Tennessee Titans wildcard vs Philadelphia Eagles in preseason Week 1

Tennessee Titans player to watch against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Tennessee Titans play a football game in 30 hours and it can’t get here soon enough.

Going over the roster and looking for interesting matchups, one that really stands out as a fun one that we should get to see a lot of is Amani Hooker vs…well everyone.

Why Amani Hooker?

Hooker is a wildcard in the most traditional sense because I really have no idea where the Tennessee Titans will play him in the game against the Eagles this weekend.

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So far he has been playing with the starters in their “three safety” look. That could mean a lot of different things in terms of where he lines up and what he is asked to do.

If he is out there in a dime package where Malcolm Butler is on the sideline and he is the fifth DB on the field, then he will likely be asked to come down and cover the slot which he did in college.

Kevin Byard being the amazing player that he is and with Kenny Vaccaro there as well, either one of them could also walk down and cover the slot if it is one of the “jumbo slots” that we are seeing now, which is just a tight end/receiver hybrid. In that case Hooker could be back playing deep coverage.

Another idea is to use him in a dime look where you get six DBs on the field with the big three at cornerback and with Byard, Vaccaro and Hooker roaming around. That look could create confusion since Dean Pees has shown that he has no problem blitzing defensive backs to add to the pass rush.

Why is he a wild card in this game specifically?

The Eagles are so deep and that front office may be one of the very best in the NFL over the last three years or so.

There could easily be a stretch where Hooker is asked to do this over a three play stretch:

1st down: Cover J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the slot

2nd down: Line up in heavy nickel and cover Miles Sanders out of the backfield

3rd down: Blitz off the edge from the slot against Andre Dillard

He could be matched up with three other rookies who were all drafted in the first two rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft. That is pretty fascinating.

My eyes will definitely be on Hooker from where he lines up to how he preforms and I think he should be the guy you focus on in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

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