?
“There's a balance to that,” Brian Callahan said. “We're counting on a lot of young players to play for us in general and to get better, and the only way they get better is to play. That's part of the philosophy. When you have opportunities to let those guys go grow, they’ve got to go grow.
“And when it comes down to the actual regular season games, we are going to do whatever it takes to put ourselves in a position to win on top of it. That's the end all be all, that's our job. But you hope that those guys all have roles and can contribute and help.”
So there isn’t a clear answer there.
Jones and Key are not great, but they have had some success rushing the passer in the NFL. I believe offensive tackles would rather see Oladejo, who’s raw, than the two veterans on a crucial down early in the season.
I think Dennard Wilson and Ben Bloom will be more tempted to lean on guys they know know what to do and have shown rush plans and are probably going to have more impact on a game’s result. Chad Brinker and Mike Borgonzi want to win the game as well, but they also have a bigger stake in the speedier development of Oladejo, don’t we think?
“Whether it's a third down or a first down or wherever it comes up in the game, we're going to need all those guys to help contribute and… the young players got to keep coming along, and the veterans got to make plays when they have opportunities to make plays,” Callahan said. “And it'll allow us to hopefully field a competitive football team that way.”
Ultimately, the Titans will try to do both – go to the more reliable, proven guys with less upside and find the snaps to grow the youth that needs developmental time
But trying to split the baby is hard work and cuts the benefits of both sides.
“You have to have some balance there,” Callahan said. “I think for us, we're unique because of the amount of young 
players we're going to be counting on. First- and second-year players, for sure, that you have be able to be willing to let them go play and they've got to grow, and that's part of it.”
I suspect a large degree of fans will say, drop all the kids into the lineup and let them learn to swim. The Titans are rebuilding and the fastest path to getting through it is to endure what you have to and get to the other side.
I agree, unless one of the swimmers is completely lost. But Callahan and his staff need to feel a degree of assurance that rolling like that isn't going to cost them their jobs, if there is going to be temptation on some level to play it safe and go the other direction.
The messaging has been that the whole organization is in a patient mode, and that sounds great. But we never know what Amy Adams Strunk will wind up feeling if things are going badly, even if she'd pledged a buy-in at the start.