Amid the doom and gloom of the Tennessee Titans' loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was just as impressive in his NFL regular-season debut.
Hill’s debut was better than expected; the second-round pick out of Texas started and played all 67 defensive snaps in his first game, and a quick look at the box score shows his 16 tackles, but the box score doesn’t say that those 16 total tackles are the most for any NFL linebacker in their debut.
🚨🚨 #Titans LB Anthony Hill recorded the MOST EVER total tackles in an NFL rookie debut with 16 https://t.co/ArYA9BCT6g
— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) September 17, 2026
Compare that to a few other notable linebacker debuts over the past few seasons: Josiah Trotter (Buccaneers) with 11 tackles plus a sack and pick-six in the same
week, and Devin Bush (Steelers, 2019) with 11. Both were impressive, but Hill’s 16 tackles stand tall. Yes, some NFL rookies have surpassed 20 total tackles in a game, but that volume in a player's first NFL game is rare.
High single-game rookie tackle totals like 20+ have occurred later in seasons, but 16 in a first NFL game is rare. They are also rare in Titans history, where his 16 tackles tie for the seventh-most in a single game by any player.
This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Tennessee Titans' Anthony Hill Jr. sets record in his debut
