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Dillon Radunz

Dillon Radunz, Nicholas Petit-Frere In Line To Start For Titans

August 19th, 2024 at 5:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

Saahdiq Charles‘ retirement caught the Titans off-guard, but the team had been pitting the free agency addition in an even competition with Dillon Radunz. As a result, the former second-round pick has zeroed in on Tennessee’s starting right guard spot. More continuity is likely here, even as GM Ran Carthon has largely reshaped the offense.

Carthon’s purge of Jon Robinson-era players is not set to include the right side of the Titans’ offensive line. Those position battles are not finished yet, but HC Brian Callahan said Radunz and Nicholas Petit-Frere are moving toward being the team’s starters.

[RELATED: Assessing Titans’ 2024 Offseason]

During a decade in which the Titans have been unable to find right tackle stability — since they let Jack Conklin walk as a 2020 free agent — it is interesting that two players who battled for the gig not long ago are likely to start alongside one another. The Titans’ disastrous Isaiah Wilson investment gave way to a second-round Radunz pick in 2021, but the North Dakota State product was unable to win the job. David Quessenberry started primarily in 2021, and a 2022 competition — after Quessenberry’s free agency exit — produced Petit-Frere as the starter. The 2022 third-round pick, however, encountered a gambling suspension last year and soon sustained a season-ending shoulder injury.

Radunz played four positions last season but primarily worked at right tackle. Pro Football Focus slotted him 41st at the position, a positive step during another injury-plagued Titans season up front. Radunz logged 504 snaps at right tackle and 166 at left guard, coming back after a December 2022 ACL tear. He played 19 snaps at right guard in 2023 and may have entered camp behind Charles, but the ex-Washington starter’s retirement changed the equation for the Titans.

Should Callahan’s current expectation come to fruition, this will also mark the second time in three years Daniel Brunskill will have been demoted. The 49ers used him as their starting right guard throughout the 2020 and ’21 seasons but demoted him to a platoon role with Spencer Burford in 2022. Brunskill, who followed Carthon to Tennessee last year, started all 14 games he played with the Titans in 2023.

This would be a nice opportunity for Radunz, who is in a contract year. Two seasons remain on Petit-Frere’s rookie deal. If an upset occurs and the job goes to another right tackle candidate, the Titans would go into a season with a sixth Week 1 RT in six years.

Petit-Frere started 16 games for the 2022 Titans but played in just three games last season. The team acquired ex-Bill Callahan Cleveland charge Leroy Watson via trade this year and signed veteran Geron Christian; those two joined 2023 sixth-round pick Jaelyn Duncan (five starts last season) in vying for roster spots.

Tennessee has locked-in starters at left tackle (JC Latham), left guard (Peter Skoronski) and center (Lloyd Cushenberry). If DeAndre Hopkins recovers in time for Week 1, the Titans are on track to have eight Carthon acquisitions as offensive starters. Two Robinson-era blockers, however, are poised to remain in the equation for another year.

OL Notes: Bears, Commanders, Coleman, Fashanu, Jets, Lamm, Dolphins, Paul, Titans

August 8th, 2024 at 11:58am CST by Sam Robinson

In Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton, the Bears added two starter-caliber veterans along their interior O-line this offseason. They still may not be satisfied up front. Nate Davis did not live up to his three-year, $30MM contract last season, and the ex-Titans starter has missed time due to a groin injury in practice. Bates has guard experience, starting for most of the 2022 season in Buffalo (on a Bears-constructed contract to which he remains attached), and could be an option at RG as well. But the Bears should be expected to look into the trade market and closely monitor the waiver wire — as cuts come in later this month — for interior help, per ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano. Chicago is set at left guard (Teven Jenkins) and seemingly would be prepared to make the loser of the Shelton-Bates center battle an interior swingman, but Davis’ health and shaky 2023 showing looks to have generated a bit of concern — for depth purposes at the very least.

Here is the latest from O-line situations around the league:

  • Brandon Coleman is moving closer to becoming a rookie tackle starter in Washington. The Commanders are giving the third-rounder first-team left tackle reps, per NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, and The Athletic’s Ben Standig adds Coleman may be the safest bet to start at tackle to open Dan Quinn‘s tenure. Quinn said both Washington tackle jobs are open, and Standig adds 2023 free agency pickup Andrew Wylie and veteran Cornelius Lucas may be vying for the RT job (subscription required). Some evaluators viewed Coleman as a better guard in the pros, but the Commanders do not share that assessment. More of a spot starter than a full-timer, Lucas has still made 31 starts during his four-year Washington run. Wylie is attached to a three-year, $24MM deal.
  • The Jets devoted their top offseason resource to insurance on their O-line, but the Olu Fashanu pick will obviously matter more in the long term. Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses are in place at tackle in New York, but Fashanu looms as a post-2024 starter at one of the positions. The Penn State product has repped exclusively at left tackle during training camp, but the New York Post’s Brian Costello notes team will give him RT reps as well. Smith’s extensive injury history points to Fashanu needing to make LT starts as a rookie; both Smith and Morgan are on expiring contracts.
  • Although the Dolphins used a second-round pick on Patrick Paul, the former Houston tackle may be more of a project than a player the team would count on to fill in for Terron Armstead if/when the talented veteran misses time. Veteran swingman Kendall Lamm remains on track to hold that role this season, per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. Armstead has missed 11 games since joining the Dolphins in 2022 and has missed more than two games in seven of the past nine seasons. Miami having chosen Paul 55th overall points to the prospect being given a chance early, and a June report suggested the rookie had a good chance to unseat Lamm. Though, Lamm — re-signed before the draft at one year and $2.5MM ($1.6MM guaranteed — represents quality insurance that would have the Dolphins carrying four tackles.
  • Elsewhere on Miami’s O-line, the team still has Isaiah Wynn on its active/PUP list. While Wynn is expected to eventually regain his starting LG job, Jackson notes Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones and Jack Driscoll are vying for the two starting guard positions. The Dolphins lost Robert Hunt in free agency but re-signed Jones and added Driscoll. A former second-round pick who has played across Miami’s O-line, Eichenberg is in a contract year.
  • Prior to Saahdiq Charles‘ surprising retirement, Brian Callahan said (via ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport) the Titans free agency pickup and Dillon Radunz had been given near-equal time at right guard. No starter had been named, but Charles’ mid-camp exit certainly gives Radunz — a converted tackle in a contract year — a good chance to be the team’s guard opposite Peter Skoronski.

AFC South Rumors: Green, Hines-Allen, Radunz

July 10th, 2024 at 7:38pm CST by Ely Allen

The Texans were forced to scramble last year when second-year starting guard Kenyon Green underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in the preseason. The team opted to trade for the similarly-named Kendrick Green (no relation) to start in his place but were thrown for a loop shortly into the season.

After sitting out the team’s season opener as he was still acquainting himself with the offense, Green started the next three games at left guard for Houston. Unfortunately, near the end of the game against his former team, the Steelers, Green suffered an injury that, while not tearing any ligaments, still required meniscus surgery that would hold him out for the remainder of the year.

According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, Green has now made a full recovery and will make his return during training camp. Kenyon Green was also recently reported to be back to full strength, so now, both healthy Greens will compete for the starting left guard job.

Here are a couple of other notes coming out of the AFC South:

  • To the relief of many sports writers, a certain Jaguars outside linebacker will no longer sport the exact same name as a player he may potentially be sacking. From now on, Josh Allen will potentially be getting sacked by Josh Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen posted the news on his X account, saying, “Legacy is forever, and I’m proud to carry that tradition on the back of my jersey, following in the footsteps of my family, who have donned the Hines-Allen last name with so much pride and joy.”
  • In a look at the Titans‘ right guard and right tackle position battles almost three weeks ago, we noted that a healthy Nicholas Petit-Frere had the potential to win the starting right tackle job, which could push last year’s starter at the position, Dillon Radunz, back inside to guard. According to a training camp preview from Titans senior writer/editor Jim Wyatt, we are apparently seeing this come to fruition. Wyatt claims that the team has “locked in” Radunz at guard, where he’ll now compete with Daniel Brunskill and Saahdiq Charles for the starting role.

Latest On Titans’ RG, RT Position Battles

June 23rd, 2024 at 9:59pm CST by Ely Allen

The Titans and new offensive line coach Bill Callahan have quite a few familiar faces to work with in 2024, but there could be some big changes along the offensive line. A couple of position battles have developed in the early days of the offseason, according to Titans senior writer/editor Jim Wyatt.

The team utilized Daniel Brunskill and Dillon Radunz mostly at right guard and right tackle, respectively, last year, but neither player seems to be solid in their job security. Brunskill has lost his starting job before in San Francisco. After earning a starting job partway through his rookie season, Brunskill started two more years for the 49ers. In 2022, Brunskill found himself coming off the bench in favor of then-rookie Spencer Burford. He started 14 games for the Titans last year. Radunz finally earned his opportunity to start at right tackle last year after failing to win the job his first two seasons and being forced to work as a backup guard.

Radunz’s tenure as the starting right tackle may already be coming to an end, though, as Wyatt sees Nicholas Petit-Frere taking back the job in 2024. Petit-Frere started his rookie season at right tackle for the team in 2022, but a combination of a suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy and a stint on injured reserve restricted him to only three games last season. Wyatt predicts that, given a healthy recovery, Petit-Frere will reclaim his starting job and push Radunz back to guard-duty.

Wyatt sees free agent addition Saahdiq Charles as the biggest threat to Brunskill’s job. Despite being limited in how much offensive linemen can do in organized team activities, Charles has reportedly had a very good spring. Charles comes from Washington where he started 10 of 11 game appearances at left guard last year after only starting eight games in his first three years combined. He’s looked the part enough in Tennessee to convince Wyatt that a change could be in effect.

It’s still a competition, though, and Wyatt notes that Charles will have to beat out Brunskill, and potentially Radunz should he get pushed back inside, for the job. He notes that the right tackle position will be a battle, as well, and though Petit-Frere and Radunz will get first looks, Leroy Watson, Jaelyn Duncan, and the newly acquired Geron Christian will all be in the mix, as well.

The rest of the line seems set. Peter Skoronski is reportedly likely to stay inside at left guard, the team drafted Alabama’s JC Latham in the first round to start at left tackle, and they signed Lloyd Cushenberry to start at center. While battles are set to ensue, the expectation is that some combination of two of Charles, Petit-Frere, Radunz, and Brunskill will be alongside them on the right side of the line in 2024.

Titans Activate OL Dillon Radunz

August 28th, 2023 at 3:21pm CST by Rory Parks

The Titans have activated offensive lineman Dillon Radunz from the PUP list, the team announced. That means that Radunz has passed a physical, which is rather a significant development for a player that tore his ACL a little over eight months ago.

Nonetheless, head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters, including Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, that recent acquisition Chris Hubbard remains in line to start the year at right tackle (Nicholas Petit-Frere was initially ticketed for that role, but his six-game gambling suspension will require at least a temporary change of plans). Radunz, who was selected in the second round of the 2021 draft with the expectation that he would serve as a long-term OT, presumably would have been the top choice to fill in for Petit-Frere if not for his injury.

Radunz, 25, started just one game in his rookie campaign as he learned and developed behind former right tackle David Quessenberry. Although Quessenberry signed with the Bills in the 2022 offseason, Tennessee picked Petit-Frere in the third-round of that year’s draft, and he ultimately beat out Radunz for the RT post. Radunz was therefore relegated to a reserve role, and while he did end up starting four games last season — splitting his time just about equally between left guard and right guard — he received an abysmal 40.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus (though to be fair, he did earn a terrific 78.1 pass-blocking mark).

Vrabel made it clear that Radunz would be eased back into action. Eventually, the North Dakota State product may have a chance to once again vie for the right tackle job, or perhaps for the right guard spot that still appears unsettled, but that will not happen right away.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/22/23

July 22nd, 2023 at 6:42pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saturday’s minor moves:

Carolina Panthers

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans

The Corbett news comes as no surprise, given the expectation from the spring that he would miss time in the regular season. The Panthers’ starting right guard suffered an ACL tear during the 2022 season finale, making him a candidate for a reserve/PUP designation. That would sideline him for at least four contests, so it is encouraging Carolina has elected instead to use the active designation, from which players can be activated at any time during camp.

Signed to provide last-minute offensive line help for the Jets last season, Brown played 12 games on the blindside last season while battling a shoulder ailment. Despite Mekhi Becton being healthy this offseason, the 37-year-old is the favorite to hold down the LT role for New York as the team looks to improve its pass protection at the start of the Aaron Rodgers era. If healthy in time for the spring, Brown will play a large role in determining their success on that front.

Farley’s brief NFL career has seen a continuation of his injury concerns dating back to college. The 2021 first-rounder saw a herniated disk end his season in December. He underwent surgery to address the issue, and the team may feel the need to proceed with caution given his potentially sizeable role with the Titans’ secondary. Radunz continues to recover from the ACL tear which likewise ended his second campaign in Nashville late in the regular season.

Latest On Peter Skoronski, Titans’ O-Line

July 13th, 2023 at 6:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

Entering Week 1, the Titans will have four new offensive line starters. The team’s plan was only to make three changes up front, but Nicholas Petit-Frere‘s six-game gambling suspension will force a temporary change at right tackle.

Andre Dillard is expected to start at left tackle, seeing as the ex-Eagles first-round pick signed a three-year, $29MM deal. Tennessee will also return 17-game guard starter Aaron Brewer, but the fourth-year blocker — who received a second-round RFA tender — confirmed earlier this offseason the team is planning to slide him to center. This will leave three spots open, with two likely starters’ positions to be determined.

UFA addition Daniel Brunskill has experience at both guard and tackle, and TennesseeTitans.com’s Jim Wyatt notes the ex-49er starter/swingman will be an option to start the season at right tackle. First-round pick Peter Skoronski also fits this profile, though he has less experience at guard. But the acclaimed Northwestern tackle is also in the mix to fill in for Petit-Frere to start the season.

The plan for Skoronski appeared to be a shift to guard. The No. 11 overall pick spent most of his offseason working at guard, per Wyatt, though the Titans have also gave him tackle reps during their offseason program. A number of NFL evaluators viewed Skoronski as a clear-cut guard candidate, but the former Big Ten blocker did not play guard in college.

It would be an interesting assignment for Skoronski to start the season at right tackle before kicking inside. Tennessee might aim to simplify the top prospect’s rookie-year workload by stationing him at guard only during training camp, but for now, an O-line configuration with Dillard and Skoronski as the bookends remains in play. Regardless of where Skoronski lines up, the team expects him to start immediately.

Jamarco Jones, sixth-round pick Jaelyn Duncan and 2022 UDFA Andrew Rupcich as other options to fill in for the suspended Petit-Frere, per Wyatt. A former Seahawk, Jones has made seven NFL starts over his three-year career. He spent time at tackle in Seattle but did not play last season. After Jones lost the Titans’ left guard competition to Brewer, he spent most of last season on IR. Duncan spent most of his time in College Park at the Terrapins’ left tackle, while Rupcich would be a long shot here, as he joined Jones in not seeing any game action last season.

Tennessee has struggled to fill its right tackle post over the past few seasons. After not picking up Jack Conklin‘s fifth-year option and then letting him walk in 2020, the team has used three different primary starters there over the past three years. Isaiah Wilson became one of this era’s biggest draft busts, playing all of four career snaps, while 2021 second-round pick Dillon Radunz was unable to win the job during the 2021 or ’22 offseasons. (Dennis Kelly and David Quessenberry, respectively, were the Titans’ right tackle starters in 2020 and ’21.) Radunz, who has also spent time at guard with the Titans, would have seemingly been an option to step in for Petit-Frere. But the North Dakota State alum is still rehabbing the ACL tear he suffered in December. Radunz did not participate in the team’s offseason workouts, Wyatt adds.

The Titans released cornerstones Taylor Lewan and Ben Jones this offseason, doing so a year after cutting Rodger Saffold. Tennessee let four-year guard starter Nate Davis walk in free agency in March. Skoronski will be the linchpin of GM Ran Carthon‘s overhaul effort, though the team will not have a chance to see the unit at full strength until Petit-Frere’s October return.

Titans Place OL Dillon Radunz On IR

December 21st, 2022 at 8:24pm CST by Ben Levine

The Titans are bracing for bad news surrounding their starting QB, but the team had some other injuries to deal with today. Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com (via Twitter) reports that Tennessee has placed offensive lineman Dillon Radunz on injured reserve.

[RELATED: Titans QB Ryan Tannehill Will Likely Miss Rest Of Season]

Radunz suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, according to Paul Kuharsky. The lineman’s placement on IR already meant he was going to miss the rest of the regular season, but the ACL tear means he’ll probably miss a portion of the 2023 campaign, as well.

The 2021 second-round pick started only one of his 12 appearances as a rookie, and he had a similarly limited role through the first chunk of the 2022 season. He started four games for the team between Weeks 5 and 12, and he played a portion of his team’s offensive snaps in Week 13 and Week 15. Pro Football Focus has given Radunz one of the top pass-blocking scores at his position and one of the lowest run-blocking scores.

Radunz joins fellow offensive linemen Taylor Lewan and Jamarco Jones on injured reserve. The Titans added some depth at the position today, adding Zack Johnson to the practice squad.

AFC Rumors: Gilmore, Pryor, Petit-Frere, Wilson, Jaguars

September 3rd, 2022 at 5:59pm CST by Ely Allen

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore is playing with his fourth team after a short stint in Carolina. He started in Buffalo before signing with the Patriots. New England traded the two-time All-Pro midseason for only a sixth-round draft pick in return. Gilmore was injured at the time, but the compensation the Patriots received never made a ton of sense. Recently, though, Gilmore elaborated on the situation that deteriorated in New England, according to Stephen Holder of ESPN.

At the peak of his career, Gilmore suffered a torn quadriceps in the 2020 season. The injury kept him on the Patriots’ reserve/physically unable to perform list to start the 2021 season and, during that time, the relationship between Gilmore and New England “reached a point of no return.”

“I just didn’t like how they handled my situation, my injury,” Gilmore told reporters. “The situation just, I don’t know, wasn’t right for both sides.”

Here are a few more rumors from around the AFC, starting with a couple position battle victories in the AFC South:

  • In a bit of a surprise decision, it appears that veteran offensive tackle Matt Pryor has won the left tackle job in Indianapolis over rookie third-round pick Bernhard Raimann, according to Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. Pryor has only ever started one game at left tackle in the NFL and many expected the rookie out of Central Michigan to give him a strong run for the job. Erickson goes on to say that, should Pryor not perform up to expectations, there’s a strong chance that the starting job could slip out of his grasp.
  • A third-round rookie who did win the starting job is just across the division in Tennessee. Titans general manager Jon Robinson made it known last weekend that Ohio State rookie Nicholas Petit-Frere will start at right tackle to open the season, according to Kayla Anderson of WKRN News 2. Last year’s rookie offensive lineman Dillon Radunz failed to earn much of a role last season but, reportedly, did everything right this offseason. Still, Petit-Frere has effectively won the starting job and Radunz will continue to come off the bench in Year 2.
  • New Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson received an impressive contract extension this week reported as a five-year, $245MM deal. The new money on the contract extension was originally reported to be $49MM per year. Those original reports failed to take the league’s new 17th-week into account when calculating the new money, according to Mike Florio of NBC Sports. Wilson was entitled to two more years under his previous contract and the original new money reports included the Week 17 paychecks that really should’ve been included with the original contract. So, while still an extremely impressive payday for Wilson, his average new money is more like $48.52MM per year than $49MM.
  • The Jaguars are losing a member of their front office, according to Seth Walder of ESPN. Director of strategic research & development Momin Ghaffar is leaving the team for a job outside of football. In fact, the job is “outside of sports.” This isn’t a terrible surprise as the position was one of Jacksonville’s many roles that fuse business analytics with football analytics.

Latest On Titans’ RT, LG Competitions

July 17th, 2022 at 12:32pm CST by Rory Parks

Second-year pro Dillon Radunz has the chance to win the Titans’ starting right tackle job, per Jim Wyatt of the team’s official website. That jibes with an ESPN report from last month, and it makes plenty of sense given that Radunz was selected in the second round of the 2021 draft with the expectation that he would be a long-term bookend on Tennessee’s O-line.

The possibility of Radunz competing for the team’s other OL vacancy, left guard, was floated earlier this year. HC Mike Vrabel subsequently indicated that the team would be focusing on Radunz as an RT candidate, although he will have to fend off 2022 third-rounder Nicholas Petit-Frere, who presently appears to be the most significant threat to his playing time. In his rookie campaign, Radunz started just one game while learning and developing behind former right tackle David Quessenberry, who signed with the Bills this offseason. According to Wyatt, Radunz has looked more comfortable during OTAs and minicamp, but obviously training camp will be a better gauge of where he stands.

While Radunz and Petit-Frere are battling it out for the right tackle slot, Wyatt confirms that Aaron Brewer and Jamarco Jones are the top candidates for the LG gig, as we heard several weeks ago (and throughout the offseason). Brewer, a 2020 UDFA, has started six games for Tennessee in his first two professional seasons, five of which came last year. Jones, meanwhile, signed a two-year, $5.75MM contract with the Titans in March, and one of his primary selling points was his versatility. Despite dealing with injury problems throughout his brief career, the 2018 fifth-round pick of the Seahawks has seen action all over the O-line.

Both Brewer and Jones received sub-par marks from Pro Football Focus for their 2021 work. This offseason, Jones has managed to stay healthy and has, in Wyatt’s estimation, demonstrated improvement, while Brewer missed time due to injury. Brewer’s familiarity with the offense will help, and Wyatt believes the Texas State product will ultimately win the LG job, but that battle will be one of the most hotly-contested for the Titans this summer. Whichever player emerges as the starter will have big shoes to fill, as Rodger Saffold had become a reliable fixture on the interior and earned his first Pro Bowl bid in 2021. He became a cap casualty in March and signed with Buffalo a week before Quessenberry.

The Titans finished the 2021 regular season with the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC. While Vrabel’s outfit fell to the Bengals in the divisional round of the playoffs, the club still has its eyes set on another deep postseason run. As such, Wyatt confirms that Tennessee will look at the free agent and trade markets if the RT and/or LG competitions are not going well.

Of course, the players who are on the free agent market at this point in the calendar year are generally available for a reason. The top RTs include Bryan Bulaga, Daryl Williams, and Marcus Cannon, all of whom were released by their previous clubs in March and who have not generated any reported interest since. Similarly, the Commanders released LG Ereck Flowers in March, and while our own Ely Allen noted that the former top-10 pick could make plenty of sense for Tennessee, we have not heard of any interest in his services.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif may be an appealing option for the Titans if Brewer and Jones fail to impress, but LDT may not want to continue his NFL career. Nonetheless, potentially intriguing players could be cut as we get closer to the regular season, and GM Jon Robinson may be able to swing a trade if the FA market does not bear fruit.

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