Tennessee Titans Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars on the 2025 roster

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

In addition to detailing my picks for the NFL’s Secret Superstars heading into the 2025 season with this “Hidden Gems” series, I try to summarize where each team is in the article intros.

When getting into where the Tennessee Titans have been over the last few seasons, it was hard not to think of the recent writeup I did on the Jacksonville Jaguars, another AFC South team with a recent near-berth in a Super Bowl, whose fortunes were then upended by hubris and bad decisions. It was 2017 for the Jags

and 2019 for the Titans, who came up short to the Kansas City Chiefs in a 35-24 loss on Jan. 19, 2020.

Since then, there have been a lot of whiffs: trading A.J. Brown and hoping that Treylon Burks would be an equivalent solution. Failing to prepare for Ryan Tannehill’s descent. The whole Will Levis/Malik Willis thing. Deciding that Derrick Henry was past his prime.

No Urban Meyer-level disasters there, but not the way you want a franchise to go.

By the end of the 2023 season, even Mike Vrabel’s 54-45 regular-season record wasn’t enough to satisfy those in charge, which gave way to new head coach Brian Callahan in 2024. The former Bengals offensive coordinator has learned a lot about football over the years, and quarterbacks in particular, which he has proven in recent time with Tennessee radio host Burk Reising, and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup.

With the first overall pick in the 2025 draft, Callahan got the quarterback who can take all that knowledge to the field in Miami’s Cam Ward. Most know of Ward as the hyper-athletic guy with an impressive ability to make plays outside of structure, but don’t sleep on the fact that Ward was the NCAA’s best passer from the pocket last season — when he brought up that attribute at the 2025 scouting combine, he wasn’t fooling around.

Cam Ward said today that his best trait is "winning from the pocket." Last season from the pocket: 276 of 385 for 3,800 yards, 1,681 air yards, 33 TD (led the nation), 3 INT, passer rating of 128.3, EPA of 139.03.

Pretty, pretty good. pic.twitter.com/HCYyTxpvSo

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) February 28, 2025

So, that’s the start of the rebuild that Callahan and new general manager Mike Borgonzi need to undertake, and there’s enough talent elsewhere to at least make the 2025 Titans a spirited alternative to the 3-14 oof-show we saw in 2024.

If that’s to happen, it’ll require the efforts of everyone on the roster. So, here are three Secret Superstars for these Titans — one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent signing, and one underrated draft pick.

Underrated Veteran: Safety Amani Hooker

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

I had Hooker in mind for this space already, based on his outstanding sixth NFL season. But when Quandre Diggs — a Twitter buddy of mine from his days in Seattle — expressed outrage over Hooker’s exclusion from ESPN’s recent list of the NFL’s top safeties based on thoughts from coaches and executives, that was the tie-breaker.

Diggs knows quite a bit more about safety play than I do, and as he spent the 2024 season in the Titans’ defensive backfield with Hooker before a Week 9 Lisfranc injury ended Diggs’ season, I’m defaulting to the real expert opinion here.

Doug! Hook still young too so he just about to be in his prime!! https://t.co/D3pGzmCIPi

— Nino (@qdiggs6) July 10, 2025

Hooker is indeed still young — he turned 27 on June 14 — and the prime appears to be where he’s living now.

“[Things I can] improve on is having ball disruption, getting my hands on the ball, whether that is interceptions, pass break-ups, forced fumbles,” Hooker said before the 2024 season began. “Overall, just being the best safety I can be. I know I have a long road to get there, but I know my capabilities are there and I just have to improve this offseason and help my guys around me.”

Hooker had been more of a box/slot/free defender in previous years, but under new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson in 2024, he was more of a deep-third player, and for damn good reason: When he was back there, quarterbacks learned pretty quickly that throwing to Hooker as the last line of defense was an incredibly bad idea. When either in single-high or split-safety coverage, Hooker allowed three catches on 10 targets for 55 yards, and all five of his picks (not to mention three of his four pass breakups) came from there.

In 2024, you did not want to throw the ball anywhere near @Titans safety Amani Hooker when he was a deep-third defender. It was his ball more than it was yours. @qdiggs6 pic.twitter.com/Yno21WpWrP

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 19, 2025

If this is the Amani Hooker the Titans are getting from now on, even the three-year, $30 million contract extension with $17.15 million guaranteed he signed in 2022 could prove to be one of the NFL’s more epic bargains.

When it comes to the redefinition of the Titans’ defense, having a newly-minted deep-third eraser in a contract year can’t be a bad thing at all.

Underrated Free-Agent Signing: OG Kevin Zeitler

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

The Titans came out of the 2024 season with an undefined offensive line, and they’re heading into 2025 pretty much the same way. The big news was the four-year, $82 million contract with $50 million guaranteed given to former Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr. That’s a lot of scratch for a guy who led the NFL with 12 sacks allowed last season, and though the Steelers’ quarterback uncertainty had something to do with that, a look at Moore’s tape tells you that legendary offensive line coach (and father of Brian) Bill Callahan has his work cut out for him.

Dan Moore Jr. has an interesting biological footnote now. I'm guessing he's the only offensive lineman ever to lead the league in sacks allowed in one league year, and then become the richest free agent OL in the following league year. pic.twitter.com/GT2BT2AVRi

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 12, 2025

The decision to give veteran right guard Kevin Zeitler a one-year, $9 million contract with $8.75 million guaranteed likely came with far less uncertainty. Last season with the Detroit Lions, Zeitler was debited with five sacks and 18 total pressures allowed in 577 pass-blocking reps, but when you watch those sacks, they consist of Zeitler staying with his assignment past the point of probability, or letting defenders in on the backside of missed assignments after good initial contact. He was rarely beaten physically, which said a lot for a guy in his 13th NFL season, and someone who comes into his Titans tenure as the man who has played more offensive line snaps (12,443) than anyone else in the NFL.

The 2024 @Titans offensive line was an unmade bed most of the time. Kevin Zeitler should help a ton in alignment and setting protections, and the dude still has the chops to get it done with power, movement outside and to the second level, and pure technique. pic.twitter.com/5HXkVVsp1Q

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 19, 2025

“It just felt like the right decision for me and the family overall,” Zeitler said in June. “I am excited to work with coach Bill Callahan and try to be a part of trying to turn this around. I have known of coach Callahan for years… everyone knows he is considered one of the best, if not the best, in the league and a chance to work with him, learn his things, why not?”

Zeitler can be Callahan’s extension on the field, as he’s seen it all through a career that has taken him through every possible blocking scheme. And it appears that the old guy — Zeitler turned 35 on March 8 — hasn’t lost his love for pushing other people around in a positive sense.

“A lot of people say: ‘What the heck are you still doing [playing]?,’” Zeitler posited. “I love ball. Ball is going to go away some day, but not yet. I am going to go as long as I can do it well.”

That should be at least one more season, to the Titans’ great benefit.

Underrated Draft Pick: WR Elic Ayomanor

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Some athletes with true grit get it from their parents. Others get it from role models who have come before them. Others get it from those they have observed along the way.

In the case of Elic Ayomanor, he got it from all three in one person — his mother, Pamela Weiterman. She raised Elic as a single parent in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and as a female arm-wrestling champion who “made a lot of grown men not feel too great about themselves,” per her son. Weiterman gave Elic all the toughness he needed to succeed in his current role as a Stanford standout and fourth-round pick of the Titans.

Ayomanor wanted to try hockey as a kid when he didn’t know how to skate, and when he then wanted to quit, Mom was having none of it.

“Our family name is Weiterman, and there’s a certain characteristic that comes with being a Weiterman, a certain grit,” Ayomanor recalled in 2024. “You know that person’s a Weiterman, for sure. And a Weiterman definitely does not quit on anything.”

That took Ayomanor all the way from hockey country to Palo Alto, where he totaled 126 catches on 216 targets for 1,853 yards and 12 touchdowns over two seasons with the Cardinals. He is best known for a gobsmacking performance against Colorado in the 2023 season, when he caught 13 passes on 18 targets for 294 yards and three touchdowns, and tied a young cornerback by the name of Travis Hunter in knots for three hours.

Elic Ayomanor vs. Travis Hunter in 2023.

It did not go as you might expect. pic.twitter.com/uuG01mfbPt

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) April 23, 2025

“Yeah, I’m really excited to go against everybody,” Ayomanor said in his opening presser with the Titans, with the knowledge that he’d be facing Hunter’s Jaguars twice a year. “The competition is the best of the best here in the NFL. And so every game and every practice, I’m going to be putting my best effort out there. And before that, even, I’m going to be preparing. My life depends on it. And so I’m just really excited for that level of competition.”

That’s how he plays, and it wasn’t just against Hunter. The 2024 Stanford offense wasn’t exactly a deep-ball factory with Ashton Daniels, Justin Lamson, and Elijah Brown as the quarterbacks, but when Ayomanor got those vertical opportunities, he tended to make the most of them.

Stanford's 2024 offense was anything but effectively vertical, but Elic Ayomanor wasn't using that as an excuse. When it was time to beat up a cornerback downfield, he was going to make that happen.

Now, insert Cam Ward into the discussion. pic.twitter.com/SPCjc5Fm0a

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 19, 2025

Now, Ayomanor has a quarterback in Cam Ward who, in 2024, completed 34 of 75 passes of 20 or more air yards last season for 1,148 yards, 14 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 131.5.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Ward had seen Ayomanor’s work before, and was eager to get rolling when that card for the 136th overall pick was turned in.

“Yeah, he texted me right after I got the call,” Ayomanor said of his new quarterback post-draft. “I haven’t got a chance to respond back yet, but yeah, I’m very excited. He was the No. 1 pick in the draft for a reason. Like I mentioned earlier, I played against him when he was at Washington State. He gave our defense a lot of trouble, and they went through a lot to game plan for him. I’m very excited to be able to have the opportunity to play with him and practice with him.”

At 6’2 and 206 pounds, Ayomanor has the potential to fill the role of the big, physical, toolsy receiver for whom this franchise has been desperate since the A.J. Brown trade, and the subsequent Treylon Burks mistake. If he can be that guy, it’ll free up more one-on-ones for Calvin Ridley (not to mention new additions Van Jefferson and Tyler Lockett), giving Ward even more opportunities to display his flash and dash.

One thing’s for sure — Mom will be watching. And opposing cornerbacks will know where the aggro comes from on the field!

“Yeah, I mean, she has been the leader of my life,” Ayomanor said of his biggest role model. “Every place that I’ve been and every pit stop that I have taken has been because of her, and this journey is all on her back. She set everything up for me and she sacrificed a lot for me. And to address the competitive spirit, I definitely get it a lot from her and honestly, the whole family is very, very competitive.

“I think it’s just a hereditary thing.”

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).

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