Tennessee Titans special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman spoke to the media via Zoom call on Friday and discussed who the team is considering for return duties in 2020.
The Titans were sluggish in the return game to start the season and couldn’t seem to get anything going on either punts or kickoffs. Thankfully, wide receiver Kalif Raymond was able to improve both in the second half of the season.
On kick returns, the Holy Cross product finished with 22.4 yards per return, which would have placed him tied for 11th in the NFL had he qualified. Raymond’s Pro Football Focus kick return grade was also the eighth-best in the NFL.
While Raymond is no doubt the favorite to land the job once again this season, it looks like he’ll have some competition from Darrynton Evans, according to Aukerman.
#Titans ST coordinator Aukerman: Lot of competition at punt returner, mentioned Humphries, Jackson, Raymond.
–Re kick returner, feel good about Kalif. Darrynton Evans will compete as well.— John Glennon (@glennonsports) July 31, 2020
That isn’t much of a surprise considering Evans was an electric returner for
Appalachian State. During his college career, the running back totaled an impressive 25.7 yards per return — including a career-high 32.7 in 2018 — and notched three scores.
On the punt return side, Aukerman named Raymond once again, as well as wide receiver Adam Humphries and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. I think Cameron Batson is another name we should throw into the mix as well.
Humphries led the Titans in punt returns last season with 12, but was mostly ineffective with 6.5 yards per return. Jackson also tried his hand at returns in 2019, but after a costly fumble against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3, Jackson didn’t see another punt return the rest of the season.
What Humphries and Jackson have in common aside from their returning punts is that they both missed a significant amount of games due to injury. Including playoffs, Humphries missed six and Jackson missed five.
The Titans might be better served leaving them out of the return plans in order to avoid yet another avenue either player could get hurt.
More likely than not, Raymond and Batson will be the Titans’ top options to return punts, with Raymond having the advantage to land the job thanks to having more experience and his posting a solid 11.3 yards per return last season.
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