Tag: DaQuan Jones

Tennessee Titans’ winners and losers from Week 9 victory

Breon Borders and Desmond King were just two winners from the Titans’ defense in Week 9.

The Tennessee Titans finally got back on track after two straight losses with a Week 9 win over the Chicago Bears, 24-17.

For once, it was the defense that bailed the offense out, as the former was clearly the better unit on Sunday. The 17 points the Titans allowed was the second-fewest they have given up in any game this season.

It was a complete turnaround for the Titans’ embattled defense that was once again short-handed. We saw several players step up big time with respectable coverage and a consistent pass rush that made a big impact.

Of course, it also helped that the Bears were terrible offensively, but the Titans’ defense did what it was supposed to do, giving hope that better times are ahead.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Titans’ winners and losers from the Week 9 win over the Bears. As you’d imagine, most of the winners come from the defensive side of the ball.

Titans activate DaQuan Jones, Beau Brinkley from COVID-19 list

Brinkley and Jones were placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on September 29.

The Tennessee Titans got some good news ahead of their Week 5 matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday night, as defensive lineman DaQuan Jones and long snapper Beau Brinkley have both been activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Sunday.

Brinkley and Jones were placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on September 29, along with practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson, who remains on the list and was recently suspended.

This means that the Titans should have both players ready to go should the game with the Bills actually take place, which still isn’t a certainty after Tennessee saw another personnel member test positive for the virus on Sunday.

Tennessee activated two other players from the list on Saturday in 2020 first-round pick and offensive tackle, Isaiah Wilson, and practice squad defensive back, Greg Mabin.

With Jones and Brinkley off the list, the Titans now have a total of 10 players on it. The hope is that more players can be activated in the next few days, as Tennessee stands to be incredibly short-handed if not, especially at the wide receiver position.

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Titans put 3 players on COVID-19 list, add 2 to practice squad

The Titans have put three players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

The Tennessee Titans have placed three of their players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced on Tuesday.

The three players are long snapper Beau Brinkley, defensive lineman DaQuan Jones and practice squad tight end and 2020 UDFA, Tommy Hudson.

This comes on the heels of the news that three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for COVID-19 in what is the first outbreak of the 2020 NFL season.

We would assume the aforementioned players are the ones who tested positive, but that hasn’t exactly been confirmed yet.

As a result of the outbreak, the Titans’ facilities will be closed until at least Saturday, and the status of the Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers remains up in the air.

The NFL reportedly intends to still play the game on Sunday, but there is a possibility the game gets moved to either Monday or Tuesday, according to reports.

In other news, the Titans officially added running back D’Onta Foreman and defensive back Maurice Smith to the practice squad.

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Titans coach on Jeffery Simmons’ football identity: ‘He’s trending towards violence’

According to Titans DL coach Terrell Williams, Jeffery Simmons is a bad, bad man.

After putting together an impressive rookie campaign and following that up with a stellar showing during this year’s training camp, the Tennessee Titans’ coaching staff is understandably high on second-year defensive lineman, Jeffery Simmons.

If you needed proof of that, look no further than this comment from Titans defensive line coach Terrell Williams, who was asked about Simmons’ developing identity as a football player.

“He’s trending towards violence. He’s going to be a violent football player,” Williams said, per Buck Reising of AtoZ Sports Nashville.

Talk about leaving nothing to the imagination.

Williams also went into detail about one play Simmons made during training camp that made him realize even more that the Titans have something special in their 2019 first-round pick.

With Jurrell Casey no longer on the team, the Titans are hoping that Simmons can take the torch as the defensive line’s stalwart for the long haul. So far, it looks like he’s gotten off on the right foot to doing just that.

Williams briefly addresses Clowney

It’s possible we see outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney line up at defensive end during the 2020 season alongside Simmons and DaQuan Jones (can you imagine?), but for now, Williams isn’t going into detail about how Tennessee plans on using its newest toy.

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Tennessee Titans reveal their 5 captains for the 2020 season

Four of the players are first-time captains with the Titans.

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Tennessee Titans players have elected five captains for the 2020 season, the team announced on Monday night.

Per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online, the five captains will be quarterback Ryan Tannehill, running back Derrick Henry, safety Kevin Byard, defensive lineman DaQuan Jones and punter Brett Kern.

Tannehill, Henry, Jones and Kern are all captains for the first time with Tennessee, while Byard earns the honor for the second straight season. Tannehill has been a captain before, but it was with the Miami Dolphins.

Here’s what head coach Mike Vrabel had to say about some of the selections, per Wyatt.

“We voted this morning,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said on his weekly radio show with Mike Keith on 104.5-FM on Monday night. “There were some guys that got a lot of votes on defense, kind of split that next wave of votes. But in the end, I think that those guys were the runaway winners.

“I think with Derrick, we have talked about the leadership role, and the improvement that he’s made in that area. Obviously, Brett has been such a consistent, positive player for us on our punt team, and the job that he does. You let the players vote, and then we’ll hold one spot for (a game day captain) that we feel like each week deserve it or are worthy of it.”

While the Titans are returning much of the same team that made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game last season, they did part ways with multiple veterans who had been key locker room leaders in the past, like Delanie Walker, Jurrell Casey and Logan Ryan.

However, as we’ve found out during the course of last season and into this offseason, guys like Tannehill, Henry and Byard, among others, have all stepped up more to fill the void left by the aforementioned players.

Overall, the Titans have a great culture in the locker room, so it seems like they’ll be just fine without the players they let go from a leadership standpoint.

We’ll have a better idea just how true that is when the Titans hit the field for their first contest of the 2020 campaign against the Denver Broncos on September 14.

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DaQuan Jones on future with Titans: ‘Tennessee is my home’

DaQuan Jones wants to remain with the Tennessee Titans for as long as possible.

Tennessee Titans defensive lineman DaQuan Jones is going into the 2020 season on a contract year, but if it was up to him, he’d remain with the team for as long as possible.

Jones, who is the longest-tenured Titans defensive player, spoke to the media on Friday via a Zoom call, and while he expressed his desire to stay in Tennessee, the place he calls home, he doesn’t exactly know what his future holds.

“I’m not really sure, but I would love to stay here. Tennessee is my home,” Jones said. “With the whole deal, that’s something my agent and the team will talk about, discuss and all I can do is show up every day and continue to grind.”

Jones was drafted by the Titans in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft and is in the final year of a three-year, $21 million deal that has worked out well for Tennessee.

The 28-year-old became a starter in his second season and has gradually gotten better each year. In fact, 2019 was arguably his best season, as he finished with a top-30 Pro Football Focus grade among interior defensive linemen.

Even before he suits up in 2020, Jones has more than earned himself the right to get another contract from the Titans. On a normal year, he might have gotten an extension prior to this season, but this is not a normal year.

The Titans, like every other team in the NFL, are preparing for a decrease in the salary cap in 2021, which could go as low as $175 million depending on how much revenue is lost from fans being unable to attend games in 2020. To compare, the salary cap was set at $198.2 million this year.

General manager Jon Robinson has expressed hesitation about giving out extensions before knowing what the future holds financially, which could hurt Jones’ chances of being locked up before he hits the open market.

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Titans players ready to welcome Vic Beasley with open arms

Vic Beasley’s teammates aren’t holding anything against him after he reported to Titans training camp late.

Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Vic Beasley is off to a rough start in Nashville, but thankfully his teammates are still ready to welcome him with open arms.

Beasley, who signed a one-year, $9.5 million deal with the Titans earlier this offseason, reported to training camp late and will now have to pay $500,000 in fines, or $50,000 per day he missed.

While this is no doubt a frustrating beginning for a player the Titans are counting on to improve their pass-rush, some of the team’s veterans have already made it clear they won’t hold it against him.

Safety Kenny Vaccaro, defensive lineman DaQuan Jones, and left guard Rodger Saffold all held Zoom calls with the media on Friday and all had positive things to say about Beasley, who reported on the same day.

Here’s Vaccaro’s take on things.

Jones is ready to embrace Beasley.

Saffold echoed Jones’ sentiments, while also praising Beasley’s skill set.

Before he can join his teammates, Beasley will have to test negative for COVID-19 three times over the next four days, so there’s still a process to go through before he can get started.

If there’s one thing the Titans have that can help Beasley, it’s a great culture, as evidenced by the responses from these players. The team is filled with a lot of responsible veterans and great coaches who can help Beasley turn things around and move forward from here.

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Titans’ DaQuan Jones was remarkably disciplined in 2019

DaQuan Jones was incredibly disciplined in 2019.

The Tennessee Titans as a whole were among the most disciplined teams in the NFL last season in terms of penalties committed with 99 (the eight-fewest), but defensive lineman DaQuan Jones was on another level.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jones didn’t commit a single penalty in 2019 despite playing in 799 total snaps, which is simply mind-blowing.

Jones had arguably his best season as a pro last year. The Penn State product finished with a top 30 overall grade among interior defenders, per PFF, and totaled 42 combined tackles, one sack, three passes defended and two QB hits.

The 28-year-old will return as a starter this season alongside Jeffery Simmons, but his future beyond that remains up in the air, with Jones entering a contract year.

Normally you’d assume a player who has performed up to the level Jones has is a lock to return, however with the 2021 salary cap set to take a dip and the Titans already having started a defensive line rebuild after trading Jurrell Casey, Tennessee might decide not to bring him back.

If that happens it won’t be Jones’ fault. After all, he has done just about everything you could ask of a big man upfront and is deserving of a contract extension, even before this coming campaign starts.

Regardless of what happens down the road, we should expect big things from Jones in 2020, who could very well be auditioning for suitors in free agency.

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Titans’ DL ranked in bottom half of NFL by Pro Football Focus

The Titans didn’t fare too well in PFF’s defensive line rankings.

The Tennessee Titans’ defensive line will look different in 2020 after the team traded long-time starter Jurrell Casey to the Denver Broncos during the offseason.

As it stands now, two of the team’s starters upfront are returning in 2019 first-round pick, Jeffery Simmons, who the Titans are hoping makes the leap in 2020 after an impressive rookie campaign, and nose tackle DaQuan Jones, who posted arguably his best season as a pro last year.

Beyond those two, the Titans have a question mark. It’s still unclear who will get the majority of the snaps alongside Simmons and Jones.

Veteran Jack Crawford, 2019 UDFA Isaiah Mack and 2020 fifth-round pick Larrell Murchison all figure to get snaps, but there’s no telling if any of those players will be able to adequately fill-out the defensive line.

Because of those question marks, the Titans didn’t fare too well in Pro Football Focus’ defensive line rankings, landing at No. 21 on the list.

Here’s what PFF’s Sam Monson had to say about Tennessee’s group upfront.

Jeffery Simmons had a debut to remember after recovering from an ACL injury that many thought would sideline him for the entire season. Simmons notched a sack, two hurries and three defensive stops in a performance that earned a PFF grade of 90.6 and set pulses racing, but he never quite hit those heights again over the remainder of the season. Simmons is hugely talented, and the team was confident enough in his ability to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Jurrell Casey for a throwaway late-round draft pick, but now is the time Simmons needs to prove them right.

Depth is a concern along this defensive line, with little in the way of proven quality or even players who have shown well across limited snaps. Rookie Larrell Murchison was a fifth-round pick who has solid but not spectacular grades over the past two seasons at NC State. And while he was more of a run defender than a pass-rushing force, he will hope to earn some playing time as a rotational body early on.

After the Titans failed to get a consistent pass-rush out of their defensive line in 2019, chances are the player who can stand out the most in that area between Murchison, Crawford and Mack will see the majority of snaps.

Regardless of who gets the nod there, Simmons will be the biggest factor in the Titans’ success upfront — and the arrow is certainly pointing up for Big Jeff going into 2020.

After not feeling totally comfortable thanks to added weight, having to wear a knee brace and not getting a full training camp, Simmons has dropped weight, lost the knee brace and will get a full training camp in 2020.

And if he was as good as he was in his rookie campaign in the face of all those hurdles, just imagine how good he can be when they’re removed.

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Titans’ DaQuan Jones among AFC leaders in run stops since 2015

DaQuan Jones has been a quiet force against opposing ground games.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Tennessee Titans and their vast improvement on the offensive side of the ball, but what about the defense?

Titans nose tackle DaQuan Jones has been a force, though he doesn’t receive the same type of recognition some other players on the team have.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jones has the ninth-most defensive stops against the run among AFC defensive linemen since 2015 with a total of 102.

Jones gave his reaction to the stat on Twitter.

Jones, who was drafted by the Titans in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, is set to become a free agent after the 2020 season, so the 28-year-old could very well be playing his last season in Nashville.

In 2019, Jones posted 42 tackles (21 solo), two quarterback hits and three passes defensed in one of the best seasons we’ve seen out of him during his career.

On his NFL career, Jones totals 186 tackles, 107 solo, 20 quarterback hits, four passes defensed, seven sacks, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries over 77 games started.

It will be interesting to see how much of an impact he makes within the Titans’ defense when the team returns to football later this year. He is one of the locked-in starters on the team’s defensive line alongside Jeffery Simmons.

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