Tennessee Titans cornerback Roger McCreary usually has the broad and bland “to get better” response when asked in training camp about his personal goal for the season. But before Year 4 in the NFL, the former Williamson High School and Auburn standout has a specific and possibly unique objective.

“That’s one thing I really want to do is talk more trash, get in people’s heads,” McCreary said during an appearance on NFL Network’s “The Insiders.” “… I feel like a lot of people underestimate me with that because I’m so quiet, so I feel like I just got to bring it out like me off the field. I have fun and talk trash to my friends, but when I get on the field, I just do my work and be quiet. But now I just got to show.”

After joining Tennessee in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, McCreary played every defensive snap as a rookie. In 2024, McCreary did not intercept a pass for the first time in his career, but he did tie the Indianapolis Colts’ Mike Hilton for the most tackles for loss among the NFL’s defensive backs with 12.

This season, McCreary wants to establish himself as the top slot cornerback in the NFL.

“That’s always been my goal is just to get better every year,” McCreary said. “But now it’s me trying to be the top. I want to be the top corner. I want to be the top person in the game, the DB that people talk about because I feel like a lot of people look over me and just don’t look at the plays I make on the field. So it’s just my time to show people that I’m out there, I’m on the field, I matter, and I’m going to show them that. …

“This year is personal. Everybody know me as a quiet guy, I would say, and I feel like going to my Year 4 I got to show them all of me. I just got to express who I truly am on and off the field, and I feel like this the year. It’s contract year, and I’m just going to give everybody all I got and just show people who I’m truly made of on that field.”

McCreary is entering the final season of his four-year, $9.166 million rookie contract. This offseason, the Chicago Bears made Kyler Gordon the NFL’s highest-paid slot corner with a three-year, $40 million contract. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed slot corner Jourdan Lewis away from the Dallas Cowboys with a three-year, $30 million contract.

“I watched their game,” McCreary said. “I see how they play, and I feel like I play up to that level, too, man. I just want to show people what type player I am. I deserve to have that, so I want to show people that I can be just as at that level as they can, too.”

In McCreary’s first NFL season, the Titans won seven games. In his second, they won six. And by falling to three victories in 2024, Tennessee got the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Titans used No. 1 choice to acquire Miami (Fla.) quarterback Cam Ward. McCreary said Ward has “confidence through the roof, and that’s what type person we need.”

“Going into this season with the Titans,” McCreary said, “I feel like we’re going to show people who we really made of and what we truly are because I feel like a lot of people don’t respect us. They don’t talk about the Titans a lot, and I feel like this year, especially with Cam Ward, that guy, that quarterback, I feel like we’re going to do good with him.”

Tennessee starts its three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Titans’ regular-season slate kicks off on Sept. 7 against the Denver Broncos.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.