One of the biggest questions going into Week 5 was the status of Tennessee Titans tackle, Nicholas Petit-Frere, who was returning was suspension after having it reduced from six to four games.
Not only was NPF uncertain to suit up, it wasn’t clear if he’d be returning to his starting job after Chris Hubbard had played well for the most part over Tennessee’s first four games.
The Ohio State product saw reps on the left side during the week in practice, which caused a bit of a stir, but at the end of the day he was ruled out on Friday.
When asked about Petit-Frere’s status for Week 6, head coach Mike Vrabel said, according to Jim Wyatt, that NPF “has been out a while, so he’ll have to earn a spot back onto the offensive line and what we’re trying to do. So, he had a little bit of practice last week, and he’ll have more this week”
Barring a complete meltdown, Petit-Frere will, at least, be this team’s swing tackle. But if the plan isn’t to return him to a starting role once Vrabel deems him ready, there’s certainly avenues for him to get back into one outside of just injury.
Hubbard has been far better than expected, no doubt, but he isn’t set in stone if he falters.
On the left side, you have Andre Dillard, who has gone two games without imploding (he did gave up five pressures in Week 5, though) but is a bad game or two away from possibly losing his job.
So, while things don’t look great for NPF’s prospects of starting right now, it may not be long before we see him atop the depth chart, wherever that may be.
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