What grades do the Titans get for releasing Adam Humphries and re-signing Breon Borders and Khari Blasingame?
The Tennessee Titans have already started making moves with one notable player having been released and two others having been re-signed.
Wide receiver Adam Humphries was the first cap casualty of the Titans this offseason and figures to be the first of multiple with the team needing to free up cap space in order to make significant upgrades on both sides of the ball.
The other two moves were of lesser note but still stand to have an impact in 2021. Cornerback Breon Borders and fullback Khari Blasingame were both re-signed by the team.
Let’s see what grade the Titans get for each of these early offseason moves.
Khari Blasingame will be entering his third season in Tennessee.
Tennessee Titans fullback Khari Blasingame was set to be an exclusive rights free agent this offseason, but the team announced it has reached an agreement with the Vanderbilt product.
Blasingame and the Titans have agreed to terms on a one-year deal. The amount of the contract has yet to be announced.
The Titans signed Blasingame off the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad back in 2019. He has played in 21 games over the past two seasons, serving primarily as a blocker for running back Derrick Henry.
The 24-year-old has zero carries during his tenure in Nashville but has been targeted 10 times, hauling in eight receptions for 93 yards.
Blasingame was one of three backs who are pending free agents for the Titans this offseason, along with D’Onta Foreman and Senorise Perry. He is also the second Titans pending free agent to come to terms with the team after cornerback Breon Borders was re-signed on March 1.
The Titans have just two players from their 53-man roster remaining on the COVID-19 list.
The Tennessee Titans announced that fullback Khari Blasingame is the latest player to be activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Blasingame was originally placed there on October 4.
With Blasingame’s activation, the Titans now have a grand total of just two players from the 53-man roster still on the list: wide receiver Corey Davis and tight end MyCole Pruitt.
It remains to be seen if either will be activated ahead of Sunday’s contest against the Houston Texans, or if they’d even play in the event that happens.
As for Blasingame: he should return to practice on Friday, the Titans’ last full session of the week. That would put him on track to play on Sunday, and he could potentially get some extra work on top of his blocking duties after Darrynton Evans was placed on Injured Reserve on Thursday.
Tennessee will host Houston at Nissan Stadium on Sunday, with kickoff set to take place at noon CT.
Titans FB Khari Blasingame was the ninth player to test positive for COVID-19 in the span of a week.
The Tennessee Titans had yet another player test positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, the ninth player and 18th member of the organization in total to do so in the span of a week.
Later in the day, the team announced that fullback Khari Blasingame would be placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list as soon as it can be made official on Monday, which confirms him as the ninth player to test positive.
As teammate and running back Darrynton Evans tweeted out his reaction to some of the action of Week 4, Blasingame properly expressed his mood in the wake of the news of his positive result.
The Titans have now had a total of 20 members of the organization test positive, as both practice squad defensive back Greg Mabin and outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen tested positive prior to this outbreak.
The Titans’ Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers has already been postponed and pushed back to Week 7, but now we have to wonder if the Titans’ Week 5 game versus the Buffalo Bills will be in jeopardy, also.
The Titans will need to have consecutive days without a positive test result before they can get back into their facility. There’s still time for that to happen, but it’s certainly running out.
Blasingame is the ninth Titan to be added to the list in the span of a week.
The Tennessee Titans announced that they will be adding fullback Khari Blasingame to the Reserve/COVID-19 list when league transactions become official on Monday.
It was reported earlier on Sunday that yet another player and personnel member had tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infected people within the organization to 20, 18 of which have occurred in the past week alone.
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Blasingame is the ninth player to test positive in the span of a week, based on reports. He joins defensive linemen DaQuan Jones and Jeffery Simmons, wide receivers Adam Humphries and Cameron Batson (practice squad), tight end Tommy Hudson (practice squad), cornerback Kristian Fulton, outside linebacker Kamalei Correa, and long snapper Beau Brinkley.
Prior to the outbreak this week, practice squad defensive back Greg Mabin and outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen had tested positive for the virus on September 24 and September 26, respectively. Rookie offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson has been on the Reserve/COVID-19 list since early September.
The Titans’ Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers has already been postponed and moved to a later date, but now the Week 5 game against the Buffalo Bills might also be at risk if the positives don’t stop coming in.
The Titans will need two consecutive days of no positives in order to get back into their facility, so the earliest that can happen is Wednesday.
The Titans brought back McNichols and waived two others this week.
The Tennessee Titans made some roster moves on Wednesday, agreeing to terms with a player whose name many will recognize.
The team agreed to terms with running back Jeremy McNichols, while also waiving running back Cameron Scarlett and linebacker Khaylan Kearse-Thomas.
The move comes at a time when the Titans have had to give some extra time to fullback Khari Blasingame at the position behind starter Derrick Henry after rookie rusher Darrynton Evans has missed multiple practices.
McNichols, a fifth-round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Boise State, is quite the journeyman at this point.
In addition to spending the 2019 preseason with the Titans and 2018 on the practice squad, he’s also seen time with the Jaguars, Bears, Broncos, Colts, and 49ers.
Over his NFL career, McNichols has played in five games and recorded four carries for eight yards.
Find out which backs we believe will make the Titans’ initial 53-man roster.
The Tennessee Titans will see a new face in their backfield in 2020 after drafting running back Darrynton Evans to play behind Derrick Henry, who won the NFL’s rushing title in 2019.
While those two are locks to be on the roster going into the regular season, there are still some questions left to be answered, and both Evans and Henry have things to work on in training camp.
Let’s take a look at those running backs who are roster locks and those that are on the bubble, and then we’ll make a prediction for how things will shake out for the 53-man roster.
Roster locks
Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Derrick Henry (Starter)
Darrynton Evans (Backup)
Analysis for Henry: As long as the Alabama product can continue running defenders over and picking up chunk yards like he did last season, he’s going to have a successful 2020 campaign.
However, the Titans would love to see Henry improve as a pass-catcher, which is an area he has struggled at in the past. It also didn’t help that Tennessee’s screen game was a complete mess in 2019.
Expect to see an emphasis on passing Henry the rock in camp, as it would serve the offense well to get the ball into the hands of its best play-maker in a variety of ways, especially when he’s in space.
Analysis for Evans: While the Titans’ 2020 third-round pick will certainly be on the roster, the amount of snaps and touches he gets will depend upon how he shows during training camp and the preseason.
If he’s slow to develop overall, the Titans might be forced to carry an extra back on top Henry, Evans, and quite possibly fullback Khari Blasingame.
We already know that Evans is an explosive back with great speed, and he has shown he has the chops to be an effective pass-catcher, also. What we don’t know is how he’ll hold up in pass protection, which is important if he wants to assume the third-down role that Dion Lewis vacated.
On top of trying to secure trust to with coaches in order to dominate the snaps and touches behind Henry, Evans will likely get a look as a return man after proving to be an impact player in that area with a kick return average of 25.7 yards and three scores in three seasons at Appalachian State.
Multiple Tennessee Titans players reacted to the fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder on Saturday night.
The fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder on Saturday night was a hot topic, and some Tennessee Titans players shared their reaction to the result.
Fury ended up stopping Wilder after the seventh round in dominating fashion and is now the new WBC heavyweight champion of the world.
Wide receiver A.J. Brown wasn’t too thrilled with the overall fight, and he thinks he could probably fight better than Fury and Wilder.
ESPN’s Turron Davenport snagged this photo of a billboard the fullback is on at Nashville’s BNA airport.
The Tennessee Titans have had a number of under-the-radar players make an impact this past season.
Fullback/running back Khari Blasingame is no exception.
He joined the Titans off the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad in 2019
Blasingame is no stranger to the state of Tennessee, though, playing out his college career for the Vanderbilt Commodores just a short distance away from Nissan Stadium.
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He racked up 997 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns as well as 35 catches for 380 yards and two receiving touchdowns during his time there.
The coaching staff and his teammates have spoken highly of Blasingame — but that’s not the only recognition he’s receiving.
ESPN’s Turron Davenport snagged this photo of a billboard the fullback is on at Nashville’s BNA airport.
Blasingame has been a quiet factor so far in Nashville, and the team will look for him to deliver solid performances as they aim to make another run for the Lombardi Trophy in 2020.
Here’s a complete look at the teams snap counts on offense.
The Tennessee Titans did what may considered to be the unthinkable as they came into M&T Bank Stadium and secured a dominant 28-12 win over the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens.
The Titans played true complementary football all night long to come out with the victory, and now just one game stands between Tennessee and a Super Bowl appearance.
As they have been doing lately, the Titans put backup quarterback Marcus Mariota in the game for one snap, leaving starter Ryan Tannehill to take the other 54.
Offensive guard Rodger Saffold was in for 53 snaps, while tight end Jonnu Smith saw action on 52 snaps and wide receiver A.J. Brown was on the field for 46 snaps.
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Tight end MyCole Pruitt, who had a nice 15-yard reception was in action for 26 snaps.
Pruitt, fullback Khari Blasingame and wide receiver Darius Jennings were all on the field for 38% of special teams snaps.
Here’s a complete look at the teams snap counts on offense.
The Titans will face the Kansas City Chiefs next in Arrowhead Stadium at 2:05 p.m. CST on Sunday for the chance to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
