Tennessee Titans News & Rumors

An MRI revealed that Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota has a strained hamstring and is now day-to-day, head coach Mike Mularkey told reporters, including Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com (Twitter links) and veteran NFL reporter Paul Kuharsky (Twitter links).

Mariota returned to Sunday’s contest following the initial hit that led to injury, and warmed up before the second half as if he planned to re-enter the game. But following discussions with the Titans’ staff, Mariota went to the locker room and didn’t re-appear on Tennessee’s sideline until the fourth quarter. With the Titans already down 30-14 at halftime, Mularkey decided not to risk further injury to Mariota.

If Mariota can’t play against the Dolphins in Week 5, the Titans would turn to veteran Matt Cassel, who completed only four of 10 attempts for 21 yards yesterday while tossing two interceptions. Per Mularkey, Tennessee’s passing attack will remain similar if Cassel is forced to start, but changes will be made to the run game. A decision on Mariota’s status may not be made until next Sunday morning.

The Titans only have two quarterbacks on their current roster, so Mularkey admitted the club could look to add a third signal-caller. Practice squader Tyler Ferguson would be an obvious candidate for promotion, but the 2017 undrafted free agent doesn’t have any NFL experience.

After leaving today’s loss to the Texans, Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of his hamstring injury, according to Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com. Sources in the Tennessee lock room expressed “optimism” that Mariota will return to action quickly, as Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com tweets.

Mariota returned to Sunday’s contest following the initial hit that led to injury, and warmed up before the second half as if he planned to re-enter the game. But following discussions with the Titans’ staff, Mariota went to the locker room and didn’t re-appear on Tennessee’s sideline until the fourth quarter, per Wyatt. With the Titans already down 30-14 at halftime, head coach Mike Mularkey decided not to risk further injury to Mariota.

“He wanted to see if he could play,” Mularkey said, referring to Mariota. “He came out, warmed up and I said to him: ‘I’d like to be smart about it. There’s a lot of football still to go. We have 12 games to go, so let’s be smart about it. I’ll know more about the extent of it (later).”

Following today’s 54-17 defeat, the Titans now stand at 2-2, tied with the Jaguars and Texans for first place in the AFC South (pending a result in the Colts’ Sunday night contest). Mariota, for his part, has played well thus far in 2017, as he’d completed 60% of his passes for 696 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception heading into Week 4. He ranks eighth among NFL quarterbacks in adjusted net yards per attempt, and has also added 77 yards and one score on the ground.

Matt Cassel replaced Mariota in today’s loss, and completed nearly as many passes to the Texans as he did to Titans wide receivers. On 10 attempts, Cassel managed only four completions for 21 yards while tossing two interceptions. He’d start for Tennessee against Miami next week if Mariota can’t go, while practice squad quarterback Tyler Ferguson would presumably be promoted to the active roster.