The final pick of the draft faces a setback after exiting his debut with a pectoral injury, leaving the rookie tight end’s roster spot in immediate jeopardy.
The Tennessee Titans returned home from their preseason road trip to San Francisco on Friday.
Even though the Titans didn't play their best football, they still beat the San Francisco 49ers 19-13 at Levi's Stadium.
The preseason should be taken with a grain of salt, but it still revealed that the Titans have a lot of work to do as a team. Cam Ward didn't look like himself, and once the starting offensive line was subbed out, it was clear that there is still an issue with depth at swing tackle.
Luckily, most of the issues are correctable, and the Titans have two more preseason games to get things right.
Even though he had just gotten back into town, it wasn't long before Robert Saleh had to field questions from the media again.
He had a Zoom call with Titans reporters and had a couple of injury updates from the game.
Plenty of Titans rookies got to play on Thursday.
Fernando Carmona, Nicholas Singleton, Jaren Kanak, Carnell Tate, Pat Coogan, Tyren Montgomery and Aamil Wagner all got snaps on offense.
Unfortunately for Kanak, he only got in for one play before leaving with an injury. Saleh confirmed that it was a pectoral injury, and that Kanak had an MRI. The team is currently awaiting the scan results.
"As far as JK, we're still waiting for the MRI results to get back." Saleh said.
Kanak was the final selection by the Titans in the 2026 NFL Draft. He only played tight end for one year at Oklahoma, but it proved to be a great decision.
He initially started his college career there as a linebacker in 2022. He struggled to see the field as a linebacker and then made the switch to tight end in 2025.
Kanak finished with the third-most receiving yards on the team, with 533. If the injury is significant, the timing couldn't have been worse for Kanak.
He was listed as a TE4 on the Titans' initial depth chart of the preseason behind David Martin-Robinson.
Martin-Robinson was able to catch one pass for 17 yards on Thursday, so he didn't have an insane game. If Kanak misses more time, he could really lose his footing in the tight end room.
Luckily for Kanak, there is plenty of time for him to recover before the Titans' next preseason game. The Titans head back to Nissan Stadium on Aug. 23 to face the Seattle Seahawks at 7 p.m. CT on Fox.
