HEADLINES

Monty Rice

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 1/4/22-1/5/22

January 5th, 2022 at 11:32pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are Tuesday and Wednesday’s activations from and placements on the reserve/COVID-19 lists:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Jared Cook, LB Damon Lloyd (remains on IR)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Titans Place Monty Rice On IR

November 30th, 2021 at 3:48pm CST by Zachary Links

The Titans have placed linebacker Monty Rice on injured reserve, according to a team press release. In an injury-marred year, Rice becomes the 18th player to land on the Tennessee’s IR.

The Titans turned to Rice as their starting inside linebacker after losing Rashaan Evans and David Long to injury. Now, they’ll have to look elsewhere for support, alongside fellow fill-in Jayon Brown. That could mean an uptick in work for backups Dylan Cole and Nick Dzubnar.

It’s a disappointing setback for the rookie ‘backer, as he was starting to gain favor with head coach Mike Vrabel.

“He started by finishing [on special teams]…running his guy and taking care of the returner, so I think he started to build some confidence there. Then he made some tackles on kickoff and really started to build some confidence there. [Now,] he’s got an opportunity to play linebacker,” Vrabel said recently (via Jim Wyatt of the team website). “He is continuing to improve and hopefully we can start to really see some more progress.”

Rice, a third-round rookie, could theoretically return later this year after sitting out for at least three games. So far, the Georgia product has 36 stops on the year, plus one pass defensed and a quarterback hit.

Titans Sign Third-Round LB Monty Rice, Wrap Up Draft Class

July 24th, 2021 at 8:44pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Titans became the latest team to finalize their 2021 draft class on Saturday. Tennessee agreed to terms with third-round linebacker Monty Rice, their last remaining unsigned draft pick, the team announced.

Rice was the 92nd pick of this past draft coming out of Georgia. He earned first-team All-SEC honors in 2020 after making second-team the year before. He became a starter in his sophomore season and was a finalist for the Butkus Award this past season.

In nine 2020 games for the Bulldogs he finished with 49 tackles, four for a loss, a sack, and two forced fumbles. The Titans have Jayon Brown, Rashaan Evans, and David Long ahead of him at inside linebacker right now, so they likely won’t be counting on him to play a ton as a rookie. They did recently decline Evans’ fifth-year option, and Brown is entering a contract year as well, so Rice could be looked at as the future.

With Rice under contract, all eight of the Titans’ picks are now wrapped up:

Round 1: No. 22 Caleb Farley, CB (Virginia Tech)
Round 2: No. 53 Dillon Radunz, OT (North Dakota State)
Round 3: No. 92 (from Packers) Monty Rice, LB (Georgia)
Round 3: No. 100 Elijah Molden, CB (Washington)
Round 4: No. 109 (from Texans via Panthers) Dez Fitzpatrick, WR (Louisville)
Round 4: No. 135 (from Packers) Rashad Weaver, DE (Pittsburgh)
Round 6: No. 205 Racey McMath, WR (LSU)
Round 6: No. 215 (from Chiefs) Brady Breeze, S (Oregon)