Robert Saleh Explains Why He Benched Titans CB Alontae Taylor

The Tennessee Titans were without three players against the Indianapolis Colts. 

First, the final injury report ruled out Kevin Winston Jr. and Jordan Elliott. Winston couldn't recover from the quad injury he picked up in the Houston Texans game, and Elliott was ruled out for a personal issue. 

It was later revealed that there was an incident at the Titans' practice facility involving Elliott and a gun shortly after the team announced his release on Tuesday. 

Then, before kickoff, the Titans announced their inactive players as usual. After not appearing on the injury report throughout the week, starting cornerback Alontae Taylor was ruled inactive. 

The Titans were able to win 26-20 in Taylor's absence. While it was good to see the team win without one of their starters on the field, questions were still asked about what went into the decision to bench him. 

At Wednesday's press conference, head coach Robert Saleh spoke about the decision. Saleh assured the media that the team would still work with Taylor going forward. 

He said that he wanted to give Taylor a chance to reset. 

"We're going to continue working with Alontae," Saleh said. "You know, last week I just wanted to give him a reset. Kind of catch his breath. Thought, Mark [Marcus Harris], for him, just playing out there at corner for the first time. There's just some things he just needed to reset on, and that was basically the gist of my decision." 

Taylor was signed by the Titans as a free agent this offseason and brought in on a three-year, $58 million contract. He has a connection to the state, as he played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2018-2021. 

He started his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints in 2022. The Saints used him primarily as a slot corner. Taylor accounted for 293 total tackles, 25 TFLs, eight sacks and four interceptions with the Saints from 2022-25. 

He came to the Titans and has started every game he's played. The one change for Taylor from his time with the Saints to his time with the Titans was moving to the outside. 

Taylor got a chance to share his side of the story in the locker room on Wednesday. He noted that he was asked to play corner at the Titans and that he was going to adapt to what the defense demands of him. 

"Yeah, I was told I was going to come here to play corner," Taylor said. "That's where my mentality was, but now things are changing. I'll just adapt." 

It seems Taylor will have to earn his way back onto the field, but for now the issue appears to be resolved. It will just be a matter of Taylor being willing to adapt to what the Titans want him to do in the secondary. 

So far, Taylor has 25 total tackles, one sack and four TFLs for the Titans. He and the team are preparing to return to Nissan Stadium for the first time since Week 2 to take on the Cleveland Browns in Week 7. 

Kickoff is set for noon CT on CBS.