Tennessee Titans sign Walt Aikens, who is in danger?
By Will Lomas
Tennessee Titans have a new special teams ace.
For a long time, the Tennessee Titans have had their best special teams season when they had two identifiable “special teams guys” on the roster.
Going back to the start of the 2010s they had Patrick Bailey and Tim Shaw, then eventually they shifted to Brynden Trawick and Daren Bates, but now with Bates gone there isn’t a proven tandem of special teams players on the roster.
This is a little sad to say, but one of the bigger moves that the Titans made in free agency was signing Nick Dzubnar who was a special teams ace for the Los Angeles Chargers for the past five seasons.
Today, they signed Walt Aikens who was a 6-year special teams ace with the Miami Dolphins.
A few players should be very concerned that Aikens is on the roster, because it might eliminate an avenue for them to make the team.
Former Chargers’ CB Trevor Williams reached agreement with the Eagles and former Dolphins’ S Walt Aikens reached agreement with Titans, per @RosenhausSports.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 24, 2020
Who has to start showing up immediately
Chris Milton
-Milton is the special teams guy that no one is talking about. Last year he was fantastic when healthy and it seems like the Colts would have tried to keep him last season but they needed a roster spot and he just got snatched up by the Titans.
A CB by trade, Milton is probably never going to get a shot there when you look at the rest of the roster, so he has to be nervous that a DB who plays special teams is now on the roster.
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-Smith is a better cornerback than special teams player, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad special teamer. People think that he blocked the field goal attempt by the Colts last year, but he actually was just the one who returned it and that is more of a “right place, right time” kind of thing.
A spot on special teams isn’t his only chance at the roster, but if the Titans added a special teams ace there, then that is just one less way for Smith to earn a shot this year.
Chris Jackson
-This is the big one and this is the one I am most worried about. Jackson is very athletic and he was one of the most productive defensive backs in the 2020 NFL Draft, but I don’t know if he is polished enough to win a job against the group of veterans in front of him.
Special teams was going to be his avenue to a spot on the gameday roster this year, and he is going to have to be on his toes if he wants to keep that spot.