Tag: Kristian Fulton

Titans vs. Bengals final Week 12 injury report: 1 ruled out, 5 questionable for Tennessee

Denico Autry has been ruled out and five others are listed as questionable for the Titans ahead of Sunday.

The Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals have released their final injury reports of the week ahead of their Sunday matchup at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

Of the several players on their injury report, only one has been ruled out in defensive lineman Denico Autry, who is still recovering from a knee injury suffered last week.

A total of five other players are listed as questionable, including center Ben Jones. The veteran did practice fully on Friday, though, and the hope is that Jones is cleared from the concussion protocol later today.

Of the five players listed as questionable, only kicker Randy Bullock didn’t practice on Friday. Bullock went from limited on Thursday in Tennessee’s estimated injury report, to a did not practice on Friday.

Now, a look at the full injury reports for both teams ahead of Sunday.

* DNP = Did not participate LP = Limited participation FP = Full participation NIR = Not injury related

Tennessee Titans injury updates after Tuesday’s practice

Some Titans injury updates after Tuesday’s practice.

The Tennessee Titans held a practice on the Tuesday ahead of their Week 12 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but unlike typical practices, they weren’t required to provide an injury report.

That first report with participation levels will come on Wednesday, but Titans beat writer Jim Wyatt provided some updates on injured players following Tuesday’s session, albeit without exact participation (limited or full).

Here’s a look at who did and didn’t practice:

Did not practice: K Randy Bullock (calf), DL Denico Autry (knee), C Ben Jones (concussion), CB Kristian Fulton (hamstring)

Did practice: OLB Bud Dupree (hip), S Amani Hooker (shoulder), K Caleb Shudak (leg), CB Elijah Molden (groin)

Also per Wyatt, Dupree stated that his current hip injury is in the opposite leg of his previous one.

Head coach Mike Vrabel noted earlier in the day that Jones remained in the concussion protocol, leaving his status in doubt for Week 12.

Vrabel also noted rookie wideout Kyle Philips, who is currently on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, was unlikely to return to practice this week.

Shudak was designated to return from the PUP list on Tuesday, opening his 21-day window to be activated. The rookie kicker, who impressed in OTAs, could be called into duty as soon as this week if Bullock remains injured. Vrabel said the Titans’ kicker situation is “to be determined.”

The Titans will practice on Wednesday and Friday this week, with an off day for Thanksgiving on Thursday. The Titans and Bengals will kick off from Nissan Stadium at noon CDT on Sunday.

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Titans’ Kristian Fulton among NFL’s best in completion percentage allowed

Kristian Fulton is having another great season for the Titans.

Tennessee Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton has turned his season around after his rough start that included inconsistent play and a hamstring injury that ultimately sidelined him in Week 2.

The LSU product currently owns the fourth-lowest completion percentage out of all qualifying cornerbacks who have been targeted at least 15 times, per Sports Info Solutions (SIS).

Fulton has only allowed 14 catches on 35 targets through seven outings.

The only qualifying cornerbacks who have a lower completion percentage are the Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Jackson Sr. (37.8), the Cincinnati Bengals’ Chidobe Awuzie (37.0), and the Philadelphia Eagles’ James Bradberry (31.9).

It’s often been overlooked for whatever reason, but Fulton has slowly established himself as a legitimate top-10 cornerback in the league.

The talented defender has missed his fair share of time since he entered the league, but there’s no question he has an undeniable impact whenever he’s on the field.

Not only does Fulton spend a lot of time defending the opposing team’s best pass-catcher, the Titans cornerback is also on the verge of producing one of the lower completion percentages when targeted for two consecutive seasons.

It was only a year ago that Fulton had the seventh-lowest completion percentage (46.0) out of all qualifying cornerbacks (MIN: 20 targets) after only allowing 23 receptions on 50 targets, per SIS.

Barring some unforeseen falloff from the third-year cornerback, it’s very likely that Fulton will be able to accomplish this feat of consistency.

If so, there’s no reason why the second-round corner shouldn’t start to receive national accolades in the form of Pro Bowls and potentially All-Pro recognition over the coming seasons.

Whether that actually happen remains to be seen, but make no mistake about it: Fulton is an integral part of an elite defense that is much better anytime No. 26 is roaming around the backend.

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Titans film study: Kristian Fulton becoming a lockdown cornerback

As if you needed another reason to check out Tyler Rowland’s film study of Titans CB Kristian Fulton, it also includes a Shakira reference.

The Tennessee Titans dismantled the Houston Texans on Sunday. Outside of a garbage-time touchdown drive, the Titans defense made the Texans look like a college team.

This is no surprise considering how locked-in the defense has been in recent weeks. One of the biggest reasons the Titans’ defense has been able to play at such a high level is the continued development of Kristian Fulton.

Fulton has gone from good to great so far this season and he closes off one side of the field when he is playing his best. We saw that on Sunday in H-Town.

Fulton’s stats look incredible. He allowed only one catch despite being targeted seven times. The one catch he allowed went for NEGATIVE yardage.

He seemed to know exactly what was coming, whether that be dropping perfectly into his zone to take away a red-zone touchdown chance or basically running the receiver’s route in man coverage.

Fulton was on his “A” game.

Looking at the numbers from recent weeks and you can see this isn’t a one-time showing, either.

Over the past three weeks, Fulton has been thrown at 17 times and given up only six catches for 38 yards and zero touchdowns while also snagging an interception and giving up a passer rating of 19.5 overall.

He truly is blossoming into a lockdown corner. What we saw on Sunday in Houston has to be replicated over the next few weeks as the Titans take on tougher teams, but it was a performance that has to have you excited about what Fulton may be doing by the end of the year!

With that being said, let’s step into the film room and see how he did it.

Watch: Titans’ Kristian Fulton was mic’d up in Week 7

Titans CB Kristian Fulton was mic’d up for the first time in his career in Week 7.

For the first time in his career, Tennessee Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton was mic’d up during the Week 7 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Fulton and the secondary played a huge role in the contest, which saw Tennessee emerge victorious, 19-10. The secondary played arguably its best game of the 2022 campaign and helped limit the Colts to just 243 yards through the air after the Colts tallied 356 in Week 4.

Fulton notched the fourth-best coverage grade on the team (73.4) and allowed just two receptions on four targets for 16 yards.

During Tennessee’s fourth-straight win, both of this season and over the Colts, Fulton was mic’d up. Check out the game from his perspective.

With the victory, the Titans maintained their spot atop the AFC South and now own the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Colts, their biggest threat to the division crown.

Tennessee will now prepare to do battle with another division rival, the Houston Texans, in Week 8 at NRG Stadium.

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Titans’ Caleb Farley ‘not happy’ with lack of playing time in Week 3

Titans CB Caleb Farley is obviously not happy with the lack of playing time he saw in Week 3.

Tennessee Titans cornerback Caleb Farley is having a very rough start to his second season after seeing his rookie campaign cut short due to a torn ACL.

Farley was expected to grab the starting spot opposite Kristian Fulton going into the offseason but was somewhat unexpectedly beaten out by rookie cornerback, Roger McCreary.

Then, we expected to see Farley grab a role as the extra defensive back in sub-packages, but that didn’t happen, either.

Clinging to his backup role, Farley had a great opportunity to show his stuff in Week 2 with Fulton out, but he failed to answer the bell in what was a horrific showing for the entire team.

The 2021 first-round pick slipped even further in Week 3, when he was passed over for playing time in favor of veteran cornerback Terrance Mitchell, who had just joined the team mid-week.

Mitchell was bad and his poor performance made Farley, who saw just one snap on defense, look even worse.

As bad as things are for the Virginia Tech product, he remains confident in himself and is saying all the right things, although he isn’t happy with his limited non-existent role.

“I’m confident,” Farley said, per John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “I mean, I’m not happy with it, but I’m here to work hard and do what I can do to put myself in position to help this team win. When the opportunity comes, whenever they make that decision or that call, it’s my job to rise to the occasion and do the best I can to come in and execute.”

“You’ve just got to put your head down and do what’s best for the team, put the team first,” Farley added. “That’s the decision that was made, and I stick behind it because guys make decisions that are best for the team.”

While the Titans being down on Farley is understandable, he has to get more of a look than what he’s gotten thus far, which amounts to two games with 17 snaps or less, including his one-snap game in Week 3.

As Fulton pointed out earlier this week, reps are important for a young player to gain confidence, and that’s especially true for Farley in the first season back from a knee injury that can often take a year to fully come back from.

“It’s a process to get out there and get comfortable. I just try to share that with [Farley]. Once he gets those game reps, I feel like he’ll be good, but I just have to let him know that it’s a process,” Fulton said, per AtoZ Sports Nashville’s Sam Phalen.

“This is the NFL,” he added. “Everybody comes into the league confident in their abilities, but once you don’t get those reps out there, you can lose confidence in yourself.”

Head coach Mike Vrabel hinted earlier in the week that more changes could be coming to the revolving door that has been the Titans’ secondary depth.

We’ll see if Farley getting more playing time is one of those changes.

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Biggest takeaways from Titans’ Week 3 win over Raiders

Seven takeaways from the Titans’ Week 3 win over the Raiders.

Staring down the barrel of an 0-3 start, the Tennessee Titans faced a must-win situation against the Las Vegas Raiders in Nashville on Sunday.

Titans fans have been used to their team stepping up and winning when its back is against the wall the last few years, but nobody knew what to expect after what we saw from Tennessee over the first two games.

What fans got was a glimpse of the offense we had seen in 2019 and 2020 in the first half, and them more of the same 2022 Titans in the second half.

Thankfully, the defense did just enough to overcome a no-show effort from the offense in the second half and helped secure a 24-22 win for the Titans, which also helped get Tennessee out of the cellar in the AFC South.

The Titans’ Jekyll and Hyde performance is just one of seven takeaways from the team’s Week 3 victory over the Raiders.

Titans’ Dontrell Hilliard, Kristian Fulton among 3 ruled out vs. Bills

The Titans have ruled out three players ahead of Monday night.

The Tennessee Titans will be without their No. 1 cornerback and No. 2 running back for the Week 2 contest against the Buffalo Bills.

After practice on Saturday and ahead of the release of their final injury report, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel revealed that cornerback Kristian Fulton, running back Dontrell Hilliard and backup offensive lineman Jamarco Jones have all been ruled out for Monday night.

Losing Fulton is the biggest blow of the group, and now the Titans will be tasked with facing an elite passing attack that is loaded with impressive weapons without their top cornerback.

Stepping into Fulton’s role will be 2021 first-round pick Caleb Farley, who is a man without a role after playing just 17 snaps in Week 1. Fulton spoke about his lack of playing time during the week.

“I just do whatever they ask me to do to the best of my ability,” Farley said, according to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “I feel like if I take care of that, I try and earn a bigger role and everything should take care of itself.

“I am definitely motivated and ready to show it on Monday. I am ready to go out there and have a good game and go out there to compete.”

Hilliard was among the biggest standout for the Titans in Week 1 against the New York Giants, as he finished second in receiving yards and scored two touchdowns.

With Hilliard out, we will see more of Julius Chestnut and Hassan Haskins. Neither had a touch in the season-opening loss, but Haskins was active in pass protection on Tennessee’s final drive.

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Titans’ reasons for optimism, concern in Week 2 vs. Bills

The Titans have several concerns ahead of a Week 2 matchup against the Bills.

The Tennessee Titans will meet the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on “Monday Night Football” in Week 2 after both teams saw very different starts to the 2022 campaign.

The Bills made an early statement with their 31-10 Week 1 shellacking of the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams. Buffalo very much looked the part of the Super Bowl favorite it is in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Titans suffered an upset loss to the New York Giants, one of the worst teams in the NFL over the past five years. Making matters worse, Tennessee blew a 13-0 halftime lead.

This is the fifth meeting in five years between these two teams, with Tennessee and Buffalo each winning two apiece. However, the Titans have gotten the better of the Bills in the last two, winning 42-16 and 34-31.

The Titans do have some reasons for optimism going into a game in which they are massive underdogs, but as you’d expect there are more concerns. Let’s see what they are.

Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills Week 2 injury report: Friday

A look at the Friday injury reports for the Titans and Bills.

The Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills have released their respective injury reports on Friday, the second-to-last before their Week 2 matchup on “Monday Night Football”.

The Titans saw three players upgrade their participation from Thursday, including wide receiver Kyle Philips, left tackle Taylor Lewan and center Ben Jones.

On the flip side, offensive lineman Jamarco Jones was downgraded from Thursday, while right guard Nate Davis was a new addition to the injury report.

Others, including cornerback Kristian Fulton, running back Dontrell Hilliard, outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi and offensive lineman Dillon Radunz, saw no change in their practice participation.

Meanwhile, the Bills’ injury report looks identical to the Thursday version. The most notable name on it is defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who didn’t practice once again.

Now, a full look at the injury reports for both teams before they release their final ones on Saturday.

* DNP = Did not participate LP = Limited participation FP = Full participation NIR = Not injury related