Titans welcome Julio Jones back to practice ahead of preseason finale

Well, the band isn’t totally back together for the Tennessee Titans, but they’re definitely having the guys who are present tune up and play a few songs. Perhaps you’ve heard? One of the biggest acquisitions made by any NFL team over the course of the past Spring and Summer returned to the playing surface on the Tuesday leading up to Tennessee’s final preseason game.

Yes, when the Titans took the field, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Julio Jones, was on the field with them. That’s a huge win as he’s been sitting out of practice for the past few weeks.

Don’t expect to see the Tennessee Titans star wideouts on the field until Week 1.

Saying that it’s been a while doesn’t quite describe things well enough. Julio hasn’t actually practiced since coming down awkwardly after a pass was thrown in his direction on August 2nd. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said, at that time, that the plan was to see how he’d look on the following day.

Perhaps time works differently at Saint Thomas Sports Park as ‘tomorrow’ didn’t yield the fruit that we were hoping, and day-to-day designations became ‘week-to-week diagnoses. There’s nothing wrong with that. At this stage of his career, Julio Jones has seen everything. There was no reason to rush him back, nor is there a need to overwork him.

Sure, practice doesn’t just help him. It helps his teammates, especially the young ones, but the Titans have Super Bowl aspirations on their minds. The goal is to keep the stars rested and healthy. Plus, Jones’ absence has given other guys a shot to prove themselves, and they’ve taken advantage, Mason Kinsey and Chester Rodgers for instance.

Don’t expect the Titans to be anything but cautious here. Julio won’t be playing in the final preseason game. Neither will A.J. Brown, but you can best believe that both will be present for Tennessee’s regular-season home opener versus the Arizona Cardinals. You can expect plenty of fireworks in that one.