Tag: monty rice

Titans LB Monty Rice was ‘unavailable’ for preseason Week 2

When asked about Monty Rice, who was out all last week, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel simply stated he was “unavailable.”

Ever since linebacker Monty Rice was surprisingly drafted in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans, he has struggled to prove that he was worth that type of investment.

Whenever he is on the field, the Georgia product has been a stout run defender, earning a respectable grade of 73.8, per Pro Football Focus.

Unfortunately, Rice’s biggest hurdle routinely comes with the fact that he struggles to stay on the field. He has yet to play a full season since being drafted, and truthfully, he appears to be better suited for a depth role as opposed to being a main contributor in an NFL defense.

However, everything was set up for Rice to have a chance to change the narrative in 2023 after he was projected to finally take the reins as one of Tennessee’s starting inside linebackers.

Sadly, Rice’s inability to stay on the field is already starting to become a problem and we haven’t even reached the start of the regular season.

After playing just seven snaps in preseason Week 1, and sitting out all of last week’s practices and the preseason Week 2 game, head Coach Mike Vrabel was asked about Rice’s absence on Monday.

As you’d expect, Vrabel didn’t offer much, with the Titans head coach saying Rice was “not available” and that “when he’s ready to go, he’ll be back out there,” according to Easton Freeze of Broadway Sports.

Rice entered training camp with it being his job to lose, and he certainly is on track to do just that unless he can find a way to get back on the field as soon as possible — but even then, it might not be enough.

Linebacker Jack Gibbens has been getting first-team reps alongside Azeez Al-Shaair for much of training camp, and both he and Chance Campbell started over Rice in preseason Week 1.

For now, my money is on either Gibbens or Campbell to take the job — and hopefully run with it.

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Titans’ Jack Gibbens making a run at starting linebacker

It appears Dr. Gibby has a shot at a starting spot for the Titans.

All offseason long, Tennessee Titans 2021 third-round pick and linebacker Monty Rice has been projected to be one of the starters alongside Azeez Al-Shaair, but it appears fellow linebacker Jack Gibbens may give him a run for his money.

According to ESPN’s Turron Davenport, Gibbens, who was pretty solid last season while filling in because of injuries, was rotating with Rice on the first-team defense, something head coach Mike Vrabel spoke about after practice on Monday.

“I think just right now they’re just trying to develop a role on this football team,” Vrabel said of Rice and Gibbens. “Obviously, Gibby’s got a little bit more length, Monty’s probably a little bit quicker and maybe a little faster.

“But other than that, they both have been productive thus far and I thought they both showed up today. I saw Monty show up on the sideline, being able to run and go chase down Tyjae (Spears). So, he showed up and, again, that’s the play speed that we’re talking about at times last year about being around the ball and flying. That’s good to see and we’ll keep having them in a competition and know that they’ll continue to get better.”

With speed being so important in today’s game, Rice’s advantage in that area gives him a leg up in this competition, but clearly Dr. Gibby is doing enough to earn a look for a starting spot.

As for the other starting spot, Al-Shaair seems to be firmly planted there. After practice, he spoke about wearing the green dot on his helmet, which means he’s calling the plays for the defense.

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Titans training camp preview at LB: Roster locks, competitions, prediction

Our next installment of training camp previews for the Titans comes at the linebacker position.

With Tennessee Titans training camp just days away, we keep chugging right along with our positional previews (we’re cutting it close, I know), with the linebacker position being up next.

The Titans are set to have two new full-time starters in 2023 after the team parted ways with both David Long and Zach Cunningham this offseason.

Monty Rice got a taste of being a full-time starter while one or both were hurt during the 2022 campaign, and he’s projected to get the nod in 2023 alongside newcomer, Azeez Al-Shaair.

However, neither player has a ton of experience as a full-time starter in this league, making linebacker arguably the biggest question mark on the defensive side of the ball.

Aside from the acquisition of Al-Shaair, the Titans also signed Ben Niemann and Luke Gifford. In addition, they have Jack Gibbens and Chance Campbell returning for Year 2.

Here’s a look at the roster locks at the position and competitions set to take place, as well as a prediction for how things will ultimately shake out.

Titans’ linebackers room ranked among worst in NFL

PFF recently ranked the Titans’ group of linebackers as one of the worst in the NFL.

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The Tennessee Titans are entering the 2023 season with one of the more inexperienced linebacker groups in the NFL. Not a single one of the Titans’ starting options at inside linebacker eclipsed 500 defensive snaps last season.

Ben Niemann led the way with 484 snaps, while Monty Rice, Azeez Al-Shaair and Jack Gibbens each tallied fewer than 400 defensive snaps.

This type of inexperience is a major reason why Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus had the Titans’ linebacker unit ranked No. 29 overall in a recent article where he ranked each team’s inside linebackers room.

Here is what Wasserman had to say about the Titans’ ranking:

Former 49er Azeez Al-Shaair figures to take one starting spot. He’s a proven run defender who hopefully learned some of Fred Warner’s coverage skills in San Francisco.

Alongside Al-Shaair could be veteran Ben Niemann, who also played well in a part-time role for the Cardinals. Third-year man Monty Rice also lingers as an option who played reasonably well last year for the Titans. Tennessee will just have to wait and see if any of these players will step up when given the lion’s share of snaps.

As intriguing as some of the Titans’ young options are, you really can’t blame anybody for being skeptical about the unit as a whole considering there’s only one linebacker in the room (Al-Shaair) who has at least one season in which they totaled a minimum of 700 defensive snaps.

Back in 2021, the former 49ers linebacker was forced into the starting lineup for the majority of the season, and he more than held his own.

Al-Shaair started a combined 13 games that year, tallying 102 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, and one interception.

The Titans will be tasked with trying to get the Florida Atlantic product to improve upon that type of production now that Al-Shaair will presumably have his chance to be a full-time starter in 2023.

When it comes to the rest of the group, this is the type of opportunity that can elevate a player’s career if truly seized.

Rice, Niemann, Gifford and Gibbens (among others) have a chance to go from being reliable depth pieces to an integral part of an NFL defense if they can find a way to win that vacant starting spot.

Regardless of who ends up winning it, don’t expect to see Tennessee’s crop of inside backers getting the benefit of the doubt from many people. This young group will have to earn respect on the field come the fall.

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Titans position battles to watch at mandatory minicamp

Shaun Calderon lists the five position battles to keep an eye on during Titans mandatory minicamp.

The Tennessee Titans have a lot of uncertainty as we slowly inch closer to the regular season. This offseason alone, Tennessee parted ways with several high-priced veteran players to get under the salary cap going for the offseason.

This led to a roster that had several holes to fill with limited resources to fill them. Thankfully, the Titans do have brighter days ahead when it comes to their resources.

According to Over the Cap, the Titans are expected to have approximately $93.8 million in cap space in 2024. Sadly, that’s not going do them any good in 2023 unless they’re willing to sacrifice some of that future money with restructures or extensions this year.

This means that, outside of any late additions to the team, the Titans will be forced to maximize the talent they currently have, while also betting on the upside of the free agents they brought in.

Fortunately for them, that is something Mike Vrabel-led teams are often known for.

With mandatory minicamp beginning on Tuesday and training camp around the corner, it’s time to start focusing on which position battles stand out the most.

This team has a few starting jobs on the line, but the majority of the competitions are to determine spots on the back half of the roster.

Let’s not delay this any longer: here are five position battles to keep an eye on throughout this week’s minicamp.

10 Titans facing a make-or-break year in 2023

Shaun Calderon lists 10 Titans who are facing a make-or-break year in 2023.

The Tennessee Titans began their offseason by making several notable moves to get themselves back in good standing with the salary cap.

To accomplish this, the Titans chose to part ways with several high-priced and highly-respected veterans such as Taylor Lewan, Ben Jones and Robert Woods, among others.

While these moves undoubtedly created some much-needed cap room, these decisions also created several more holes on a Titans roster that already had quite a few to begin with.

That means the Titans had to go bargain hunting these last few months, and they are now forced to rely on several young and/or unproven players to take that next step in their development if they’re going to have any chance at competing this season.

As risky as this is for the team, this year is just as nerve-wracking for several players on the roster whose immediate and long-term futures are up in the air for a variety of reasons.

Some are in danger of losing their starting jobs, while others could be on the verge of losing their jobs altogether by season’s end. This article is going to go over 10 players on the roster who are at a crossroads in their respective careers with the Titans.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into it.

Titans offseason preview at LB: Will Tennessee re-sign David Long?

A look at what the Titans might do at the inside linebacker spot in 2023.

Like most positions, the Tennessee Titans were riddled with injuries at the inside linebacker spot in 2022, and the position has become arguably the biggest question mark for Tennessee’s defense going into 2023.

The team’s two starters at the beginning of the season, David Long and Zach Cunningham, missed five and 11 games, respectively, leaving Tennessee extremely thin at the position for most of the season.

The injuries did give the Titans an opportunity to get a look at two of their young linebackers in 2021 third-round pick, Monty Rice, and 2022 UDFA Jack “Dr. Gibby” Gibbens. Dylan Cole also got plenty of run, also.

Tennessee is guaranteed to have at least one new starter at the position now that the team has cut Cunningham, but there’s a possibility Tennessee will have two holes to fill with Long set to hit free agency this month.

In our latest offseason preview, we’ll go over who is and isn’t under contract at linebacker, and then we’ll discuss what the team might do this offseason.

Titans’ Monty Rice isn’t lacking motivation ahead of crucial season

Titans LB Monty Rice is fired up to prove doubters wrong in 2023.

Tennessee Titans 2021 third-round pick and linebacker Monty Rice appears to be very motivated and isn’t messing around going into his third season.

Rice is heading into an important year for himself. There figures to be at least one starting job at inside linebacker up for grabs in Nashville, and while Rice is first in line to secure one, the jury is still out on him overall.

That’s because Rice has only played in 23 out of a possible 34 games (and started just 10 of those) over two seasons thanks to an Achilles injury he suffered in his rookie campaign.

As we wait to see how this all plays out at linebacker, Rice has been pretty fiery this offseason, as he appears less than thrilled with any kind of doubt surrounding him going into 2023.

The first example of this was back in late January, when Rice caught wind of a conversation on Twitter about his coverage skills that included quite a tame criticism, to which Rice offered a fiery response for.

Truth be told, criticisms of his coverage skills are valid. After all, the Georgia product allowed completions on nearly 80 percent of the passes thrown his way in 2022, giving up 198 yards and one score.

Rice brought more fire this past Saturday, showing he’s plenty motivated going into his third season.

While Rice might not like it, the truth of the matter is we need to see more of him before he can be proclaimed any semblance of a long-term solution at the position for Tennessee. He’ll have ample opportunity to show his stuff next season.

All that said, I love this fire from Rice. He’s clearly a man on a mission in 2023 and I hope he delivers.

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Titans’ Monty Rice not happy with criticism of his coverage

Titans LB Monty Rice is not trying to hear any semblance of criticism about his coverage skills.

Tennessee Titans linebacker Monty Rice is not subscribing to the idea that he struggles in pass coverage after his first two seasons in the NFL. Like, he really, really isn’t subscribing to the idea.

Following an abbreviated rookie campaign due to injury in 2021, Rice was thrust into a starting role late in the season in 2022 after David Long and Zach Cunningham went down to injury.

The 2021 third-round played well for the most part, but what we saw out of him was just about what we expected when he was drafted: he’s strong against the run and as a tackler, but needs to improve in pass coverage.

After one of the best Titans film guys out there, James Foster (aka No Flags Film) made a relatively harmless comment about Rice’s and Cunningham’s ability in coverage, the Georgia product wasn’t having it.

You can check out the tweet itself here, but we provided a screenshot just in case it gets deleted (and because we had to edit out the naughty words).

While Rice might’ve been a little harsh in his response, I can’t say I hate the fire and confidence he’s showing here. Not to mention, he’s doing so at such an early hour. I can barely function at that hour, let alone fire off a tweet.

Truth be told, the numbers bear out Rice’s need to improve in coverage.

On 29 targets thrown his way last season, he surrendered 23 receptions (79.3 percent completion rate)) for 198 yards and one touchdown en route to a passer rating allowed of 106.6.

While Rice’s coverage numbers were less than ideal, he did excel in run defense, posting a PFF grade of 73.8 in that area.

The Titans should seamlessly transition from Cunningham to Rice if that’s the route they want to take in 2023, as both are similar players.

However, we also have to remember Rice, 24, is young and only has 23 games under his belt, so there’s still hope he can be even better than that, including when it comes to his ability to cover.

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Titans snap count takeaways from Week 7 win

Titans LB Monty Rice didn’t play a single defensive snap for the second straight week even though the team is missing a starter at the position.

The Tennessee Titans entered the Week 7 contest against the Indianapolis Colts in familiar territory: they were missing key players on both sides of the ball.

In fact, the Titans have been dealing with this issue since 2021, which led to the team fielding an NFL record 91 players last season, and a whopping 66 through six games in 2022.

On top of having to replace injured players, the Titans made a key change in the secondary for the game against the Colts, a move that proved to pay massive dividends in the 19-10 win.

As we do every week, let’s see how the Titans divvied up the snaps.