The Tennessee Titans added to their depth at both cornerback and safety on Thursday by agreeing to deals with cornerback Frank Walker and safety Jordan Babineaux.
Walker is a veteran corner with eight years of experience. He started his career with the Giants back in 2003 and spent 2010 with the Vikings, where he played in 11 games, starting 2 of them. He may be most memorable to Titans’ fans as Kerry Collins’ designated whipping boy in the come-from-behind win at Baltimore in the 2008 season. Walker has never started more than 7 games in a single season, and he did that back in 2003. Like the DeMarcus Faggins signing in 2009, this is one solely for veteran depth, and if Walker plays meaningful snaps outside of a rarely-seen dime backage, the Titans are probably in trouble.
Babineaux is another veteran, who spent the first seven years of his career with the Seahawks. He was a starter in 2009, a part-time starter in 2006, and has otherwise been a third safety and special teams player. For more on his play in 2009, see this analysis by a very good Seahawks blogger. I don’t see him so much as a replacement for Chris Hope as the Titans not being satisfied with the depth beyond Hope and Griffin (Vinny Fuller remains a big question mark in my book). Safety was also the last box to be checked on Mike Reinfeldt’s list of positions he’d like to address in free agency at last weekend’s press conference. [UPDATE: While I was finishing this post, John Clayton of ESPN tweeted a source had informed him Babineaux was re-signing with the Seahawks and not going to the Titans. Considering Babineaux himself apparently broke the news, I’m skeptical. UPDATE #2: Seahawks beat writer Danny O’Neil confirms Babineaux will be a Titan.]
What do you think of these moves? Happy to see the Titans add a corner with Ryan Mouton going to IR? Wishing that corner wasn’t Frank Walker? Would you rather they’d overpaid to add a starting-level safety?
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