The NFL sure knows how to give the New York media some juicy Week 1 storylines.

One year after scheduling the New York Jets for a season-opening rematch with Aaron Rodgers, New York will open the 2026 season against the head coach they fired five games into the 2024 campaign, Robert Saleh, who will be coaching his first game as the Titans’ leader.

The headlines of this matchup write themselves: Saleh’s revenge, a multitude of players facing their former teams (T’Vondre Sweat, Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin-Myers, etc.), Aaron Glenn coaching for his job against the man he replaced, and so on.

But nobody is talking about the storyline of this game that arguably includes the most cumulative talent between both sides: the special teams battle.

Don’t be shocked if this game comes down to the winner of this clash of titans. (The pun is completely intended; take note of the double entendre, given that the Jets were founded as the New York Titans. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back. Alright, let’s move on…)

The rising young star vs. the seasoned vet

Both teams come into this game with standout special teams coaches, even if they’re 17 years apart in special teams coordinator experience: New York’s 36-year-old Chris Banjo and Tennessee’s 52-year-old John Fassel.

Banjo, a special teams ace for 10 seasons as a player (2013-22), has risen quickly through the coaching ranks since retiring after the 2022 season. He joined the Denver Broncos’ coaching staff in 2023 as an assistant special teams coach under head coach Sean Payton.

In Denver, Banjo worked under legendary special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who served as the Broncos’ assistant head coach at the time. Banjo had played two years under Westhoff in New Orleans (2017-18).

The trio of Banjo, Westhoff, and special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica helped take a fledgling Broncos special teams unit and turn it into one of the NFL’s best. After ranking 29th in special teams DVOA in 2022, they jumped to ninth in 2023 and took another leap to fourth in 2024.

Banjo was hired as the Jets’ special teams coordinator in 2025 as part of Aaron Glenn’s initial staff. He spearheaded a legendary unit that not only led the NFL in special teams DVOA, but posted the fifth-best rating in the metric since it was first tracked in 1978.

It could be argued that the Jets, who finished 3-14, may have gone winless if Banjo’s unit did not perform at a historically great level. All three of the Jets’ victories were by narrow margins in games where the special teams was a major difference-maker.

Banjo was the lone coordinator and one of the few coaches to survive the Jets’ 2026 coaching purge. As he kicks off his second season as a special teams coordinator, in pursuit of an unprecedented encore performance, he will take on John Fassel, who prepares for his 19th season as a special teams coordinator.

Fassel has been a special teams coordinator in the NFL since 2008. He led the Oakland Raiders from 2008-11, the St. Louis Rams from 2012-19, and the Dallas Cowboys from 2020-24, before joining the Titans last year. He not only stuck around through the franchise’s regime changebut also had the title of assistant head coach added to his plate, on top of special teams coordinator.

The son of former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel, John is one of the most proven special teams coordinators in the business. He heads into 2026 carrying an active six-season streak of leading teams to top-10 finishes in special teams DVOA, dating back to 2020 with the Cowboys.

In 2025, despite the Titans’ overall struggles in a 3-14 season, their special teams unit was a strength, finishing seventh in DVOA.

Banjo and Fassel are two of the best in the business. Which side has the edge going into Week 1? Is each team built to replicate their success in 2026 after an offseason full of major changes to both rosters?

Let’s break down the special teams matchups in each facet.

Jets’ kick return vs. Titans’ kick coverage

New York had a phenomenal season on kick returns. They led the NFL in kick return DVOA and yards per kick return (29.9).

The Jets have all the pieces they need to produce another outstanding season in this department. Their kick return duo of Isaiah Williams and Kene Nwangwu, who both received All-Pro votes last season, will return, as will fullback Andrew Beck, the team’s best blocker for the kick return unit.

Kick coverage was a strength for Tennessee last season. The Titans allowed the seventh-fewest yards per kick return (24.9) and ranked eighth-best in kickoff DVOA.

Under today’s rules, one of the main strategic choices on kickoffs is whether to take touchbacks or force returns. Taking a touchback prevents any chance of a back-breaking touchdown or long return, but now that touchbacks take the offense out to the 35-yard line, it’s hardly an appealing proposition, considering the majority of kick returns do not get that far. This is why teams usually prefer to force returns.

Fassel, however, leaned toward touchbacks slightly more than most teams in 2025. Titans kicker Joey Slye had just 68.7% of his kickoffs returned, the sixth-lowest rate among 39 qualifiers. The league median was 78.6%.

This could indicate that Fassel may be willing to take some touchbacks to avoid giving Williams and Nwangwu chances to flip the field. Late in the 2025 season, we saw New York’s opponents lean heavily on touchbacks to keep the ball away from the Jets’ kick return game.

However, that often happened when the Jets were in deep holes on the scoreboard and had a completely incompetent offense. Taking touchbacks was a no-brainer.

In Week 1, with a healthy, Geno Smith-led offense, the Titans might not be so inclined to hand New York’s offense a 65-yard field. They might be willing to roll the dice on stopping Nwangwu and Williams, giving the Jets’ elite kick return unit a chance to feast.

The good news for the Titans is that their best stopper on kick returns last season, Julius Chestnut (team-high 10 kickoff tackles), is back.

In a funny but valuable note, kicker Joey Slye actually tied for third on the Titans in kickoff tackles with five. The 228-pounder showed solid skills as a last line of defense, which helped Tennessee prevent great returns from becoming touchdowns. That’s worth noting against a Jets team with two touchdown threats in Nwangwu and Williams.

Titans’ kick return vs. Jets’ kick coverage

Among the core five special teams units, the Jets’ kick coverage was their only sub-elite group. They ranked 18th in yards per kick return allowed (26.3) and 14th in kickoff DVOA.

The Titans were similarly mediocre at kick returns, ranking 17th in yards per kick return (25.7) and 19th in kick return DVOA.

New York’s best stopper on kickoffs in 2025, Mykal Walker (10 tackles), will be absent due to a knee injury. However, the next three players on the Jets’ kickoff tackles list, Andrew Beck, Marcelino McCrary-Ball, and Isaiah Davis (7 tackles apiece), will all suit up.

Tennessee will be turning back to 2025 fourth-round pick Chimere Dike as their primary kick returner. As we’ll get to soon, Dike was a menacing punt returner last season, but he did not stand out as much on kick returns.

Jets’ punt return vs. Titans’ punt coverage

The Jets had a great punt return unit in 2025, ranking sixth in yards per punt return (13.4) and fourth in punt return DVOA while tying for first with two touchdowns.

New York battled muffed punt issues early, with Xavier Gipson and Isaiah Williams giving balls away, but Williams eventually emerged as a weapon. He averaged 14.1 yards per return across 28 tries, scoring twice.

The Titans had a middle-of-the-pack punt unit, ranking 13th in yards per punt return allowed (9.6) and 18th in punt DVOA.

After a mediocre season from Johnny Hekker, the Titans are turning to Tommy Townsend at punter. Townsend won two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs and was named a first-team All-Pro in 2022. This past season, as a member of the Houston Texans, Townsend ranked 14th among 30 qualified punters with 41.6 net yards per punt.

Townsend placed sixth in average hang time (4.51 seconds), but seemed to out-kick his coverage occasionally, as, despite that hang time, he still had the seventh-highest percentage of his punts returned (45.8%). This number will have to be cleaned up on Sunday if the Titans wish to minimize Williams’ opportunities to flip the field.

Julius Chestnut (7 tackles) was also Tennessee’s leader in punt tackles last season, so the Titans retain their best playmaker in this facet as well.

Titans’ punt return vs. Jets’ punt coverage

Tennessee’s punt return unit was arguably the strength of their entire team. They ranked second in yards per punt return (16.6) and third in punt return DVOA, while tying for first in punt return touchdowns with two.

Rookie wide receiver Chimere Dike was a dynamo in the punt return game, leading the NFL with 17.3 yards per punt return across 23 attempts, including two scores. Dike earned first-team All-Pro honors for his efforts.

This will be perhaps the greatest strength-on-strength matchup in Sunday’s games. Across from Tennessee’s dominant punt return unit will be New York’s shutdown punt coverage unit.

New York ranked first in punt DVOA and second in yards per punt return allowed (6.3). Both their punter and their coverage team were elite.

Second-year punter Austin McNamara was a stud in his first season as a starter. Check out some of McNamara’s rankings among 32 qualified punters:

  • 4.70s average hang time (2nd)
  • 29.6% of punts returned (2nd)
  • 90.3 PFF punting grade (2nd)
  • 43.1-yard net average (6th)
  • 6.3 yards per return (2nd)
  • 18 punts downed (1st)
  • 25 fair catches (2nd)

He was the complete package. And when you compare the complete package at punter with a tenacious coverage team, you get the top-ranked punt unit in the NFL.

Most of the Jets’ punt coverage team will be back. Six of the seven players who made multiple tackles in punt coverage last season are still on the 53-man roster. That includes long snapper Thomas Hennessy, who has long been one of the NFL’s most effective tacklers at the position, having made two stops last season. He leads his position with 29 tackles since 2017, collecting at least two each year.

Kicking

In the other four facets, the Jets are set up well for success, both on Sunday and throughout the season.

Kicking is the big “uh-oh”.

It’s almost impossible to receive better kicking than what the Jets got from Nick Folk last season. Out of 51 combined field goal and extra point tries, he missed one kick, a 55-yarder in rainy conditions, which he later made up for with a 56-yard game-winner at the buzzer. Folk even went 7 of 8 from 50+ yards with a career-long 58-yarder, so it’s not as if he profited off of chip shots.

Folk was a crucial piece of the Jets’ overall special teams excellence. Now, with seven days until kickoff, we don’t even know who the Jets’ kicker will be.

Blake Grupe is the kicker on the active roster, but Jason Sanders is looming on the practice squad. The Jets also brought three other kickers in for workouts this week.

Whoever the Jets choose, it will be someone unreliable. They are down to the scrap heap after their summer competition of Sanders-versus-York did not yield a comfortable option.

The Titans are running it back with Joey Slye, who has a booming leg but is inconsistent. Slye has made kicks from 63 and 61 yards in his career, but he’s only made 81.4% of his field goal attempts overall across 111 games, as well as a very inaccurate 90.4% of his extra points.

Last season, Slye made 28 of 35 field goal attempts (80.0%) for the Titans, and 26 of 27 extra points (career-best 96.3%). Five of his seven misses were from 50+ yards; under 50 yards, he was an impressive 19 of 21 (90.5%).

The extra-point performance is notable, as Slye also went 25 of 26 (96.2%) for the Patriots in 2024, so he has shown noticeable progress over the last two seasons. Since making a brutal 88.5% of his extra points from 2019-23, he’s missed just two freebies in the last 33 games.

Slye isn’t the greatest kicker, but he should still give the Titans an edge in Week 1 compared to the mess that New York is dealing with.

Overall verdict

  • Jets’ kick return vs. Titans’ kick coverage: Jets
  • Titans’ kick return vs. Jets’ kick coverage: Even
  • Jets’ punt return vs. Titans’ punt coverage: Jets
  • Titans’ punt return vs. Jets’ punt coverage: Even
  • Kicking: Titans

New York’s returning cast of elite characters in the return games will give them an edge in both of those departments against Tennessee’s solid yet not elite coverage teams.

When it comes to the Titans’ return units, both matchups seem like a wash; each team was mediocre on the kickoff side last season and will be returning most of the same players, while both teams were phenomenal on the punt side.

Kicking, though, could balance things out. The “winner” of the Jets’ game of musical chairs will feel more likely to miss a crucial kick than Slye, and that’s taking into account that Slye is not exactly a premier kicker.

All of the chatter in Nashville is centered around Saleh and Glenn, but true die-hards know that this game really comes down to the battle between Banjo and Fassel.