Shonn Greene Out As Tennessee Titans Move On At Running Back
By Les Bailey
It didn’t come as any surprise when the Tennessee Titans released running back Shonn Greene as mandatory mini camps got underway on Tuesday. Head coach, Ken Whisenhunt said in his press conference after Tuesday’s workout that it was “just time to move on”.
If rookie quarterback, Marcus Mariota is to be successful this year, the running game will need to work
Greene had not participated in any of the voluntary workouts this off-season, but showed up for his physical and the mandatory camp. He passed the physical, but after drafting David Cobb and Jalston Fowler in the 2015 Draft, the Titans are looking to the younger players for the 2015 season.
"“He’s in good shape,” Whisenhunt said. “He was very professional, very gracious. It’s never easy. But I certainly respect the way he handled himself, and I wish him the best.”"
Shonn Greene was in the last year of a three-year, $10 Million contract, and would be paid $3.25 million for 2015. The Titans will have to eat about $800,000 in cap space. Injuries limited him to only 13 games in 2014, and a total of 392 yards. He played in just 11 games in his first year in Music City.
The Titans signed Greene in 2013 after the former Iowa Hawkeye had back-to-back 1000 yard years with the New York Jets, but he has just never really lived up to the hype he came in with.
Jim Wyatt at the Tennessean broke the story on Tuesday afternoon:
"Greene, who signed a three-year, $10 million contract in 2013, was scheduled to make $3.25 million in the final year of his contract this year.Greene ran for 392 yards and two touchdowns during the 2014 season after running for 295 yards and four touchdowns in 2013.He was a big disappointment in Tennessee after spending his first four NFL seasons with the Jets, where he compiled back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.The Titans have depth at the position."
Bishop Sankey had this to say about Shonn Greene:
"“It was unfortunate,” Sankey said of Greene being released. “He’s a great guy, great running back. I learned a lot from him last year just from his example. I’m sure he’ll get picked up by another team. It’s just really kind of up to the guys in the locker room to pick up the slack, keep trying to get better … and I think we’ve done that so far.”"
The Tennessee Titans are excited about their running game for 2015, and have put their eggs in the youth basket. It appears with a full preseason under his belt, last year’s second-round draft pick, Bishop Sankey is making some improvements, and looks to best a torrid 2014 season.
With Sankey and Dexter McCluster being the senior members of this group still in camp and the only ones left with NFL experience, fans can only hope that it will be enough to carry the team. If rookie quarterback, Marcus Mariota is to be successful this year, the running game will need to work.
In fact, even though Whisenhunt said in his press conference that the youngsters were looking good on the field in helmets and shorts, they still needed training camp and the preseason in pads to prove themselves. But he was very optimistic, and liked what he has seen so far.
"“One of the reasons is we felt good about the group,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “I mean the young guys have looked good, and we felt that was the direction we wanted to go this time. We’ll see how they progress in camp.”"
After this three-day mini-camp is over, we will not get to see more until the start of training camp late next month. I for one, can’t wait to see this team in action after what has to be classified as a successful preseason effort from all concerned in Music City.
Source: Titansonline.com
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