Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon sought out to significantly improve the cornerback position this offseason. The first move in a series of them was to sign free-agent cover-man Chido Awuzie to a three-year, $36 million contract. Follow up moves included trading for L'Jarius Sneed, and drafting Jarvis Brownlee Jr., ensuring Tennessee's CB room is completely unrecognizable from last season.
Gone are Sean Murphy-Bunting and Kristian Fulton, last year's starting cornerback duo that negatively contributed to a 2023 secondary that allowed a below average 18th-ranked 227.4 passing yards per game. Signing Awuzie was potentially a personal request of new head coach Brian Callahan. Awuzie and Callahan previously spent three seasons together (2021-23) with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Awuzie returned to the field for the Bengals in 2023 after suffering a mid-season-ending torn ACL injury during Week 8 of the 2022 season. Players typically require a full year of recovery to regain full strength and motion in their knee. Regardless, Awuzie was named a starter ahead of 2023, but suffered a back injury roughly midway through the campaign. He often played through both difficulties.
Naturally, some ups and downs developed. Awuzie was eventually placed on a limited snap count before momentarily losing the starting job to rookie cornerback D.J. Turner. Awuzie eventually returned to the starting lineup following an injury to Cincinnati's other starting corner, Cam Taylor-Britt.
All in all, Pro Football Focus credited Awuzie with allowing 38 receptions on 56 targets for 488 yards and three touchdowns. Opposing quarterbacks averaged 12.8 yards per completion when throwing the ball in Awuzie's direction, and they saw a passer rating of 112.8. PFF assigned the former Colorado Buffaloes standout a pass coverage grade of 62.3.
Despite the injuries and up and down results, PFF has another in-depth metric that reflects more positively on Awuzie. According to their charting, the 2017 second-rounder finished sixth among all qualifying cornerbacks in step of separation, having allowed receivers to create separation against him on just 21.1% of the targets thrown in his direction. Awuzie was still playing shutdown coverage on the majority of his snaps.
New #Titans CB Chido Awuzie rarely allowed steps of separation last season, per PFF. pic.twitter.com/zHMZyBnren
— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) July 3, 2024
Standout performers like Jalen Ramsey (20.7%) and Cobie Durant (20.6%) were among the only cornerbacks in the league that allowed less separation to receivers when targeted in coverage. Now fully recovered from an ACL and last season's back injury, indications are that Awuzie could be even better for the Titans in 2024.
His arrow is pointing up.