Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
With a Week 1 matchup between the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans on tap, we go behind enemy lines for a chat with Titans Wire.
The New York Giants (0-0) and Tennessee Titans (0-0) will square off on Sunday afternoon in a Week 1 matchup at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Giants opened the week as 5.5-point road underdogs and that’s where the spread remains as of this writing.
With this matchup on tap, Giants Wire took the opportunity to hold a Q&A with Titans Wire managing editor Mike Moraitis.
On Monday, the Titans named six captains for the 2022 campaign.
On Monday, the Tennessee Titans revealed the players who will be their captains for the 2022 season.
The six players include quarterback Ryan Tannehill, running back Derrick Henry, center Ben Jones, defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, safety Kevin Byard and outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi.
Tennessee named one extra captain this year after having five in 2021. The newest additions are Jones and Adeniyi, while Henry, Tannehill, Simmons and Byard were all captains last season.
This is Adeniyi’s first time being named a captain with the Titans. Jones was a captain in 2019. Simmons was voted a first-time captain in 2021.
Henry and Tannehill have been captains in each of the past two years, while Byard has the longest-running streak of being named a captain after serving as one in each of the last three campaigns.
The Titans are currently preparing for Week 1, which will take place at Nissan Stadium in Nashville against the New York Giants.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyh7crnrcs3ypf player_id=none image=https://titanswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[lawrence-related id=96030,96026,96010]
[listicle id=96017]
Six Titans who must step up now that Harold Landry is out for the season.
The Tennessee Titans’ 2022 defense was dealt a devastating blow on Thursday after news broke that outside linebacker Harold Landry had suffered a torn ACL in practice on Wednesday.
Landry was fresh off a career year with 12 sacks and a Pro Bowl appearance, and he was rightly awarded with a contract extension earlier this offseason.
Now, the Titans have enormous shoes to fill after losing one of their best defenders. Not only is Landry a stud pass-rusher who plays a ton of snaps, but he also plays well against the run and is often asked to drop back into coverage.
Replacing Landry likely won’t be a one-man job. Whether or not the Titans look outside the team to get help remains to be seen, but Tennessee does have in-house options it can deploy to try and cover the production lost.
Bottom line: the Titans need guys to step up. Here’s a look at six Titans players who fit the bill.
Outside linebacker is one of the more set positions on the Titans’ roster ahead of training camp.
In our latest installment of 2022 training camp previews for the Tennessee Titans, we take a look at the outside linebacker position.
Tennessee’s best outside linebacker last season was far and away Harold Landry, who had a career year in his fourth season, which was a contract year.
Landry answered the bell with a career-high and team-high 12 sacks and was a major part of the team’s defensive revival, which was fueled by a pass-rush that tallied 43 sacks, tied for the ninth-most in the NFL.
The Titans rewarded Landry with a five-year, $87.5 million contract earlier this offseason.
There wasn’t much to talk about outside of Landry, though.
Tennessee’s big offseason signing, Bud Dupree, simply wasn’t himself in his first year back from a torn ACL, but the good news is he began to round into form later in the season, giving hope for 2022. Dupree says he’s feeling much better in his second year removed from the injury.
“It’s way different, man, way different,” Dupree said. “Feels way better. Confidence is a different level. That’s all it takes to play this game. Your confidence is high, you’re going to play at a different level.”
The team’s 2021 fourth-round pick, Rashad Weaver, was limited to just two games because of injury, and Ola Adeniyi was a serviceable backup who played a big role on special teams.
With all that in mind, let’s take a look at Tennessee’s situation at outside linebacker going into training camp, and we’ll make a prediction for how things will shake out on the 53-man roster.
The WWE’s Drew McIntyre got a taste of the NFL when he trained with Titans OLB Ola Adeniyi recently.
With SummerSlam coming to Nissan Stadium in Nashville on July 30, the Tennessee Titans recently hosted wrestler Drew McIntyre to show him what it’s like to train in the NFL.
Also featured with McIntyre was Titans outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi, who took the professional wrestler through some football drills and workouts to show him the ropes.
“My first attempt at American Football and it was one of the hottest, hardest workouts of my life,” the Scotland-born wrestler wrote on Twitter. “I need this level of prep to get me where I need to be for SummerSlam. Thank you [Ola Adeniyi] and [the Titans] for putting me through my paces, I’ll be back July 30!”
Check out the video of Adeniyi and McIntyre training together below.
It's time for @DMcIntyreWWE to train like a Titan! ⚔️😂@WWE @SummerSlam comes to @NissanStadium on July 30th! pic.twitter.com/sidJSDShVv
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) July 6, 2022
McIntyre, who lives in Nashville, is a two-time WWE Champion and could be facing a well-known Titans fan in Sheamus at SummerSlam, according to Bleacher Report’s Erik Beaston.
[lawrence-related id=92032,92029,92038]
[listicle id=91942]
The Titans are bringing back Ola Adeniyi on a one-year deal.
The Tennessee Titans are bringing back another one of their own free agents, as the team has agreed to a one-year deal with outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi.
The news comes from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, via Adeniyi’s agents. The terms of the one-year deal are not yet known, but his salary will likely see a slight bump from the $1 million cap hit he accounted for in 2021.
Adeniyi was a pleasant surprise for the Titans in his first season in Nashville. He was a solid reserve pass-rusher, tallying 2.5 sacks and 14 pressures. He also played a key role on special teams.
With Adeniyi back in the fold, the Titans now figure to have their top four at the position, with Harold Landry and Bud Dupree expected to serve as starters, and Rashad Weaver and Adeniyi battling for backup snaps.
Other outside linebackers who will be battling for a roster spot include Justin Lawler, Tuzar Skipper, and Kobe Jones.
[listicle id=85938]
Two Titans currently lead in the Pro Bowl vote at their respective positions.
The early returns for the 2021 Pro Bowl vote are out after the first week and a handful of Tennessee Titans players are at or near the top of their respective positions.
Safety Kevin Byard, defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons and outside linebacker Harold Landry rank first, second and third at their positions, respectively. All three are Defensive Player of the Year candidates.
Long snapper Morgan Cox is currently second at his position, while defensive lineman Denico Autry ranks 10th. Outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi is tops in the special teams vote.
As far as overall vote totals are concerned, here is a look at the top five:
1. Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor (81,087)
2. Los Angeles Rams WR Cooper Kupp (80,673)
3. Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce (79,910)
4. Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett (76,064)
5. Dallas Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs (75,637)
If you’d like to place your vote for your favorite Titans, or any other player in the NFL, you can do so here.
[lawrence-related id=78097,78013,78004]
[listicle id=78020]
Despite being one of the Titans’ best pass-rushers to start the season, Ola Adeniyi saw a decrease in snaps in Week 4.
With the Tennessee Titans’ embarrassing Week 4 loss to the New York Jets in the books, it’s time to take a look at the snap counts from Sunday’s game and look for any trends or interesting takeaways we can find.
On defense, the biggest takeaways come from the snap counts at inside linebacker, outside linebacker, defensive line and cornerback. On offense, we’re focusing in on wide receiver, offensive line, and running back.
Of those aforementioned positions, the most noteworthy things come from inside linebacker, where the Titans appear to have a changing of the guard, and at outside linebacker, where an early-season star didn’t see the field enough, at least not in our humble opinion.
Let’s dive a little deeper into those situations and more as we examine the Titans’ snap counts from Sunday’s brutal loss to the Jets.
Titans OLB Ola Adeniyi might not have become a football player if it wasn’t for fast food.
Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi has been one of the team’s biggest surprises through the first three weeks of the season, as his 2.5 sacks currently lead the Titans.
But if not for fast food, Adeniyi might not have been a football player at all.
Growing up in Nigeria, Adeniyi wasn’t exposed to fast food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King, but that all changed once he came to the United States, leading to his putting on some weight.
Once that happened, coaches wanted Adeniyi, who originally played soccer and ran track, to put the pads on — and the rest, as they say, is history.
“When I was in Nigeria, I played soccer and track. I was a skinny dude running around,” Adeniyi explained. “But when I came to the states, I just got to seeing McDonald’s, Dominos, Burger King, and I got fat, so the coaches came up to me to try to get me to come play football.”
Adeniyi says once he put the weight on, he was done with soccer and track.
“Once I got fat, as the years kept progressing, once I got too big I couldn’t do it anymore,” Adeniyi admitted.
As reporters scoffed at the idea of Adeniyi being overweight, the currently in-shape outside linebacker promised to share photos of his younger self to prove it. We look forward to those photos.
The first thing you notice about Adeniyi is his smile, which is nothing short of infectious — and it’s a smile we’ve seen plenty of since he came to the Titans.
Adeniyi says part of the reason he’s smiling more is because of his improved teeth via Invisalign.
“I mean, a lot of people be telling me I smile too much, but I just be geeked up,” Adeniyi said with a smile. “Ever since I got Invisaligns I’ve been showing my smile.”
You can’t help but like Adeniyi, who seems to have a positive personality that is great for the locker room. And, he has plenty of reasons to be “geeked up” (excited) after his impressive performances the past two weeks.
[lawrence-related id=72711,72732,72694]
[listicle id=72747]
Adeniyi has been one of the biggest surprises on the Titans’ defense through three games.
Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Ola Adeniyi was one of the biggest standouts during the Week 3 win over the Indianapolis Colts, and now he’s being “rewarded” with a random performance-enhancing drug test.
Adeniyi, who tallied 1.5 sacks and four tackles in the winning effort — and now leads Tennessee in sacks with 2.5 — posted on his Instagram story and revealed that he’s subject to a random PED test by the league on Monday (H/T @ARTHURJUANWRLD on Twitter).
“Olasunkanmi, this is (name withheld) with Drug Free Sport. You’ve been selected for a PED test, today, September 27,” the message Adeniyi received reads. “The window will be open 9:30-12:30 (before squad mtg). Please bring an ID to the testing room ready to provide an adequate specimen. Please like this text or reply back to confirm you received this.”
Adeniyi had fun with it, saying “they must think I’m cheating after yesterday,” while also adding a laughing emoji.
— 𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓱🐺 (@ARTHURJUANWRLD) September 27, 2021
While these PED tests are supposed to be random, it sure is interesting timing that his came right after what was the best game of his career. I guess, if anything, Adeniyi should take that as a compliment.
The former Pittsburgh Steeler, who was billed as just a special teamer upon signing in Nashville, has been one of the biggest surprises on defense for Tennessee through three weeks.
[lawrence-related id=72304,72315,72269]
[listicle id=72313]
