Titans Cut Roster Down To 53
Starting right tackle Jack Conklin will return to the Titans’ active roster after missing training camp due to his ACL tear in Tennessee’s second-round playoff game. He will be taken off the PUP list, pointing to an early-season return rather than a six-week absence.
Many other Titans will have to head elsewhere. Tennessee announced its cuts, trimming the roster from 90 to 53 players. Here is the full list of cuts:
- WR Deontay Burnett
- DB Trey Caldwell
- LB Josh Carraway
- TE Jerome Cunningham
- RB Dalyn Dawkins
- QB Luke Falk
- DB Rico Gafford
- DB Demontre Hurst
- OL Nico Falah
- OL Laurence Gibson
- DE David King
- DE Francis Kallon
- LB Jeff Knox
- DB Josh Kalu
- DL Du’Vonta Lampkin
- OL Tyler Marz
- LB Nyles Morgan
- OL Elijah Nkansah
- DE Tobenna Okeke
- DT Mike Ramsay
- TE Tim Semisch
- WR Brandon Shippen
- LB Robert Spillane
- G Xavier Su’a-Filo
- DB Steven Terrell
- DB Jason Thompson
- RB Lenard Tillery
- WR Jordan Veasy
- RB Akrum Wadley
- DL Julius Warmsley
- LB Tony Washington
- S Damon Webb
- OL Cody Wichmann
- WR Nick Williams
- TE Ethan Wolf
Placed on IR:
- P Austin Barnard
- WR Devin Ross
Titans Release Several Players
Rather than releasing 30+ players on Saturday morning, the Titans got ahead of the game on Friday by making some early cuts. The following players have been dropped from the 90-man roster (all links go to Twitter, unless noted otherwise):
- CB Trey Caldwell (via McCormick)
- DB Rico Gafford (via McCormick)
- DB Demontre Hurst (via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com)
- DE Francis Kallon (via McCormick)
- DE David King (via Adam Caplan of SiriusXM)
- DL Johnny Maxey (via McCormick) (waived/injured)
- DL Mike Ramsay (via Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com)
- DB Steven Terrell (via McCormick)
- RB Lenard Tillery (via McCormick)
- WR Jordan Veasy (via McCormick)
King was an exclusive rights free agent this offseason and was retained on a one-year deal for the league minimum. Last season marked his most successful campaign to date as he played on a quarter of the club’s defensive snaps and 16% of the Titans’ special teams snaps.
The Titans wrapped their preseason on Thursday night with a 13-3 loss to the Vikings. The Titans went 0-4 in exhibition games, but that’s rarely an indicator of regular season success.
Per league rules, the Titans must trim their way down to a 53-man roster by Saturday afternoon. They’ll get there by releasing more players and placing others on injured reserve.
Titans Sign 22 UDFAs
The Titans have signed a host of undrafted free agents to their offseason roster. Here’s the full rundown:
- P/K Austin Barnard (Samford)
- WR Cameron Batson (Texas Tech)
- WR Deontay Burnett (USC)
- RB Dalyn Dawkins (Colorado State)
- ILB Nick DeLuca (North Dakota State)
- OT Matthew Diaz (Wagner)
- DE Matt Dickerson (UCLA)
- C Nico Falah (USC)
- OLB Sharif Finch (Temple)
- CB Rico Gafford (Wyoming)
- CB Elijaah Goins (Ohio State)
- S Joshua Kalu (Nebraska)
- CB Ryan McKinley (Montana)
- OT Elijah Nkansah (Toledo)
- DT Mike Ramsay (Duke)
- RB Larry Rose (New Mexico State)
- WR Devin Ross (Colorado)
- OG Aaron Stinnie (James Madison)
- WR Jordan Veasy (California)
- RB Akrum Wadley (Iowa)
- S Damon Webb (Ohio State)
- TE Ethan Wolf (Tennessee)
Finch received a larger-than-average $42K guarantee to sign with the Titans (as noted by NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, on Twitter), so he may have a better shot than most of making the final cut. Finch, a 6’5″, 250-pound edge rusher, recorded five blocked punts at Temple using his exceptional wingspan. While he lacks pass rushing technique, the Titans probably feel that he has potential as a special teams contributor.
The Titans had only a four-man draft class this year, which necessitated a large UDFA class.