Titans 53-Man Roster Projection: Will Tennessee Keep All Three QBs?

Tuesday afternoon, NFL Teams will have their initial 53-man rosters determined for the 2023 season. For titansIt shows that they have hope for a team that can get back to the playoffs after missing them in 2022.

Tennessee’s backup quarterback battle between second-year pro’s malik willis and rookie second round pick Will Lewis This summer has had the most headlines, but the competition at receiver and secondary has perhaps been the most interesting.

Here’s what the Titans’ roster will look like as of 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, the deadline for clubs to trim their rosters from the offseason limit of 90 players down to 53:

Quarterback (3): ryan tannehill, malik willis, Will Lewis

The Titans look like a three-quarterback team entering 2023.

Willis, who was a third-round pick last year, has made remarkable progress since his rookie season, and Lewis recently missed time due to a lower-body injury. He returned to practice on Wednesday and is expected to play in Tennessee’s preseason finale on Friday. new England, but it has not fully earned the backup function in the limited sample size. For now, Willis appears to have the edge over the second-round choice.

Wide receiver (6): deandre hopkins, traylon burks, chris moore, Nick Westbrook-Ikhin, racy mcmath, Reggie Roberson Jr.,

*Reserved/Physically Unable to Perform (1): Kyle Phillips , does not count against 53)

The Titans have injury concerns for two of their top three receivers. Burks suffered a foot injury during a combined practice last week vikingsHowever, coach Mike Vrabel said he did not suffer any structural damage and is not expected to be out for a long time. Fellow second-year pro Phillips injured his knee in Saturday’s preseason game at Minnesota and is reportedly expected to be absent for about six weeks.

Phillips’ clear injury timeline makes him a candidate for the PUP list, where he would not be counted against the starting 53-man roster and would have to miss the first four weeks of the regular season. That leaves room for a player like Reggie Roberson Jr., a 2022 undrafted free agent who has impressed in training camp and the preseason.

rookie seventh round pick Colton Dowell Is a candidate for the practice squad.

Running Back (4): derrick henry, tyje spears, Julius Chestnut, hassan haskins

Chestnut, a 2022 undrafted free agent, has been hard to knock off the roster up to this point after an impressive training camp and preseason. He looks like the number 3 running back of the Titans. The former Sacred Heart star starred in Tennessee’s preseason win at Minnesota on Saturday with 13 carries for 98 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown run.

Tight End (4): chig okonkwo, trayvon vesco, josh while, kevin raider

Former XFL Standout alizee mack Is a candidate to make the roster, but Rader will provide more special teams value, which should be a big priority for back-end depth.

The raider, who appeared in 14 games with Tennessee last season, led all Titans offensive players with 46% of special snaps in the preseason game against the Vikings and was second in the preseason opener. Bear at 42%.

Offensive Line (10): andre dillard, Peter Skoronsky, aaron brewer, Daniel Brunskill, chris hubbard, Jailyne Duncan, corey levine, Jordan Ross, justin murray, andrew rupcich

*Reserve/PUP (1): dillon redunj

*Reserved/Suspended (1): Nicolas Petit-Frère

According to Pro Football Focus, sixth-year veteran Murray, who signed with the Titans three weeks ago, has been the team’s second-highest rated backup guard in the preseason. Rupsich, a 2022 undrafted free agent, provides back-end tackle depth with starting right tackle Nicolas Petit-Frère suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s gambling policy.

Defensive Line/Outside Linebacker (9): jeffrey simmons, Danico Autry, Harold Landry, tear tart, Arden Key, Rashad Bunkar, naquan jones, caleb murphy, Jayden PV

The Titans are very deep, but Murphy — an undrafted rookie out of Division II Ferris State, where he set an NCAA single-season record with 25.5 sacks last season — has been too good to cut and you can never have too many. There can’t be more pass rushers.

Through two preseason games, the 6-foot-3, 254-pound Murphy ranks 10th with a league-high three sacks and a 16.1% pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats.

Inside Linebacker (6): aziz al-shayr, Jack Gibbons, monty rice, Chance Campbell, Luke Gifford, ben neiman

Nothing unexpected here.

Gibbens, a 2022 undrafted free agent who made five appearances with the Titans last season, is expected to be the starting inside linebacker alongside Al-Shair. Rice, a 2021 third-round pick, hasn’t practiced since the preseason opener at Chicago, against which he played seven defensive snaps.

Secondary (8): Kevin Byrd, amani hooker, Christian Fulton, Shaun Murphy-Bunting, roger mccurry, Eliza Molden, trey avery, Eric Garrore

*Reserve/PUP (1): caleb farley

The Titans could use another backup safety — Elijah Molden is the No. 3 option — so waivers could be an option for wire depth. mike brownwho played three games for Brown’s Last season, there is an internal choice.

With Phillips likely sidelined to start the season, Garor — an undrafted rookie — is a punt-return option.

Specialist (3): morgan cox (LS), Ryan Stonehouse (P), Michael Badgley (PK)

The Titans’ placekicker position is still developing. Tennessee released two young kickers fighting for a job this week, Trey Wolff and Caleb Shudak, in favor of Badgley, who had a poor first day of practice with the Titans on Tuesday.

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for Fox Sports. He previously worked for the Tennessean/USA Today network, where he was a Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for three seasons (2018–20) for SeattlePI.com before moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter @benyarthur,

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