Robert Saleh brought Jermaine Johnson II with him to Nashville to anchor the edge of his defense, and eight months later the Titans may have more use for what Johnson can bring back in a trade. Tennessee has held the No. 2 spot in the 2027 draft order after last week’s loss to Cleveland, and every veteran on an expiring deal is now a sell candidate.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Matt Bowen ranked Johnson No. 12 among the top 25 players who might switch teams before the Nov. 10 deadline, gave him a 30% trade chance and named the Browns and Bears as fits. Fowler wrote that “Johnson is a Robert Saleh favorite from their Jets days together and just got to Tennessee via an offseason trade.” He added, “Teams I talked to consider him a toss-up to be traded.”
Jermaine Johnson II is a run defender first
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Bowen’s scouting report was honest. “I don’t see elite traits with Johnson, but he has the play strength and length to dent the pocket,” he wrote. PFF’s numbers line up with that. Johnson’s 71.5 run-defense grade ranks 27th among 112 edge defenders, while his 56.2 pass-rush grade ranks 89th. He has 21 pressures, 15 hurries and three sacks on 177 pass-rush snaps.
He has 18 tackles and three sacks through seven games, giving him 16 career sacks in five seasons. His best year came in 2023 with the Jets, when he had 7.5 sacks and made the Pro Bowl. He tore his right Achilles in the second game of 2024, and he has three sacks in each season since, according to The Associated Press.
Johnson still logged 47 defensive snaps, 67% of the total, against the Browns, the most among Titans edge rushers. Jacob Martin played 43 and John Franklin-Myers played 35, while Keldric Faulk saw 18. Oluwafemi Oladejo had Tennessee’s only sack while Cleveland piled up 491 yards in a 27-24 win.
What the Titans could get back
Tennessee acquired Johnson from the Jets in February for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. He is playing on his $13.4 million fifth-year option, and Over The Cap lists him as an unrestricted free agent in 2027. A buyer would owe only the rest of this season’s salary, and the Titans have about $28.9 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap, so salary isn’t an obstacle on either side.
The market for expiring veterans was set Tuesday. Indianapolis got a 2027 third and a 2028 fifth for Quenton Nelson and a 2027 fourth for DeForest Buckner, both in the final year of their contracts. Johnson would likely land in that Day 3 range, and that is still useful for a team that wants as many 2027 picks as it can collect. We noted earlier this month that contenders were circling Johnson, and the Jeffery Simmons decision carries far larger long-term stakes.
Johnson set a high bar for himself before the opener. “There’s a standard, a dominance. You can’t have three good plays and have a bad one,” he told the Titans’ website in September. Saleh may want that voice in his locker room, but a 1-6 team has to weigh a few more draft picks against a player who could leave in March.
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