Titans offensive tackle Jack Conklin is expected to miss the rest of the regular season after suffering a knee injury against the Jaguars on Thursday night, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). If Tennessee secures a postseason berth, Coklin has a chance to return for the playoffs.
The Titans have roughly a one-in-four chance of making the playoffs, per Five Thirty Eight. Although the Texans lost today, they’re still the overwhelming favorites to win the AFC South, so Tennessee will have to compete for the sixth wild card slot in the AFC. The Titans are one of several contenders for the No. 6 spot that has at least a 10% chance of heading to the postseason, including the Ravens, Colts, and Dolphins.
Conklin, the eighth overall selection in the 2016 draft, played in all 32 regular season games over the first two seasons of his career before going down with a torn ACL in the Titans’ divisional round loss to the Patriots in January. That injury cost Conklin time in 2018, as he missed the first three games of the year before returning in Week 4. Since then, Conklin had played nearly every snap for Tennessee (save for Week 5 when he suffered a concussion), grading as the NFL’s No. 42 offensive tackle among 78 qualifiers in the process, per Pro Football Focus.
With Conklin ailing, the Titans will turn to seventh-year pro Dennis Kelly at right tackle. Originally acquired in exchange for wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham in 2016, Kelly has appeared in 40 games and made nine starts over the past two-plus years.