Though this is never really mentioned this way, the NFL walks into every week of every regular season with 85 to 90 percent of its players injured. It’s professional football. Just about every star is hurt. The question is whether or not teams are capable or interested in playing those players on a team-by-team basis. Look no further than the Tennessee Titans if you need any evidence of that.
One minute, it feels like we’re talking about when somebody might return. The next, even if this isn’t the case, it feels like someone else limping off of the playing surface.
So much for that theory about shorter practices leading to fewer injuries huh? Keep your heads up though. All of the news coming out of Titans camp from an injury standpoint isn’t negative.
Tennessee Titans star A.J. Brown expected to play Week 1.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it appears that everyone should be confident in A.J. Brown‘s expected appearance in the Tennessee Titans Week 1 regular-season opener versus the Arizona Cardinals.
Take a look.
Titans’ WR A.J. Brown is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season despite a knee injury that recently has sidelined him during recent practices, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 23, 2021
Brown been dealing with a knee injury that’s sidelined him for many of Tennessee’s recent practice sessions, including a couple of joint on-field workouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that preceded Tennessee’s second preseason game.
Don’t fret. Number 11 is okay and should be ready to work when the games start to count against the win-loss tally. As far as everyone else that we’ve discussed seemingly all Summer, no one should lose any sleep over those guys either.
We’ve pretty much resigned all of ourselves to the fact that most of the guys the Titans expect to start or play key roles won’t be seen until Week 1 of the regular season when Tennessee hosts the Arizona Cardinals in the friendly confines of the Nissan Stadium for Week 1.
Derrick Henry hasn’t played in either of the first two preseason games. Neither has Ryan Tannehill or Bud Dupree. Star wide receiver Julio Jones has missed most of the Titans’ training camp and preseason practice sessions as a precautionary measure.
All of those guys, as well as standouts like Taylor Lewan and Caleb Farley, are expected to see the field often and early as Tennessee and the rest of the NFL embark on the first 18-week, 17-game regular season in league history. This is good news coming out of Titans camp as we near the final game of the preseason slate.