Final Tennessee Titans 53-man roster projection
By Will Lomas
Linebacker (5): Azeez Al-Shaair, Jack Gibbens, Chance Campbell, Luke Gifford, Ben Niemann
It is hard to say whether Monty Rice is in the dog house with Mike Vrabel or if he is just hurt again, but either way, it seems like he is going to get left behind.
While you would want someone to step up and take ahold of the open linebacker spot with Rice out of the picture, the competition has been underwhelming. It seems like Gibbens is going to get to start next to Al-Shaair, but mostly because of what he does on a chalkboard and not what he actually brings to the field.
Campbell and Niemann have both looked better than Gibbens through two preseason games, but it doesn't seem like that is going to matter much in the end. Having said that, the Tennessee Titans have always used a lot of different linebackers over the course of the season, so just making the roster means that we should see them a fair amount this season.
Gifford is the classic special teams linebacker that Mike Vrabel loves to keep on the roster and by all accounts he is as good in the regular season as he was in the preseason. That is a valuable addition and hopefully, he can be more like Darren Bates than Nate Dzubnar.