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The Tennessee Titans and country music superstar Jelly Roll have a lot in common. For one, they’re both based in Nashville. But additionally, they both hit a low point before looking to make incredible rebounds.
For Jelly Roll, that low point involved drug addiction before bouncing back to be a Grammy Award-nominated musician. For the Titans, it meant a 3-14 record in 2024, the worst in the NFL.
Now, Tennessee is hoping for a bounceback of its own with No. 1 NFL Draft pick Cam Ward at the center of the turnaround. Prior to the start of the NFL preseason, Jelly Roll spoke to members of his favorite team and explained the importance of building a winning culture.
Jelly Roll Talks About The Importance Of Team Bonding With Titans Players
Second-year head coach Brian Callahan brought in the recording star to speak with his players before they go on a 10-day road trip to start the preseason. Jelly Roll began his speech by telling the players how important the organization is to the Nashville community.
Jelly Roll (@JellyRoll615) motivational speech before we hit the road for two weeks. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/qOcDtx26ag
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) August 7, 2025
“I grew up right here in Nashville, Tennessee; I’m super-proud of that,” he began. “When I grew up here, it was like 300,000 people in this town. Now, it’s like 2.3 million. And last year I came and spoke at the beginning of the season about how much the Titans have done for us locally. And I just want to go over that one more time for those of y’all who are new.
“Man, this city needs help. It always has. The biggest acquisition we ever made as a city was the Tennessee Titans. It was the first time our city ever felt like a city. We were a town before the Titans came here, you know?”
But then he switched gears to a topic that may be more relatable to players: life on the road. He spoke about how spending time touring with his band and how time spent on the road is essential to building a strong team.
“Y’all finna to leave for 10 days. I think it was a good time for me to come in and tell y’all, I spend about 300 days a year not here. Buses, planes, trains, automobiles, walking; you name it, we’ve done it,” he told the players. “We’ve slept in vans. And I learned early, that’s where the magic was. Yeah, that’s where the magic was for us.
“See what was happening on that read between me and the boys started translating to the stage. And all that connection we were looking for on that stage, that we could never find, because we were only trying to find it in that hour, we thought we were going to connect for this 60 or 90 minutes and we were going to change the world every night at every little local bar across the world. And then we learned that it was the 23 hours we weren’t on the stage that we were building our connection. Finding a partner, finding a friend, building a relationship, building strength. Building community. That stuff will transfer to the field.”
Any great coach or athlete will tell you the importance of a strong team culture. And that culture is forged as much off the field as it is on it. If the Titans are going to turn things around, it’s vitally important for them to start building that culture now, and the way you interact with your teammates and coaches on road trips is a great place to start.