Titans make final roster cut

Following up on yesterday’s post on the first nineteen cuts, the Titans made three more cuts to get down to 53, today.  Per the press release on the official site, these were three cuts we hadn’t heard about yet

DE Larry Birdine
LB Ryan Fowler
RB Quinton Ganther (injured)

Congratulations, Chris Henry, you’re around for at least another day.

Titans cut 19, roster stands at 56: who stays, who goes?

The Titans today made most of the headway on the cutdown of the roster from the currently-permitted 75 players to the 53 man they must be at Saturday at 4 PM ET.   Per The Tennessean, The list of guys cut so far includes:

LB Rocky Boiman FB/TE Casey Cramer, CB Tanard Davis, OL Ryan Durand, CB DeMarcus Faggins, RB Rodney Ferguson, S Tuff Harris, WR Mark Jones, DT Mitch King, OT Cory Lekkerkerker, WR Phillip Morris, TE Matthew Mulligan, OL Jason Murphy, DT LaJuan Ramsey, S Nick Schommer, LB Josh Stamer, P A.J. Trapasso, OL Fernando Velasco, WR Paul Williams

After the cuts, the Titans’ roster looks about like this:

Titans 27 Packers 13: Recap and Reflections

The Tennessee Titans finished their five-game preseason odyssey by defeating the Green Bay Packers 27-13 at LP Field tonight.

Vince Young was impressive in less than a half of action, as he ran for a score and tossed another. Sixth-rounder Dominique Edison also stood out with 5 grabs for 90 yards and 2 scores, including a highlight-reel snag on a beautiful display of body control while adjusting to a Patrick Ramsey pass.

Tonight’s contest was the last time for guys who are pushing for roster spots to stand out in their bids to make the roster. Here’s my take on how some of those players fared, as well as some additional thoughts on some other Titan performances.

Making a case for the Titans to keep three QBs

There have been several comments on Total Titans recently saying Tennessee shouldn’t keep three quarterbacks on the roster this year. Some good points have been made and some good reasons provided.

 

The most obvious is that keeping three QBs takes a roster spot away from an extra special teams player. Guys like Colin Allred, Josh Stamer, Rocky Boiman, Tuff Harris and Nick Schommer are trying to make the back end of the roster based on their special teams contributions. Keeping a third QB leaves one less spot available for those players, who sometimes make the difference in a game.

 

I’d like to look at the other side of the argument now.

 

Keeping three quarterbacks is nothing new, it’s been done in the NFL for years, even when rosters were much smaller. The Titans have had their share of three-QB rosters, most notably the McNair-O’Donnell-Volek trio for a couple of years. Since then, they’ve gone both ways, with two and with three.

Personnel decisions are looming for the Titans

Tomorrow, September 1, is the first cutdown day in the league, as each team must trim its roster to 75 players.

 

Some players probably won’t be getting a good night’s sleep, worrying about what might be. Which Titans will get the first visit from strength and conditioning coach Steve Watterson, who performs the duties of the Turk in Tennessee?

 

Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt tells this story from his rookie camp. On cutdown day, he kept hearing knocks on doors around his, with the Turk telling players to go turn in their playbooks. Reinfeldt’s door was one of those knocked on, but the knock was for his roommate. Then came another knock a while later and Reinfeldt thought he was being cut as well. Turns out it was someone telling him he had made the team and to move his stuff to another room down the hall.

 

My final training camp depth chart lists the players I have confidence in making the roster, along with sixteen on the bubble. Those names remain the same.

Tennessee Titans vs. Cleveland Browns: Hits and Misses

In their penultimate preseason game, the Tennessee Titans came up short as they were defeated by the Cleveland Browns 23-17 last night.

After struggling against the Cowboys on national television last week, the Titans bounced back with a much better all-around effort in what was billed as the team’s dress rehearsal for the regular season that, believe it or not, is a little more than a week away.

Here are a few of the positives and negatives that I took away from Saturday’s contest.

The 53-man as training camp closes

Well, I did one as training camp opened, and after the first preseason game.  I didn’t after the second preseason game, but only because Andrew wrote about the real training camp depth chart, so that means it’s time for another stab at the 53-man roster, with some additional focus on the 45-man active roster, something I neglected in my previous roster picks.

The Tennessee Titans’ running woes: Panic or patience?

Since the days of Eddie George plowing through opposing defenders, the running game has traditionally been a staple of the Tennessee Titans’ offensive attack. Last year was no different, with rookie Chris Johnson and the plump version of LenDale White causing nightmares for the opposition.

Through three preseason games, the Titans’ vaunted smashmouth attack has been anything but dominant. The team is averaging a paltry 72 yards per game and their 2.8 yards per carry is the worst in the league.

Contrary to their nicknames, the explosive Chris Johnson has yet to dash to daylight, and the now-slender LenDale White has been getting smashed consistently.

Of course, it’s only preseason, but should we be getting concerned about the Titans’ uncharacteristic running struggles?

Some matchups to watch and pregame thoughts, Tennessee at Dallas

Things will start to get a little more serious for the Titans as they visit the Dallas Cowboys for their third game of the preseason. Unlike the first two exhibition contests, Jeff Fisher is installing game plans for this one so I expect a little more emphasis on the game and a little less on player evaluation.

 

The Cowboys will provide a good test for Tennessee. They have a lot of stars on both sides of the ball, as evidenced by numerous honors. They’re a solid veteran team favored to be a postseason contender. They’re also a very tough, physical team which likes to muscle opponents around.

 

Tony Romo will probably quarterback them for the first quarter before giving way to veteran Jon Kitna. I’d guess Kitna will go until the fourth quarter, then let the third-string guy mop up.

 

Like the Titans, the Cowboys have one of the best o-lines in the business, setting the table for everything the offense does. Three of them, LT Flozell Adams, C Andre Gurode and RG Leonard Davis have combined for eight Pro Bowls in the past three seasons. Kyle Vanden Bosch and Jovan Haye will get a real workout from them.

Tennessee Titans positional analysis: S

We continue our positional analysis series with a look at the Titans’ safeties.

And, in what seems to be a recurring theme for the series, the Titans return both their starters at safety, and those returning starters are pretty good.

Chris Hope returns for his fourth year as the anticipated starter at strong safety. Except for missing the last five games of the 2007 season after sustaining a neck injury, he’s provided a very solid presence.

His partner at the free safety position is Michael Griffin, who’ll be entering his second year as the incumbent starter after leading the Titans with 7 interceptions in his first season as a starter.