Tennessee Titans: 30 greatest players in franchise history

• 4x Pro Bowl (1995-97, 2000)
• Second-Team All-Pro (2000)
• 694 career combined tackles w/Oilers/Titans
• 13.5 career quarterback sacks w/Oilers/Titans
• 126 career games, 108 w/Oilers/Titans

Blaine Bishop will go down as one of the best value draft picks in the history of the Oilers/Titans. Taken in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL Draft by Houston out of Ball State University, Bishop would go on to play nearly all of his 10-year NFL career with the AFC franchise.

Bishop played sparingly as a rookie for the Oilers in 1993. Eventually, he carved out a starting role with the team at strong safety, a designation he would hold on to into his last year with the team in 2001. By year three in the league, Bishop was a Pro Bowler.

Bishop made his first of four career trips to the Pro Bowl in Oilers/Titans uniform in 1995. His breakout campaign saw him have 97 combined tackles, four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 1.5 quarterback sacks and an interception.

Though never an elite ballhawk (five career interceptions), Bishop was the hard hitter then-head coach Jeff Fisher needed in his Oilers/Titans secondary. Bishop made three-straight Pro Bowls from 1995 to 1997. This was during a period of great transition for the franchise, as the Oilers left Houston and began playing in the Volunteer State.

Even in this transitional period, Fisher could count on Bishop to have over 80 combined tackles, a few forced fumbles, a pair of quarterback sacks and an interception each fall. However, Bishop’s finest year came the year after the trip to Super Bowl XXXIX.

Bishop made his lone All-Pro Second Team, as well as his fourth and final trip to the Pro Bowl in 2000. He had 84 combined tackles, 2.5 quarterback sacks and a forced fumble. This would also prove to be Bishop’s last NFL season where he played in all 16 regular season games.

His final season in Nashville came in 2001. Bishop was only able to play in five games that fall, making just four starts in his last season with the Oilers/Titans franchise. He spent his 10th and final NFL season as a member of Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles in 2002 before retiring at the age of 32.

Overall, Bishop accumulated 694 career combined tackles in nine years with the Oilers and Titans. He played in 126 games for the team, making 108 career starts for them. Bishop also had 13.5 quarterback sacks coming out of the Houston/Tennessee secondary. Not too bad for a former eighth-round pick out of Ball State in 1993.