Tennessee Titans continue roster turnover with two releases
By Will Lomas
The Tennessee Titans defense has been horrendous over the last two weeks, but two recent releases may hint at some hope.
Instead of winning a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars that would have essentially clinched the division a month before the postseason, the Tennessee Titans looked like a team that didn’t practice at all last week.
One reason for that is…well, they didn’t get to practice much.
After being limited by an incredible number of injuries for the second straight year, the Tennessee Titans announced nearly all of their inactives on Friday because half a dozen players weren’t healthy enough to practice.
Despite all of the injuries, veteran EDGE Ola Adeniyi was a healthy scratch.
Most people assumed that his neck issue flared back up, but apparently he was just a healthy scratch. Even then, it is still surprising to see that he and linebacker Joe Schobert (who has played more than 100 snaps on defense) was released.
Do the Tennessee Titans have a silver lining here?
Given how poorly the defense has played, it isn’t surprising that moves were made. However, if you are one of the very few optimists left in the Tennessee Titans fan base, then there may be a positive spin on this.
It wouldn’t make much sense to cut Adeniyi without a replacement in mind and since there hasn’t been a signing or a call-up from the practice squad, that could be good news for Denico Autry.
Even though Jeffery Simmons is an All-Pro caliber player when healthy, no injury has hurt this defense more than Denico Autry who was hurt against the Green Bay Packers last month. If this is a sign that he could be coming back, it would be a monumental addition to an anemic defense.
As for Joe Schobert, he is an off-ball linebacker and the Tennessee Titans have (once again) gone through several of those. Since David Long Jr. just went on I.R. and since Dylan Cole is on burrowed time, maybe the Titans are planning on getting Zach Cunningham back.
A pairing of Cunningham and Monty Rice would give the Titans more play speed and length than they currently have, and if Cunningham can play like he did last season, it would give the front seven another NFL-caliber starter.