Titans Camp — Sep 3: Five In, Five Out, a Day After the 53

The 53 lasted a day. On Monday the Titans claimed three players off waivers from the fourth priority slot — linebacker Owen Pappoe from Arizona, cornerback Melvin Smith Jr. from Kansas City, defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse from Green Bay — and signed two more that other teams had released, safety Terrell Burgess from New Orleans and tackle James Hudson III from New England, per the team's log and Jim Wyatt at the team's site, who keeps the two routes separate. Pappoe was a 2023 fifth-rounder out of Auburn, 49 games in three seasons mostly on special teams, all 17 last year, and had lost the inside-linebacker competition in Arizona, per Austin Stanley at A to Z Sports; Stackhouse played 14 percent of Green Bay's defensive snaps last year. Hudson comes to compete with Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson for the swing tackle job, per Mark Mihalko at Titans Wire, and has worked under Brian Daboll before, with the Giants, alongside new center Austin Schlottmann, per Justin Melo at SB Nation. Four of the five are defenders, and Lane Mills at Sports Illustrated reads the secondary as the target after a preseason of concern about it. The five who made room, per the team: tackle Austin Deculus, terminated as a vested veteran after allowing three sacks to backups in the preseason, per Melo; and linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, defensive back Erick Hallett II, safety Jerrick Reed II and receiver Xavier Restrepo, waived. Restrepo had made the initial 53 over Bryce Oliver on Sunday. The receiver room we told you settled at six is five. Wyatt's updated breakdown that afternoon had two quarterbacks, four running backs, five receivers, four tight ends, two centers, four guards, four tackles, five defensive ends, six defensive tackles, five linebackers, five corners, four safeties and three specialists. Tennessee also put a claim in on 49ers cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. and lost him to Las Vegas, one of five teams that tried, per Jordan Dajani at CBS Sports.

Four of the five who made room came back. Restrepo, Diabate, Hallett and Reed all cleared waivers and were on the practice squad by Wednesday, per the team's log — Stanley had read it that way the day it happened, writing that the move suggested Tennessee had always viewed Restrepo as the direct backup to Wan'Dale Robinson. The practice squad is where this week's real churn lived. 16 signed Monday, per Wyatt. On offense: quarterback Hendon Hooker, running backs Kalel Mullings and Michael Carter, receivers K.J. Osborn, Hank Beatty and Tyren Montgomery, tight end Joel Wilson, tackle Rasheed Miller and guard Drew Moss. On defense: defensive end Jalyn Holmes, defensive tackles Timmy Horne and Laki Tasi on the international exception, linebacker Mani Powell, and defensive backs Derrick Canteen, Mario Goodrich III and Jalen McMurray. Tuesday: cornerback Shemar Bartholomew in, Goodrich out. Wednesday: the four they had waived off the 53 back in, with Beatty, Canteen and Powell released from it to make room. 17 as of Wednesday, by the team's own announcements, and nine changes in three days. Four of Monday's 16 were vested veterans the team had terminated Sunday rather than waived — Osborn, Carter, Holmes, Horne — which means each chose a practice-squad deal here over free agency. Robert Saleh runs post-practice sessions for what he calls the "next 16," rotating them through positions for in-season call-ups, per Mihalko.

Hooker is the third quarterback, and it is on paper now. Josh Alper's line at Pro Football Talk that Tennessee seemed likely to keep one on the practice squad, which we called an expectation, resolved Monday. Mike Borgonzi, in his first public comments since the cuts, per Wyatt: "He's done a great job. That's why we kept him here." On Will Levis: "Credit to Will. Will did a tremendous job for us, throughout OTAs and camp here. He handled himself like a professional, was always good in the room," and "We had a great conversation when he left, and I'll be rooting for him." No reporting this week puts Levis anywhere. Jeremy Fowler reported that Levis "wanted out," per Lane Mills at Sports Illustrated, which makes the separation at least partly mutual, and Pro Football Talk was still asking what his future holds on Monday. One wording fix for the page: we said Mason Kinsey was waived. He was terminated as a vested veteran, per the team's log, as were Osborn, Khalen Saunders, D'Ernest Johnson, Carter, Holmes and Horne; Oliver, Keydrain Calligan and Mullings were waived. Edge Malik Herring signed with Miami as a free agent, per the Dolphins' own log.

Saleh made the guard official on Tuesday, per Wyatt: "Fernando is going to start at right guard. I thought he's done an outstanding job." Borgonzi on Carmona: "He's everything we thought he'd be. He's tough, and he's physical." On Crenshaw-Dickson: "He's done a really nice job developing here in the past year." And Saleh on the quarterback, per Teddy Ricketson at Yahoo Sports: "This kid's not going to fail. Obviously, I put my job on that one, but he's not going to fail. He's special."

The reserve list, per the team's log: linebacker Dorian Mausi and cornerback Joshua Williams on injured reserve with return designations, center Andre James and defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon on injured reserve without them — Kpassagnon nine days after signing — and safety Kendell Brooks, waived injured Sunday and reverted. No injury has been reported for Mausi, Williams or Brooks. Rookie defensive end Keldric Faulk returned to practice Tuesday from a shoulder. Rookie receiver Carnell Tate was out of Tuesday's stretch period managing stiffness and tight end David Martin-Robinson got extra recovery from the finale, per Wyatt; Saleh gave an update on both Wednesday, per Mihalko, ahead of a week built to simulate a game week — three practices, a final one Thursday, then the real schedule after the holiday.

Back in July we previewed Tennessee as year zero with receipts — a roster gap two wins wide, what we called the league's biggest offseason spend, and everything riding on whether Ward's rough rookie charting was the collapsing building around him or the quarterback inside it. The floor: three and 14, an offense thirtieth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — 30-first throwing it, a defense 20-eighth, and 12 takeaways, 20-ninth in the league. Cut day answered the roster question around the bet and not the bet. This week kept answering the roster question — five spots turned over in a day, four of them on the defense that finished 20-eighth, and a coach who says his job is on the quarterback. The bet itself took no new evidence. Same as our last episode: the next evidence comes in games that count, and the first one is 10 days out.

Next is the Jets, Sunday, September 13, at Nissan Stadium. What to watch: whether Tate is a full participant in game week, and which of the five newcomers is on the first game-day roster. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._