If fans were thinking the Tennessee Titans were done with Adoree’ Jackson at punt returner, think again.
Despite the debacle that was cornerback Adoree’ Jackson as a punt returner in Week 3, head coach Mike Vrabel plans to stick with him there moving forward.
Jackson’s botched punt return in the first quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars helped put the Titans behind early in Week 3.
With slick conditions, Jackson tried to field a bouncing punt that he ended up fumbling, which led to a recovery by the Jaguars and great field position at the Titans’ seven yard line. Of course, Jacksonville would go on to score, with the assist going to Jackson.
Following that awful decision by Jackson, Vrabel decided to keep his cornerback in for three more returns, two of which were fair catches, and the last Jackson allowed to drop, setting the Titans up with bad field position on offense.
You would think all of that would be enough for the Titans to move on from Jackson entirely, but Vrabel doesn’t seem to be finished with him.
Mike Vrabel on PR: Humphries will do it and Adoree will continue to work on it. Adoree has a skill set that we feel will help us. I know there were some plays on Thursday that he would like to take back. #Titans
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) September 23, 2019
We can only hope that Vrabel is just being nice and not trying to throw Jackson under the bus, and instead really plans on giving Adam Humphries the punt returning duties for at least the foreseeable future.
However, it sounds like he plans on giving Jackson more opportunities. It’s this kind of decision-making that has led to frustrations about Vrabel from fans after three games.
Jackson was also responsible for gift-wrapping a touchdown for the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2, after he committed a brutal pass interference penalty on wide receiver Deon Cain that set Jacoby Brissett and Co. up with their first score in what was a Titans loss.
Tennessee has gotten off to a slow start in each game and can’t afford to keep shooting itself in the foot on a weekly basis. Hopefully Vrabel comes to his senses and doesn’t let Jackson near a punt return again.