Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi's deadline trade of safety Amani Hooker and a fifth-round pick to Buffalo for a second-round choice created a short list of winners and losers, Titan Sized argued.
The site named Borgonzi a winner for adding draft capital to a 1-7 roster. It said he now has four first- and second-round picks in 2027, plus two first-round selections in 2028 and his third-rounders, enough, in the writer's view, to imagine five top-65 picks in 2027. Tony Adams was also listed as a winner: he had already played meaningful snaps, previously played for coach Robert Saleh, and signed a one-year deal, and he now gets a larger chance opposite Kevin Winston Jr.
Saleh was listed as a loser because, in roughly two weeks, the club traded his two best defensive playmakers, Jeffery Simmons and Hooker, making the coach's job harder even as the franchise rebuilds. Winston, a second-year safety from Penn State who stepped into a full-time starting role, was also listed as a loser because he loses Hooker's skills and football sense and must now help lead the safety room. The defense as a whole was the fifth name on the list: in its first game without Simmons, Tennessee allowed the Cincinnati Bengals 43 points and 510 yards, the article said, and Hooker, with five interceptions, had been the unit's best remaining playmaker.
Hooker, a former Iowa player, tied a career high with five interceptions in eight games this season, the report said.
The winners-and-losers piece is analysis, not a team announcement, and it does not claim Adams has been named the starter in an official depth-chart release.
Buffalo gets a veteran with ball skills; Tennessee gets a premium 2027 pick.
Sources: Titan Sized