Already ruled out for Saturday’s pivotal AFC South matchup against the Texans, Nate Davis may now be done for the season. The Titans placed their starting right guard on IR on Friday.
This transaction will sideline Davis until the divisional round. Given the Titans’ recent performance and their latest injury news, it is a good bet Davis is done for the season. The Titans have placed three O-linemen — Davis, centerBen Jones, tackleDillon Radunz — on IR this week. An ankle injury will shut down Davis.
Tennessee did activate linebacker starter Zach Cunninghamfrom IR, but the team will face Houston with numerous starters out of action. The Titans (7-7) are now just a half-game up on the Jaguars, who now control their own destiny in the division race.
One of Pro Football Focus’ top 20 guards this season, Davis is playing on an expiring contract. The fourth-year blocker will be Tennessee’s top 2023 free agent-to-be. Davis, 26, has been a key piece for the Titans since they drafted him in the 2019 third round. The Charlotte alum was a starter on both the Titan O-lines that helped Derrick Henry to rushing titles, and he stayed healthy for most of Tennessee’s injury-riddled run to the AFC’s No. 1 seed last season.
With Elgton Jenkins off the market, Davis’ price could rise. Next year’s guard market is not particularly deep, and with Jenkins having signed a four-year Packers extension, Davis will probably be the top prize. The Broncos’ Dalton Risner and Cowboys’ Connor McGovern will also generate extensive interest, but PFF has rated Davis as a top-25 guard in each of the past three seasons. As far back as the 2021 offseason, Davis has been rumored to be a coveted commodity on the market. His final two rookie-contract years have not changed that status.
The Titans’ exclusive negotiating rights with Davis run up until March’s legal tampering period. Because all O-linemen are grouped together under the franchise tag formula, guards are rarely tagged. It would cost the Titans roughly $18MM to cuff Davis with the tag. It is possible Davis has played his final down with Tennessee, as a new GM’s arrival will add a major wrinkle into the franchise’s upcoming offseason, but the team will surely place a high priority on Davis negotiations. While the Titans’ A.J. Browntrade came to define their 2022 offseason, the period did include a Harold Landry deal — after the franchise tag deadline had passed.
A 2021 waiver claim from the Texans, Cunningham has been out since Week 9 with an elbow injury. Cunningham coming back will help the Titans’ defense, but veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky points out (via Twitter) 19 players who dressed for the team in Week 1 will not be in uniform Saturday. This comes a season after the Titans used an NFL-record 91 players. The Titans have one IR activation remaining; they also promoted offensive lineman Xavier Newman from their practice squad.
Jones suffered his second concussion this season, and Mitchell sustained a hamstring injury against the Chargers. Neither player could return until the divisional round of the playoffs, but the Titans’ injury issues overall will present a test to merely qualify for the postseason.
Tennessee will face Houston with Malik Willis under center and its offensive line banged up. Taylor Lewan has been out since September, and guard Nate Davis joins Jones in being sidelined. The Titans ruled out Davis because of an ankle injury. The team also placed tackle Dillon Radunz on IR on Wednesday. The team elevated O-lineman Daniel Munyer from its practice squad Thursday. Lewan is a Pro Bowler, while Pro Football Focus has slotted Jones as a top-10 center and Davis a top-20 guard. The Titans will face the Texans without their three best blockers.
Drawing praise for his toughness this season from Mike Vrabel, Jones has signed three contracts with the Titans. The rare O-lineman to sign four multiyear deals during his career, Jones inked his most recent accord this offseason. Tennessee gave its longtime center a two-year, $14MM pact to return to block for Tannehill and Derrick Henry. Jones, 33, had been an iron man coming into this season, missing just one game over his first 10 years. By the end of this season, he will have missed five contests. The former Texans fourth-round pick has started 151 career games (108 with the Titans).
Tennessee’s draft strategy did not point to Mitchell being required to play a key role this season, but the journeyman cornerback has made five starts. Tennessee’s 2021 first-round pick, Caleb Farley, struggled to carve out a role and is now out for the season with another injury. Regular starter Kristian Fulton, a 2020 second-round pick, has not played since Week 13. The Titans have ruled out Fulton for a third straight game. Slot man Elijah Molden remains on IR, having been placed on the injured list for a second time.
Despite being one of the Patriots’ final cuts in August, Mitchell has played 398 snaps for the Titans this season. The former seventh-round pick has been a regular for most of his career, having seen extensive run as a starter for the Chiefs, Browns and Texans. Of the Titans’ top five corners, only second-round rookie Roger McCreary is healthy.
The Titans have run into rampant injury issues for a second consecutive year. They used an NFL-record 91 players last season and are moving toward that total this year. Tennessee has a league-high 19 players on IR heading into Week 16. Owner Amy Adams Strunk cited the team’s injury problems as one of the reasons GM Jon Robinson was fired. Tennessee has two IR activations left. The team designated linebacker Zach Cunningham for return last week; an activation would leave them with one IR-return move left.
FiveThirtyEight gives the Titans a 46% chance to win the division. Friendlier odds would appear if the Jaguars lose to the Jets on Thursday night. If the Titans miss the playoffs, they would join only the 2021 Ravens as teams to start 7-3 or better and miss out since 2017.
DECEMBER 22: It will be Willis, for this week at least, at quarterback for the Titans. Vrabel ruled out Tannehill for the Titans’ Week 16 rematch against the Texans. This will be Willis’ second start against the Texans.
DECEMBER 21: Ryan Tannehill‘s ankle injury could ultimately end his season. According to Paul Kuharsky, the Titans quarterback’s injury could require surgery and “will very likely end his season.”
Tannehill suffered a right ankle injury during Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. While the veteran QB only missed one series, he dealt with significant pain after returning to the game. Tannehill suffered an injury to the same ankle earlier this season, forcing him to miss a pair of games.
We heard yesterday that Tannehill was facing an uphill battle to play in Week 16, and as Kuharsky notes, offensive coordinator Todd Downing spoke as if third-round rookie Malik Willis will start against the Texans. Coach Mike Vrabel also gave the young signal-caller a vote of confidence this week.
“I’ve seen a lot of maturity and growth, seen the way that his reps are coming in our show team and trying to get him to act like the starting quarterback and lead that unit and communicate our language, the call that’s on the card, the operation, the snap count, the cadence, whether we go on the ball the next play,” Vrabel said (via Nick Suss of the Nashville Tennessean). “All those looks that we try to give him, I’ve seen a lot of maturity and growth in that regard.”
Willis didn’t look completely hopeless during his two starts, although the coaching staff limited him to only 26 pass attempts between the two games. With Derrick Henry in the backfield, the Titans should have enough to get past the Titans in Week 16.
The Titans would surely prefer their veteran QB under center against the Cowboys and Jaguars, but it’s not like he was doing a whole lot to help their playoff chances. While Tennessee currently sits atop the AFC South, they’ve dropped four straight, with Tannehill throwing three touchdowns vs. two interceptions over that stretch.
The Titans are bracing for bad news surrounding their starting QB, but the team had some other injuries to deal with today. Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com (via Twitter) reports that Tennessee has placed offensive lineman Dillon Radunz on injured reserve.
Radunz suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, according to Paul Kuharsky. The lineman’s placement on IR already meant he was going to miss the rest of the regular season, but the ACL tear means he’ll probably miss a portion of the 2023 campaign, as well.
The 2021 second-round pick started only one of his 12 appearances as a rookie, and he had a similarly limited role through the first chunk of the 2022 season. He started four games for the team between Weeks 5 and 12, and he played a portion of his team’s offensive snaps in Week 13 and Week 15. Pro Football Focus has given Radunz one of the top pass-blocking scores at his position and one of the lowest run-blocking scores.
Radunz joins fellow offensive linemen Taylor Lewan and Jamarco Jones on injured reserve. The Titans added some depth at the position today, adding Zack Johnson to the practice squad.
One of this season’s most disappointing teams, the Buccaneers still have a chance to host a playoff game. But their Tom Brady partnership may be nearing an end. The all-time great is viewed as more likely than not to be elsewhere in 2023.
This would open the door to either an unusual free agency or a second retirement. Winding down his age-45 season, Brady will likely not be sought after on the level he was in 2020. His career-low QBR (since the stat’s 2006 introduction, at least), lowest yards per attempt figure since 2002 (6.3) and age will undoubtedly give teams pause. But if the 15-time Pro Bowler wants to keep pushing the quarterback age boundary — a recently discussed scenario — there stands to be a market.
It still makes sense to include the 49ers here. They passed on a true pursuit in 2020, when Jimmy Garoppolo was coming off a season in which he piloted the team to Super Bowl LIV, but Brady was loosely linked to seeking a move to his native Bay Area during his mini-retirement this offseason. The Bucs shut down the prospect of trading Brady’s rights anywhere. San Francisco has an again-injured Garoppolo tied to a restructured deal that prevents a franchise tag — a similar arrangement to Brady, who also cannot be tagged thanks to his 2022 restructure — and Trey Lance will enter 2023 having only played one full season in his five post-high school years. The 49ers boast a rare skill-position trio that includes three All-Pros, and their situation could open the door to Lance spending a year learning behind arguably the greatest to ever do it.
Josh McDaniels looks like he will make it to a second Raiders season, even though his first has not gone as hoped. McDaniels taking over as Patriots OC led to Brady morphing from a promising young quarterback to a superstar, and he was Brady’s OC for 11 years. The Raiders have a narrow window to tradeDerek Carr, who will see $40.5MM guaranteed on Day 3 of the 2023 league year. A Carr-Davante Adams breakup might not go over well among the longtime friends, but McDaniels and fellow ex-Patriots staffer Dave Ziegler are calling the shots. The Raiders pursued Brady in 2020, and he famously had a spirited reaction to the then-Jon Gruden-led team backing off.
Tua Tagovailoa has a rather vocal cast of supporters, and the Dolphins did just pay a stiff penalty for attempting to bring Brady and Sean Payton to town. Payton seems out of the question now, with Mike McDaniel faring well in his first year, and Tagovailoa still sits second in QBR. The Dolphins have one of the great speed-receiver duos in NFL history, and vice chairman Bruce Beal is on the TB12 board. Though, Beal’s central role in the tampering scandal is believed to have affected his standing with the team. Would Stephen Ross try to land one of the assets that ultimately cost a first-round pick?
While it would look quite strange to see Brady with the Jets, they have both young weaponry and a vastly improved defense. That combination wooed Brady to Tampa. Timeline-wise, the Jets mirror the 49ers at the QB position. They roster the passer taken one spot ahead of Lance (Zach Wilson), though the Jets have more intel on their top-three QB pick than the Niners do theirs. Mike White is a free agent at season’s end, and the team is already being connected to veteran options — Garoppolo and Carr among them. Brady probably should be at least mentioned here.
Brady and Mike Vrabel played together for nine seasons, and the Titans were part of the free agency derby two years ago. They bowed out before it ultimately came down to a Bucs-or-Chargers call, and Ryan Tannehill has one season remaining on the extension the Titans gave him shortly after their Brady pursuit ended. The Titans cannot match the above-referenced teams for weaponry, however.
Bill Belichick did not exactly equip Mac Jones for a second-year leap, naming a career defensive coach (Matt Patricia) as de facto OC. Jones has regressed in Year 2, and there was a brief QB controversy with fourth-round rookie Bailey Zappe. Uncertainty about the 2021 first-rounder’s long-term standing has entered the equation. If LeBron James could return to Cleveland, Brady rejoining Belichick and Robert Kraft for a farewell season should at least be floated. Brady and Kraft remain close, as evidenced by the Bucs QB traveling to the Patriots owner’s wedding during a Bucs road trip earlier this season. But the Patriots would need to get to work on receiving help. They almost certainly would not be the favorites if Brady decided to play a 24th season.
Reports of friction between Brady and Bruce Arians and Brady and OC Byron Leftwich have emerged over the past two seasons. Arians’ exit has undoubtedly affected this Bucs iteration, which has dealt with issues along its offensive line throughout the year as well. But the Bucs have fallen from the second-ranked scoring offense in 2021 — a season in which Brady led the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 TDs — to 28th. The Bucs’ chances at winning a terrible NFC South aside, they may soon face the prospect of the Brady bill coming due. The Bucs not re-signing Brady before his contract expires in March would mean a $35.1MM dead-money hit due to the void years on his deal.
Brady is the only 45-year-old starting QB in NFL history, and retirement was believed to be the direction he would go at this season’s outset. As he plays out a down season, there will be more calls for a true retirement this time. A 10-year deal to be FOX’s lead analyst awaits.
As this offseason showed, teams are more willing to follow through with big QB swings. Complex QB offseasons have been the 2020s norm. More teams could potentially enter the mix, if they are convinced Brady’s struggles this year can be attributed more to his circumstances and less on a decline. Unless Brady calls it quits immediately after this season, the topic of his 2023 employer will gain steam. How will it end? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts on this oft-discussed player in the comments section.
December 21st, 2022 at 10:18am CST by Sam Robinson
Christmas Day’s Broncos-Rams matchup will pit two of the league’s most disappointing teams against one another, and the Seahawks and Lions will have a vested interest in this contest. The loser of this game will give one of the latter teams — via the Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford trades — a better chance of landing a top-three pick in next year’s draft.
At 1-12-1, the Texans are cruising home. The Bears are on their heels, potentially set to become the team that selects the 2023 draft’s first non-quarterback. But eight four- or five-win teams reside behind these two, providing some intrigue for fanbases whose squads are not moving toward the playoffs.
The NFC South’s plunge toward becoming perhaps the worst division in NFL history carries draft stakes as well. The Falcons, Saints and Panthers each have five wins, and Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia (via the Saints’ pre-draft trade this year) would see those picks land in the top 10 as of now. The division-leading Buccaneers would see their draft slot check in no higher than 19th. Should one of Tampa Bay’s challengers vault the current first-place team in the standings, the Bucs would see their 2023 first-round slot rise considerably.
For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2022 standings — plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule — with playoff squads being slotted by their postseason outcome and regular-season record. Here is how the draft order looks entering Week 16:
Houston Texans: 1-12-1
Chicago Bears: 3-11
Detroit Lions (via Rams)
Seattle Seahawks (via Broncos)
Arizona Cardinals: 4-10
Indianapolis Colts: 4-9-1
Atlanta Falcons: 5-9
Carolina Panthers: 5-9
Philadelphia Eagles (via Saints)
Las Vegas Raiders: 6-8
Jacksonville Jaguars: 6-8
Houston Texans (via Browns)
Pittsburgh Steelers: 6-8
Green Bay Packers: 6-8
Seattle Seahawks: 7-7
New England Patriots: 7-7
New York Jets: 7-7
Detroit Lions: 7-7
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6-8
Tennessee Titans: 7-7
Washington Commanders: 7-6-1
Los Angeles Chargers: 8-6
New York Giants: 8-5-1
Baltimore Ravens: 9-5
Denver Broncos (via 49ers through Dolphins)
Dallas Cowboys: 10-4
Cincinnati Bengals: 10-4
Kansas City Chiefs: 11-3
Minnesota Vikings: 11-3
Buffalo Bills: 11-3
Philadelphia Eagles: 13-1
Next year’s draft will feature a 31-pick first round. The Dolphins’ penalty for the Tom Brady–Sean Paytontampering scandal cost them their 2023 first-round choice.
For the second time in a month, the Lions lost a quarterback off their practice squad. The Titans are signing Joshua Dobbs, according to his agent (on Twitter).
This move follows the Bears’ signing of Tim Boyle late last month. Tennessee’s Dobbs move casts more doubt on Ryan Tannehill‘s Week 16 availability. The fourth-year Titans starter aggravated his ankle injury last week, and although he returned to the Chargers game not too long after going down, he is believed to be facing an uphill battle to play this week.
Dobbs, 27, will join Tannehill and Malik Willis on the Titans’ 53-man roster. Because he is being signed off another team’s practice squad, the well-traveled backup must remain on Tennessee’s active roster for at least three weeks. The Titans will be Dobbs’ third team this year.
The Browns signed Dobbs in April and used him as Jacoby Brissett‘s backup for much of this season, but the team released him ahead of Deshaun Watson‘s first game back from his suspension. In the wake of the Bears’ Boyle poaching, the Lions added Dobbs to their P-squad earlier this month.
This transaction will bring Dobbs back to Tennessee. The 27-year-old passer became a fourth-round draft choice after playing for the Volunteers from 2013-16. The Steelers took Dobbs in the 2017 draft, and he has spent much of his career with the team. Dobbs has been a career reserve option, appearing in six games — all with the Steelers — off the bench. He has thrown 17 career passes. This move will provide the Titans, who do not have a quarterback on their taxi squad, with some depth.
