After yesterday, the Titans came into today needing to make at least 12 more roster moves to reach the 53-man limit by today’s 3 PM CT deadline. As announced by the team, here are the players they removed from the roster:
RB David Fluellen
WR Jacoby Ford
ILB Zaviar Gooden (placed on injured reserve)
G Josue Matias
WR Tre McBride
WR Hakeem Nicks
G/T Will Poehls
WR Rico Richardson
ILB Yawin Smallwood (placed on injured reserve)
OT Byron Stingily
QB Alex Tanney
OLB J.R. Tavai (placed on injured reserve)
Most of the surprises on the moves come with the position mix. I thought Nicks was a near-lock for the team, as did he. But the Titans chose to only keep four wide receivers and five tight ends, including bubble guys Chase Coffman and Phillip Supernaw. They also kept eight defensive linemen, which I thought was a little bit of a waste given only 5 or 6 were active.
Given the mix by position group, the only direct player choice that surprised me was the Titans keeping Quinton Spain rather than Poehls or Stingily. He did not stand out to me in the games I watched, but as I’ve said before I’m a non-technical observer of offensive line play and therefore could easily be missing something.
As a reminder, the Titans made three waiver wire moves after last year’s cuts, so the 53 right now is far from a lock to be the final 53 come Tampa in eight days. I’d look specifically at outside linebacker, inside linebacker, and cornerback as positions the Titans might address. Wide receiver is a possibility, but I doubt it. Keeping only four was a function of likely only four dressing on gamedays and the injuries at other positions, with Ken Whisenhunt listing David Cobb, Sammie Hill, and Jason McCourty as players whose injury status might affect the shape of the roster.
I plan to have an in-depth breakdown of the 53-man roster that is after waiver wire moves are processed tomorrow.
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