HEADLINES

Amani Hooker

Titans Place S Amani Hooker On IR

December 22nd, 2023 at 3:45pm CST by Adam La Rose

Amani Hooker‘s 2023 season has come to an end. Not long after being ruled out for Week 16, the Titans placed the veteran safety on injured reserve on Friday.

Hooker played every snap in Tennessee’s loss to Houston last week, but a knee injury has kept him out of practice over the past several days. As a result, he will be placed on IR, a move which requires at least a four-week absence. With Tennessee out of contention for the postseason, Hooker will not return to the field until 2024.

The news marks an unfortunate end for the 25-year-old, who has been a mainstay in the Titans’ secondary since 2021. He landed a three-year extension last September, a deal which has him on the books through 2025. Hooker was limited to just nine games in 2022, but he had managed to rebound from a health standpoint this past year. He also set new career high in tackles with 85 and tackles for loss with three.

The former fourth-rounder also had one interception, seven pass deflections and a forced fumble this season. That ball production will be difficult to replace for the Titans as they close out a disappointing campaign. In the absence of Hooker (who logged a 98% snap share on defense), the team will likely move forward with Elijah Molden and Terrell Edmunds at the safety spot. The former made his return from injured reserve in Week 15, while the latter has primarily been used on special teams since arriving in a trade with the Eagles.

To fill Hooker’s roster spot, the Titans signed defensive lineman Marlon Davidson from the practice squad. Davidson had been a gameday elevation twice this season, meaning he would have needed to join the 53-man roster after the team’s next game if they intended to continue giving him playing time. Now, the former second-rounder will get further looks as he attempts to play his way into a deal for 2024.

Titans To Start Joshua Dobbs Vs. Cowboys

December 29th, 2022 at 11:44am CST by Sam Robinson

The Titans are not exactly going into Thursday night’s Cowboys game with a clear intent to win. The injury-plagued team is planning to rest numerous starters, with a Week 18 date against the Jaguars set to determine its playoff fate.

But Tennessee will make an interesting change at quarterback. Rather than give Malik Willis more reps in his rookie season, the Titans are preparing to start recent acquisition Joshua Dobbs, Justin Melo of The Draft Network tweets. Tennessee brought in Dobbs on Dec. 21, with Ryan Tannehill out with an ankle injury. Tannehill is not expected to return this season, though the starter has not shut it down just yet.

A former Tennessee Volunteer, Dobbs has bounced around in the pros. The sixth-year backup has been with three teams just this year, moving from Cleveland to Detroit to Nashville over the past month. The former fourth-round pick has not thrown any regular-season passes this season; his most recent game work came in 2020 with the Steelers. The Browns signed Dobbs this offseason and used him as Jacoby Brissett‘s backup for much of the year, but once Deshaun Watson was eligible to play, Cleveland cut bait. Dobbs landed in Detroit, but Tennessee poached him from the Lions’ practice squad.

Dobbs has seen most of his NFL work come in the preseason, and the Titans’ Week 17 lineup will have the look of an August matchup. Tennessee placed O-line starters Nate Davis and Ben Jones on IR last week, and the team will be without right tackle starter Nicholas Petit-Frere against Dallas. With Taylor Lewan out of the picture, the Titans will deploy basically a second-string O-line tonight. While Willis’ early work points to extensive development being needed, the Titans may be leery of putting the third-round pick behind this set of blockers against a top-tier Cowboys pass rush.

In an arrangement that will surely test Al Michaels’ patience, Titans will also sit Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry, Amani Hooker, Bud Dupree and Zach Cunningham. Oh, and they are unlikely to deploy Derrick Henry, who is doubtful with a hip injury. This sets up an unusual Week 17 and an odd Week 18 plan. The Titans look like they will be trying to salvage their season in Jacksonville next week on the heels of a six-game losing streak. Even if the Titans drop to 7-9 tonight, the AFC South will be on the line next week.

Willis has shown some promise in the run game but has looked woefully overmatched through the air. The mid-major product has not eclipsed 100 passing yards in any of his three pro starts and has a 0-3 TD-INT ratio on 61 pass attempts. It will be interesting if the Titans turn back to Willis or go with Dobbs (17 career attempts) against the Jaguars, when they reconvene for relevant football, next week.

AFC Injuries Update: Titans, Paye, Edmunds, Poyer

October 8th, 2022 at 3:38pm CST by Ely Allen

Injuries continue to bite the Titans on the defensive side of the ball. This week, the team will play without three starters as head coach Mike Vrabel has ruled out safety Amani Hooker, edge rusher Bud Dupree, and linebacker Zach Cunningham, according to Turron Davenport of ESPN.

The Titans already have six players on injured reserve from the defense alone, as well as five more from the offense. Vrabel also announced that the team will sit linebackers Olasunkanmi Adeniyi and Joseph Jones, as well. This all in addition to the recent loss of rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks to IR.

Tennessee has elevated practice squad linebacker Joe Schobert and wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick to make up for the loss of Cunningham and Burks, respectively. Dupree and Hooker’s absences will likely mean more playing time for second-year linebacker Rashad Weaver and backup safeties Joshua Kalu and Ugo Amadi. Amadi has some starting experience from his time with the Seahawks.

Here are a few other injury updates from around the AFC, starting with a division rival of the Titans:

Titans, S Amani Hooker Agree To Extension

September 9th, 2022 at 9:03am CST by Adam La Rose

One of the Titans’ ascending defenders has landed a new deal just before the regular season kicks off. Safety Amani Hooker has agreed to terms on a three-year extension worth $33MM, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweets that the deal includes $19.5MM guaranteed, and a $10MM signing bonus. 

The team has confirmed the deal, which will keep Hooker on the books through 2026. A fourth-round pick of the Titans in 2019, he has taken on a larger role with each passing season over the course of his three years in the league. In 2021, he cemented his status as a full-time starter.

The 24-year-old was limited to 12 games last season due to a groin injury, but he still totaled 62 tackles, one interception and improved coverage statistics from the previous year. He and Kevin Byard have become an effective tandem on the backend of the Titans’ defense, leading to reports that Tennessee was prioritizing an extension for Hooker this offseason.

At $11MM per year on average, this deal will place Hooker in the top 15 at the safety position, one which has seen a number of massive deals this summer. Chief among those have been the record-breaking extensions given to Derwin James and Minkah Fitzpatrick, but other players such as Arizona’s Jalen Thompson have benefitted as well.

Given this new contract, and the pact Byard is playing on (which averages $14.1MM per season), the Titans will have one of the league’s more expensive safety tandems for at least the short-term future. If Hooker continues his growth over the length of the deal, however, the investment could prove worthwhile as the Titans look to remain AFC contenders.

Titans, S Amani Hooker Discuss Extension

June 23rd, 2022 at 5:55pm CST by Ely Allen

Tennessee has a number of players that they are interested in extending over the next season and, according to Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, the Titans have already had discussions with fourth-year safety Amani Hooker. 

Hooker was a fourth-round pick out of the University of Iowa in 2019. He spent his rookie season cutting his teeth as a star on special teams. In year two with the Titans, Hooker worked as a sub-package player, earning more playing time and four interceptions as a result.

Hooker started the 2021 NFL season as the team’s starter at strong safety before a Week 1 groin injury sidelined him for the next five weeks. He returned and became the fourth-leading tackler on the team despite only playing in 12 games. Hooker meshes well with free safety Kevin Byard to form one of the more formidable safety duos in the league. The Titans would certainly like to keep the two together.

Another 2019 draft pick looking to stick around is linebacker David Long Jr. Long was a sixth-round draft pick that served as a reserve linebacker and special teamer his rookie season before filling in for an injured Jayon Brown in the playoffs. In an extremely similar path to Hooker, Long earned more playing time as a substitute before ultimately earning a starting role in 2021. Long was the team’s second-leading tackler despite only appearing in 10 games last season.

The Titans will likely continue pursuing new deals for Hooker and Long in the next few weeks, but the team, as a general rule, tends not to do any contract negotiations during the season. So if any further progress is made, it will likely occur between the start of training camp and Tennessee’s home opener on September 11.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/18/21

October 18th, 2021 at 3:20pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Free Agents

Jones has slapped with a 10-game ban, effective Week 5. The former Steelers offensive lineman previously faced a pair of felony domestic violence charges.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/13/21

October 13th, 2021 at 1:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Titans Promote K Randy Bullock

September 14th, 2021 at 10:28pm CST by Ben Levine

After bailing on kicker Michael Badgley yesterday, the Titans are turning to their expected contingency plan. The team has promoted kicker Randy Bullock from the practice squad.

Badgley got the first shot to replace Sam Ficken, but he struggled during Tennessee’s loss to the Cardinals on Sunday. The 26-year-old finished the game missing his lone field goal attempt and converting only one of his two extra point tries. As a result, the team decided to waive the former Chargers kicker.

So, in comes Bullock, who recently joined the organization’s practice squad. The veteran kicker spent the past four seasons with the Bengals, where he converted 84.9-percent of his field goal attempts and 95.4-percent of his extra point attempts. The 31-year-old has also had stops with the Texans, Jets, Giants, and Steelers. Bullock signed a one-year deal with the Lions this offseason, but he was cut by the team at the end of the preseason.

The team made another move on Tuesday, placing safety Amani Hooker on injured reserve. The defensive back suffered a foot injury during Sunday’s loss. The 23-year-old got into all 16 games for the Titans last season, collecting 51 tackles and four interceptions. He started Sunday’s game against Arizona, compiling five tackles and a surprise six-yard reception (on a fake punt).

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/15/19

May 15th, 2019 at 6:19pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Today’s draft pick signings:

  • The Titans have agreed to terms with fourth-round safety Amani Hooker, the club announced. Hooker was projected to come off the board much earlier than Round 4, leading Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus to label his selection as one of the steals of the draft. The 2019 Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, Hooker was also named first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American. Additionally, Hooker posted elite athletic testing and is a versatile scheme fit, per Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, making his draft day fall all the more confusing. The Iowa product is likely to play in three-safety looks alongside fellow Tennessee defensive backs Kevin Byard and Kenny Vaccaro, and could be viewed as the long-term starter opposite Byard.
  • Sixth-round linebacker Deshaun Davis has signed his rookie deal with the Bengals, Cincinnati announced today. Davis posted 112 tackles (15 for loss) during his final season at Auburn, but tested as a very poor athlete at the combine, per Kent Lee Platte of SB Nation (Twitter link). He’ll have to shine on special teams duty in order to land a roster spot in Cincinnati. Davis is the sixth Bengals draft choice under contract, but the club still has its top four picks unsigned: offensive tackle Jonah Williams, tight end Drew Sample, linebacker Germaine Pratt, and quarterback Ryan Finley.