Tennessee Titans News & Rumors

Titans Considering Defensive Addition; Preston Smith On Team’s Radar?

Roster cuts following training camp and the preseason represents a time when a number of roster moves are made in the NFL. At or around that time, the Titans could be a team to watch closely.

Tennessee is “open” to making at least one defensive addition late in free agency, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Specifically, making one of more moves at corner or along the edge could be in play. If a pass rush signing is sought out, Fowler names Preston Smith as potential target.

Smith was traded from the Packers to the Steelers midway through last season. The move ended his Green Bay tenure (which dated back to 2019) but did not yield much in the way of production with his new team. In eight Pittsburgh games to close out the campaign, Smith notched only two sacks (bringing his season total to just 4.5).

That figure falls well short of Smith’s best campaigns. To no surprise, the 32-year-old was released by the Steelers in a cost-shedding move after the season. Little interest has been shown since then, although the Bills were named as a potential suitor before free agency. Buffalo instead signed Joey Bosa on the open market.

The Titans released Harold Landry in March. That move ended his seven-year tenure in Nashville, which included six seasons of action. Landry spent much of that time as the team’s top edge rusher, collecting at least nine sacks on four occasions. Replacing his production will be a key concern for the Titans moving forward. Second-round rookie Oluafemi Oladejo will play a role in that effort, but a veteran presence along the edge would also be a welcomed addition.

Tennessee entered Monday with over $29MM in cap space, so finances will not be an issue if Smith is indeed offered a deal. In any case, the Titans could afford moves at other positions as well prior to the start of the campaign.

Roger McCreary Aims To Remain With Titans

Roger McCreary has served as a mainstay in the Titans’ secondary during his three years in the league. The team’s slot corner is eligible for a new deal, and an extended stay in Tennessee would be welcomed in this case.

“The Titans drafted me, I feel like this is always home for me, so I’ll always be happy to come back,” the 25-year-old said (via veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky). “But I feel like it’s really not my decision – it’s in the upper room. So I’ve got to come out and just keep playing and if it comes it comes… If I play good, that’s going to come.”

Selected in the second round during the 2022 draft – then-GM Jon Robinson‘s final one at the helm, as it turned out – McCreary saw plenty of time on the outside during his rookie season. A shift inside began to take effect the following year, though, and last season he played almost exclusively in the slot. That will remain the case for 2025 with Jarvis Brownlee having played his way into a starting role on the perimeter.

Robinson was replaced by Ran Carthon, but that proved to be a short-lived setup. Carthon’s firing paved the way for Chad Brinker to take on the general manager role this offseason, although Chad Brinker resides as the Titans’ top decision-maker regarding roster moves. As Kuharsky notes, Brinker said at the start of training camp that no extension talks have taken place with McCreary to date. No deadline is in place for any potential negotiations to be cut off, however.

McCreary graded out as PFF’s No. 69 corner during his rookie season, but a step forward took place in 2023 (resulting in a 34th-place finish amongst qualifying players). Last year (as the Titans dealt with L’Jarius Sneed‘s absence for mush of the campaign but still managed a strong showing against the pass), he regressed and received a career-worst PFF grade of 61.3. The Auburn product would help his value considerably with a strong showing in 2025.

Sneed represents a potential cut candidate next spring based on his injury issues and the financial implications of moving on. Releasing the former Chief would eliminate the Titans’ most lucrative contract amongst defensive backs, something which could pave the way for a McCreary investment. It will be interesting to see if serious contract talks take place in the closing stages of the offseason.

Jaguars OL Dennis Daley Retires

Early this morning, the Jaguars announced that they have placed offensive lineman Dennis Daley on the reserve/retired list. Not much information has followed the announcement, but it appears Daley is hanging up his cleats at only 28 years old.

Daley came into the league as a sixth-round pick out of South Carolina in 2019. After injuries to the interior offensive line forced the team to move starting left tackle Daryl Williams inside to cover and Greg Little, the rookie second-round tackle called in to replace him, went down, as well, Daley stepped into the starting left tackle role for nine games of his rookie year.

After starting Year 2 injured, Daley made three starts (two at right guard, one at left tackle) in five game appearances before getting placed on injured reserve for the remainder of the year. His third year in Carolina saw him continue to shuffle around, starting nine of 15 game appearances at right guard, left guard, and left tackle.

In 2022, the Panthers traded Daley and a seventh-round pick in 2024 to Tennessee in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round selection. When Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan went down on the first play of the team’s Week 2 matchup with a season-ending knee injury, Daley was inserted and started the remainder of the season as the Titans’ blindside blocker. Though the line helped running back Derrick Henry to finish second in rushing yards that year, Daley tied for the most sacks allowed in the NFL that season, and the line as a whole was considered one of the league’s worst.

In free agency, Daley signed a two-year, $3.2MM contract in Arizona. He ended up on IR just before the start of the regular season and only ended up playing in four contests with one start. The Cardinals released him in training camp last year, and he landed on the Jaguars’ practice squad. Ending the season with no game appearances, Daley signed a reserve/futures deal to spend the offseason with Jacksonville. In the end, he’ll never appear in a game with the Jaguars, now that he’s calling it a career.

In his short time with the NFL, Daley did more than a lot of sixth-round picks get to do. Starting 37 games in 54 appearances at multiple positions across the line, Daley made himself a reliable backup option despite a few major injuries of his own.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/3/25

Here are the minor NFL moves to close out the first weekend of August:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

  • Waived: T Ozzie Hutchinson

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

A couple more players waived with injury designations recently have made their way back to their teams on injured reserve.

In Philadelphia, Johnstone won an audition in which the Eagles worked out four longsnappers. This is Johnstone’s first NFL contract after going undrafted out of Appalachian State this year.

Titans Waive WR Treylon Burks

JULY 29: Burks cleared waivers and heads to the Titans’ IR list, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo tweets. An injury settlement, removing Burks from IR, will be the likely next course of action. That would lead him to free agency.

JULY 28: Treylon Burks‘ tenure in Tennessee is on track to come to an end. In the wake of his latest injury, the former first-rounder has been waived.

This move has come with an injury designation, which comes as no surprise given the broken collarbone Burks recently suffered in training camp. Injuries have plagued the 25-year-old throughout his brief NFL tenure, which began when Tennessee selected him with the No. 18 pick in the 2022 draft. That selection was acquired by dealing A.J. Brown to the Eagles.

Given the link between the two wideouts created by the trade, Burks’ evaluations have always been measured against Brown’s Philadelphia success. During each of his three seasons with the Eagles so far, Brown has earned a Pro Bowl nod and second-team All-Pro acclaim; the 28-year-old was also a key figure in the team’s Super Bowl success in 2025. Burks, by contrast, entered this summer on Tennessee’s roster bubble.

The Arkansas product managed a career-best 444 yards as a rookie while being limited to 11 games. Optimism was high that, with better luck on the health front, he could round out his game and develop into a regular on offense with the Titans. Staying on the field has proven to be an issue, however – Burks missed six games again in 2023 and an ACL tear limited him to five contests last season – and when available he has not managed to meet expectations. The collarbone injury accelerated the timing for what could have been a decision to move on from the Titans closer to the start of the regular season.

Tennessee’s receiver depth chart will once again be headlined by Calvin Ridley this season. Veteran Tyler Lockett was added in free agency, as was Van Jefferson. The Titans used the draft to add a pair of Day 3 prospects at the position (Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor), and they will look to handle backup roles during their rookie seasons. Tennessee entered Monday with nearly $30MM in cap space, so finances will not be an issue if one of the veterans still on the market is targeted in the wake of this move.

Burks is now headed to waivers, with all teams free to claim him. Provided he goes unclaimed, he will revert to injured reserve. Situations such as these often result in a release being worked out along with an injury settlement. If that proves to be the case for Burks, his Titans stint will end on an unwanted but unsurprising note.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/28/25

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: CB Keni-H Lovely

Baltimore Ravens

  • Activated from non-football injury list: LB Jake Hummel

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Activated from active/NFI list: S Josh Minkins

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Jenkins, who switched to center this offseason, was dealing with a back injury in training camp and participated in a limited capacity on Monday, per USA Today’s Ryan Wood.

Evans, a sixth-round pick by the Rams in 2023, played in 10 games as a rookie but didn’t make the 53-man roster in 2024. He joined the Jets’ practice squad in December and signed a reserve/futures contract in January, but opted to retire instead.

Titans WR Treylon Burks Suffers Fractured Collarbone

Heading into perhaps his most meaningful season, former-first round wide receiver Treylon Burks experienced a significant setback today. The 25-year-old, coming off a season in which he missed the final 12 games with an ACL injury, fractured his collarbone today on a diving catch, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. A recovery timeline will come after he undergoes further testing, but he’ll certainly miss the start of the final year on his rookie contract.

2025 is set to be a contract year for Burks after Tennessee opted to decline his fifth-year option. His rookie year showed some promise through a bit of adversity. Catching passes in one of Ryan Tannehill‘s last two years in a Derrick Henry-heavy offense, Burks was the second-leading wide receiver on the team with 444 yards and a touchdown off of 33 receptions. His rookie year had potential to be more, but a turf toe injury in Week 4 of the season led to an inconsistent, 11-game campaign. Year 2 was more of the same as a preseason LCL sprain hampered him coming into the year. Missing two separate three-game blocks, Burks’ inconsistency continued to the tune of only 16 receptions for 221 yards in 11 games.

After letting injury derail his first two seasons before they really had a chance to get going, Burks was in a tough spot. New head coach Brian Callahan told reporters before the season that Burks would need to contribute on special teams in order to justify his roster spot. Burks was healthy heading into Year 3, but his usage and targets began to dwindle. In the week following a nine-snap offensive performance in a home loss to the Colts, Burks suffered a knee injury in practice that would be reported weeks later as a “loose ACL” that, ultimately, required season-ending surgery.

With injuries having defined his career thus far, it’s extremely unfortunate for Burks to suffer this injury today. Rapoport claims that Burks showed up to training camp “in great shape,” and we saw reports back in June that he looked ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation. The collarbone is, at the very least, a setback, as he’ll need to get back up to full speed in the midst of the regular season.

Burks already faced the challenge of trying to gel with a new passer in rookie quarterback Cam Ward. Burks was set to be the clear WR2 to Calvin Ridley after the team neglected to re-sign free agents Tyler Boyd and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. The Titans, though, imported a ton of competition in the offseason, signing veteran free agents Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson, drafting two fourth-round rookies in Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor, and even signing Ward’s favorite target in college, Xavier Restrepo, as an undrafted free agent.

With the influx of new talent and only $2.66MM in cash owed to him this year, there was a non-zero chance that Burks could fail to make the initial 53-man roster. Honestly, if he wasn’t going to end up making it on the team, this injury may have helped him stay on the roster with an injury designation.

The Titans will make their decisions on how to handle all of that business in the days and weeks to come, but in the meantime, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that former Raiders wide receiver Ramel Keyton is signing with Tennessee to fill in the spot vacated by Burks. Keyton made the Raiders’ initial 53-man roster last year, despite going undrafted out of Tennessee, with a stellar preseason. After failing to appear in the team’s first three games, Keyton was waived and put on the practice squad. He was signed back to the active roster again in Week 9, playing significant snaps on the offense that week, but spent the rest of the season mostly as a special teamer.

At 6-foot-3, Keyton brings size to the room as he heads back to the state of his alma mater. With the Titans off tomorrow, Keyton will join the team on Monday. Burks, on the other hand, will conclude medical testing and begin determining his path back onto the field. He has one more year to show Tennessee he can play up to his draft stock when healthy, he’ll just be doing so with a late start to his 2025 campaign.

NFL Minor Transactions: 7/25/25

Friday’s minor moves as we head into the weekend:

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Chargers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

CB Rumors: Flott, Giants, Sneed, Titans, Hill, Bengals, Barron, Broncos, Diggs, Packers

The Giants used a first-round pick on Deonte Banks in 2023 but have not seen the Maryland product justify his draft slot yet. This led to the Paulson Adebo signing. While Adebo is entrenched as a first-stringer, Banks may not be merely set to slide from New York’s No. 1 cornerback to a sidekick role. Cor’Dale Flott‘s latest summer ascent continues, as The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the fourth-year defender received the first crack at the CB2 role during team drills. This appears a full-on competition. Flott had received minicamp work with the 1s, doing so after he impressed last summer en route to a slot-to-boundary shift.

Banks has started all 29 games he has played; being unable to hold off Flott would represent another setback for the former No. 24 overall pick. Flott would not have a path back to the starting slot role were he to lose this battle, as 2024 third-rounder Dru Phillips resides there now. This competition represents a big chance for the 2022 third-round pick, who is due for free agency in 2026.

Here is the latest from NFL secondaries:

Titans Unlikely To Add Another Quarterback

The Titans are down a quarterback following Will Levis‘ sudden season-ending shoulder surgery. While the injury opens up even more camp reps for first-overall pick Cam Ward, there was some speculation that the organization could look to add another player at the position.

[RELATED: Titans QB Will Levis To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery]

It sounds like that won’t be the case. Titans GM Mike Borgonzi told reporters that he feels good about his current grouping of quarterbacks and doesn’t anticipate adding another player to the mix (via Jim Wyatt of the team’s website). Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com passed along a similar sentiment yesterday, stating that the Titans are unlikely to add a fourth QB to the depth chart.

To the Titans’ credit, the team did add a pair of veteran QBs to their roster this offseason, bringing in both Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle. Allen brings 10 games of starting experience to Tennessee, one of which came last season with the 49ers. In that contest, the veteran completed 17 of his 29 pass attempts for 199 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a San Francisco loss. Boyle is winless in his five career starts, including a two-game starting gig with the Jets during the 2023 campaign.

Those two options are uninspiring, and there’s a chance the team only carries one backup heading into the regular season. Allen would appear to have the upper hand in the QB2 competition, as the player previously worked with head coach Brian Callahan when the two were in Cincinnati.

“He’s got a great feel for the system, how to operate,” Callahan said of Allen (via John Glennon of the Nashville Post). “He understands the role of the backup quarterback. He’s got a lot of experience he can share with Cam as well, from all the places he’s been, and things he’s done and seen … He can help manage the offense, operate it when he steps in there.”

Despite being in the NFL for only two seasons, Levis brings more starting experience than his two potential replacements, as the former second-round pick got an extended look as QB1 between 2023 and 2024. The team’s addition of Ward put Levis in a somewhat awkward spot, and the incumbent was a popular name in trade rumors this offseason. With Levis now out for the season, he’ll be sticking in Tennessee at least through the 2025 campaign.