Ranking the 5 Best Tennessee Titans Players of All Time

Before the Tennessee Titans resided in Nashville, the franchise spent 37 seasons as the Houston Oilers.

Whether based in Texas or Tennessee, this team has always had talent, despite not winning a Super Bowl in either location, although the Oilers did win the first two AFL titles. So, let’s take a look at the best of the best and rank the greatest Titans players of all time.

The Oilers started out as an original AFL franchise and came over to the NFL in the merger a decade later. Houston had its ups and downs over the years, but overall, they were a model franchise. That is, until the mid-90s when the city balked at building the team and owner Bud Adams a new stadium.

Without a new taxpayer-funded home, Adams secretly negotiated with Nashville, Tennessee, and that municipality was willing to give the owner his stadium. So, in 1997, the Houston Oilers became the Tennessee Oilers. In 1999, the team changed its name to the Titans and made the franchise’s lone Super Bowl appearance that year.

The overall success of this franchise is pretty equally split between its days in Texas and Tennessee, so you will see players from both states on this list of the best Titans players of all time.

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1

Bruce Matthews

The Iron Man of the Oilers and Titans didn’t miss a single game due to injury for almost two full decades

Bruce Matthews was, and still is to many people, the Iron Man of professional football. For 19 seasons, from 1983 to 2001, the offensive lineman played 296 games for the Oilers and Titans. He never missed a game due to injury, and his 293 starts are second-most in league history behind only (well-protected) quarterbacks Brett Favre and Tom Brady.

Matthews was the No. 9 overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft out of USC and started 15 of 16 games as a rookie. From there, he never missed a game due to injury or performance, but he did hold out for the first eight games of the 1987 season while attempting to negotiate a new contract. When he finally returned, he started six of the final eight games of the season.

What made Matthews’ streak even more impressive than just the fact that he never got hurt in the physical world of an offensive lineman is that he did it at almost every position. He started double-digit games in his career at both guard and both tackle spots.

Matthews wasn’t only durable, though. He was also one of the top linemen in the league throughout his career. The son of NFL defensive lineman Clay Matthews Sr., brother of Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews Jr., uncle of Pro Bowl OT Jake Matthews, and father of linebacker Casey Matthews made 14 straight Pro Bowls to end his career and was a First-Team All-Pro seven times along the way.

2

Earl Campbell

Earl Campbell was arguably the most violent and devastating runner in NFL history

While Bruce Matthews is the best player in Titans/Oilers history due to his longevity and consistent excellence, Earl Campbell comes in at No. 2 thanks to his wildly dominant stretch over a short period of time.

“The Tyler Rose” played just eight NFL seasons, six and a half of those with the Oilers. However, his first three seasons might be the best opening trio of years by any player in league history.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 1978 NFL Draft out of Texas, Campbell had a devastating running style at 5-foot-11 and 232 pounds that destroyed defenses. In his first season, Campbell won Offensive Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year and placed second in the NFL MVP vote. In his second season, he won NFL MVP and another OPOY, and in his third, he made it an OPOY three-peat.

Campbell led the league in rushing in each of those seasons and in rushing touchdowns for two of them. In just those three campaigns, the bruising back put up 5,081 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns, which would be a solid career for the majority of NFL RBs.

The Texas native would go on to rush for over 1,300 yards twice more in his Oilers career, only missing the mark in 1982 and 1984, a strike-shortened season and the year the team traded him. That trade came when Houston started 0-6 and the New Orleans Saints offered a first-round pick for the back.

In the end, Campbell would only play a season and a half in Louisiana before retiring at 30 due to the pounding his body took over his career. Campbell finished with 9.407 rushing yards, and 74 rushing touchdowns to go with his five Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams.

3

Derrick Henry

The Titans outperformed their talent in the 2020s under Mike Vrabel, and a big reason for that was Derrick Henry

As you’ll see as this list of the best Titans players of all time goes on, for whatever reason, the franchise is known for its physically imposing running backs. It started with Earl Campbell, then moved to another back who we’ll discuss below. But the most recent RB to run over, around, and through defenses for the team was Derrick Henry.

At 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds, Henry is one of the biggest backs to ever play in the NFL. But at the size of a linebacker, the 2016 second-round pick out of Alabama had lightning-quick feet and enough speed to outrun most defenders.

After gaining 490 yards as a rookie, Henry went for 744 in his sophomore season. From there, Henry went for over 1,000 yards in five of his next six seasons, only missing that mark in 2021, when he ran for 937 yards in just eight games.

Starting in 2019 and going through 2023, Henry was one of the best and most durable backs in the NFL. He led the league in carries in four of those five years and led the league in rushing yards twice, including his 2,027-yard campaign in 2020. That year, he also won Offensive Player of the Year and earned the lone First-Team All-Pro nod of his career.

A four-time Pro Bowler, Henry left the Titans after the 2023 season for the Baltimore Ravens, but if he does end up in the Hall of Fame thanks to his brief but incredibly dominant run, it will be as a Titan.

4

Warren Moon

Warren Moon didn’t get to Houston until he was 28, but he sure made the most of his time there

Quarterback Warren Moon has to be one of the most unlikely Pro Football Hall of Famers enshrined in Canton. After two solid years in college at Washington, Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League when it seemed like no NFL team would make him an early-round draft pick.

After leading his Eskimos to four Grey Cups (the Canadian Super Bowl) in five seasons, the Oilers decided to give him a shot at 28 years old. That worked out pretty well, as Moon would go on to play 10 seasons for the team.

During his stint as Oilers signal-caller, Moon threw for 33,685 yards with 196 touchdowns and 166 interceptions. While he didn’t have an overly great record (70-69) as a starter, he did preside over arguably the most successful stint in Oilers/Titans history.

From 1987 to 1993, the Oilers made the playoffs with Moon under center for seven consecutive seasons.

After six Pro Bowls in Houston, an Offensive Player of the Year Award in 1990, and two seasons (1990, 1991) leading the NFL in attempts, completions, and passing yards in his team’s innovative and exciting “run and shoot” offense, Moon would move on to have a successful stint with the Minnesota Vikings and less memorable years with the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs.

Ultimately, Moon made the Hall of Fame thanks in large part to his longevity, but don’t sleep on how good he was with the Oilers.

5

Eddie George

Eddie George was the model of consistency and helped power the Titans’ Super Bowl offense

The third and final running back on this list is another big back with a punishing style who ran the ball for the ball for both Houston and Tennessee from 1996-2003. This is Eddie George.

George was a highly-touted back out of Ohio State and was taken 14th overall by the Oilers in the 1996 NFL Draft. With 1,368 rushing yards in his first (and only) season in Houston, the RB easily took home the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award.

As his career developed, George was the model of consistency, only missing 1,000 rushing yards in a season once (939 yards in 2001) with the Titans. He was the key offensive driver for a team that made the playoffs four times in five seasons from 1999 to 2003, including the 1999 Super Bowl squad that gave the St. Louis Rams all they could handle.

George did play one final season with the Dallas Cowboys, but the majority of his career numbers — 10,441 rushing yards, 2,227 receiving yards, 78 total touchdowns — came with the Titans, as did all four of his Pro Bowls and his one First-Team All-Pro selection.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.

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