With Amani Hooker sidelined, Tennessee bolsters its backfield by adding a versatile Super Bowl champion with the collegiate range and pro experience to stabilize a shifting roster.
The Tennessee Titans continued the recent trend of roster transactions on Friday.
Titans fans were pretty worried after news came out that both right tackle J.C. Latham and safety Amani Hooker would be starting training camp on the PUP list.
The exact injuries are unknown, but Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky revealed that they are nothing serious and that both players are expected to be back on the practice field soon.
Additionally, the Titans can remove either player from the PUP list at any time during training camp, and if the injuries aren't severe, like Kuharsky says, then the two should be before we know it.
The reaction from fans was understandable.
Latham and Hooker are two starters who would be missed if they were out for a lengthy period. However, at the end of the day, it was a minor scare for Titans fans that was blown out of proportion.
On top of the PUP list announcements, the Titans also waived tackle Ryan Hayes, the 2023 undrafted free agent from Michigan, and signed veteran tackle Zachary Thomas.
Hayes joined the Titans in February after spending time with the Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and Atlanta Falcons.
Thomas has been in the NFL since 2022 and has played in 17 games among his stops with the Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, and Houston Texans.
Another roster move was made on Friday, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that the Titans were signing former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Nazeeh Johnson.
General Manager Mike Borgonzi adds a player he spent time with in Kansas City, but let's look at what this really means.
The timing of the move is interesting, considering that Hooker was just placed on the PUP list.
Johnson was a seventh-round draft pick by the Chiefs in 2022 out of Marshall. He didn't make the 53-man roster after his first training camp and was signed to the practice squad.
He came into the NFL as a safety, which he played in college and for the first three years of his professional career, but was then converted to a cornerback.
Johnson eventually made the active roster in the 2022 season and won a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs. After riding the high of being a Super Bowl Champion, disaster struck in 2023.
He tore his ACL during training camp and missed the entire season. Johnson then returned the following season and played as a rotational safety, appearing in 16 games with six starts.
Johnson then played in two games last season after sustaining a shoulder injury during the preseason and wasn't activated to the 53-man roster until December.
It can be easy to think that Johnson was added to the Titans to come in if Hooker isn't able to recover from injury before the regular season, but to me, this sounds like another depth move.
Hooker is entering his eighth year in the NFL and has played in 96 games with 67 starts. I don't think it's realistic to believe that Johnson is going to come in and challenge him for a starting role, considering that the Chiefs corner has six starts under his belt.
Johnson was even a rotational player at the Chiefs and also spent time on special teams.
We've seen the Titans add players to elevate certain position groups, and this is another example.
Johnson is a depth move and nothing more.
