So the Tennessee Titans have a roster in place.
Is it any good?
"I think we have the guys here to compete," Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi told reporters on Sept. 1. "I think we’ll get better throughout the season . . . We have confidence right now in these guys’ ability to compete and perform and to win."
Borgonzi and his staff trimmed the roster to 53 players on cut-down day Aug. 30, then immediately made five changes to the squad the next day via waivers and free agent adds. He makes no assurances that the 53 players in place on Sept. 1 will be the 53 the team can choose from on Sept. 13, when the season starts against the New York Jets.
Change is inevitable in the NFL this time of year, and that's not unique to the Titans. What is unique is they're
6-28 the past two seasons and have gotten worse each of the past four years.
What also is unique is that the bar for what "being competitive" means for this team is drastically different than what it means for just about every other team in the league.
"Being competitive is just going out there and playing to your style," Borgonzi said, alluding to his team's budding culture.
This isn't a battle-tested crew. Of the players on the active roster, 25 weren't with the Titans when last season ended. Nor were coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley or any number of assistant coaches. As Borgonzi acknowledges, culture building is done in service of creating the right responses when adversity strikes. Because the season hasn't started yet, there hasn't really been any adversity, and as such, not much proof of whether the culture is good.
Which leads again to the big question: What makes it plausible that this version of the Titans is ready to leave four seasons of organizational woe behind?
"We’ll see when we start the season," Borgonzi said. "But there’s certainly a lot of good players here that we’ve added. There was a thoughtful strategy in terms of what you’re looking for in a player and also trying to build a culture, too, so you want the right types of players here. You try to evaluate all those things and our hope is that it comes together. I think we have the right type of guys in here right now and we’re going to compete."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What Titans GM Mike Borgonzi defines as 'being competitive' for 2026 season
