The Tennessee Titans have their first divisional game of the 2026 season in Week 5 when they host the Houston Texans at Nissan Stadium in Nasvhille, Tennessee, this Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CST.
Both of these teams are sitting with a 0-4 record, something neither team anticipated before the season started. The Titans have struggled to start the season, mostly with playing a full four quarters. They seem to be able to either start strong or end strong, but they haven't been able to do it from start to finish yet. The Texans are a little harder to dissect, but it's clear that Nico Collins needs to be on the field for C.J. Stroud.
Given the mediocrity of the Texans this season, it was difficult to pinpoint a player the Titans would like to steal. Offensively,
there's no single standout player that stands above anyone the Titans have on their roster, so we turned to the defense. While the Titans have invested heavily into their defense, and it shows, Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. makes a prime candidate for the Titans to steal.
Imagine adding a 25-year-old edge rusher who has 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble through four games to the defensive line. Anderson would share the field with Jeffery Simmons and John Franklin-Myers, who have three sacks between them, and make the line younger, faster, and mor efficient than it currently is. Anderson is disrupting opposing offenses every week, and if you add him to a defense that's already been somewhat successful, it creates a recipe for domination.
Statistically, the Titans' pass defense has been better than their run defense. However, they did hold Derrick Henry to 73 yards rushing last week, his second-lowest yardage this season. And if you can force a team to focus on either throwing or running, it makes their offense one-dimensional and much easier to handle.
On top of his 4.5 sacks and one forced fumble, Anderson also has 23 tackles (13 solo), one pass defense, 4.5 stuffs for 13 yards, and he blocked a kick. He is a talented player who is makes an impact every time he takes the field. The Titans' defense may not necessarily "need" a guy like Anderson, but that's what makes adding him to the roster such a big deal. As mentioned above, he would take this defense from effective to dominant.
Too bad that's not how things work in real life, though. Anderson will suit up for the Texans this Sunday and the Titans' offensive line will have to find a way to handle him and protect Cam Ward, which won't be an easy task.
This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Gimme Him: One player the Titans would steal from the Texans
