{"id":789117,"date":"2026-03-03T13:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789117\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T13:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:50:15","slug":"nfl-free-agency-should-the-titans-re-sign-de-jihad-ward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789117\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Free Agency: Should the Titans re-sign DE Jihad Ward?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">It\u2019s the last week of Music City Miracles\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musiccitymiracles.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Tennessee Titans;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Tennessee Titans<\/a>\u00a02026 NFL Free Agency Primer. The negotiating window period begins on March 9th, but the Titans are able to re-sign their own free agents before then. General manager Mike Borgonzi is equipped with more than $100 million in cap space and will collaborate with new head coach Robert Saleh on their shared vision for the 2026 Titans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Titans are currently scheduled to possess 29 free agents (19 unrestricted), including several key starters and role players. We\u2019re continuing to take an in-depth look at each free agent and provide arguments for why the Titans\u00a0should, or\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0re-sign that player. We\u2019ll also offer our final verdict and a prediction to go along with our analysis.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Today, we\u2019re analyzing defensive end Jihad Ward.<\/p>\n<p>Why the Titans should re-sign\u00a0Ward<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ward was among the Titans\u2019 most surprise performers in 2025. The veteran defensive end notched five sacks and 48 pressures. Ward was a well-balanced defender as a pass rusher and run stopper, and stepped up to the plate when the team traded Dre\u2019Mont Jones, and injuries to Arden Key and Femi Oladejo forced him to play more.<\/p>\n<p>Why the Titans should let Ward walk<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ward is a 10-year veteran who has reached his ceiling as a rotational defender. The Titans, equipped with a league-leading amount of cap space, should aim to get younger and more dynamic at EDGE this offseason. Ward played a useful role, but improvement is required around Jeffery Simmons.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Projected Contract<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nfl\/player\/market-value\/_\/id\/18993\/jihad-ward\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Spotrac;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Spotrac<\/a> projects Ward to sign a one-year, $4.1 million contract in free agency this offseason. That\u2019s a significant raise from the $1.4 million the Titans paid him last offseason. Ward\u2019s statistical improvements in 2025 could lead to a robust market.<\/p>\n<p>Final verdict<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Titans should re-sign Ward. Borgonzi needs to acquire two starting-caliber pass rushers this offseason, but Ward is capable of competing for rotational snaps behind them with Harrell and Oladejo. The latter two shouldn\u2019t be handed anything on draft merit alone.<\/p>\n<p>Prediction<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Titans re-sign Ward to another one-year contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the last week of Music City Miracles\u2019\u00a0Tennessee Titans\u00a02026 NFL Free Agency Primer. The negotiating window period begins&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[9093,7,253,10563,11248,6,526,394,2411,4045,527],"class_list":["post-789117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennessee-titans","tag-arden-key","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-jeffery-simmons","tag-jihad-ward","tag-nfl","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-tennesseetitans","tag-the-titans","tag-titans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116165570184572460","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}