The Titans have signed four players to future/reserve contracts.  Two of the players are defensive and the other two are special teams players.  26-year old DE Keyunta Dawson is  the only player of this bunch that played in the NFL this year.  He played in 2 games for the Lions in which he made 1 tackle.  Dawson has now played in 60 games in his first five years in the NFL and he has 114 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 5 fumble recoveries and 2 passes defensed.  24-year old safety Al Afalava did not play in 2011.  He has played in 17 games in his first two years in the NFL and he has 57 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and 7 passes defensed.  27-year old WR/KR/PR Darius Reynaud also took a year off in 2011.  He has played in 23 games in his first three years in the NFL and he has returned 53 punts for 440 yards (8.3 avg) and he has also returned 33 kickoffs for 677 yards (20.5 avg).  26-year old long snapper Jake Ingram has also been signed by the Titans.  He has played in 25 games (0 starts) in his first three years in the NFL.  This looks like a decent start on improving the depth on the team for the 2012 season.

The Titans have decided to place 28-year old LB Barrett Ruud on the Injured Reserve List due to a groin injury.  Ruud played in 9 games for the Titans this year and he had 57 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 3 passes defensed and 1 interception.  He has now played in 104 games in his first seven years in the NFL and he has 642 tackles, 20 tackles for a loss, 5 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 5 fumble recoveries, 23 passes defensed and 7 interceptions.  The Titans are going to let Ruud walk in free agency.

The Titans have waived 25-year old fullback Quinn Johnson.  Johnson played in all four games for the Titans this year but he didn’t get any carries.  Johnson did catch 3 passes for 30 yards (10.0 avg) for the Titans.  31-year old Ahmard Hall is back from his suspension and just in a nick of time.  The Titans are only averaging 66.8 yards rushing per game so far this year and 2.8 yards per carry.  The Titans are hoping that Hall’s return jumpstarts Chris Johnson’s season.

The Titans have lost starting safety Chris Hope for the next 4-6 weeks due to a broken forearm.  He has played in 2 games for the Titans so far this year and he has 10 tackles.  29-year old Jordan Babineaux will take over Hope’s starting spot until he’s ready to return to action.  Babineaux has played pretty well so far this year for the Titans, so they think he will do a good job while Hope is out of action.  He has played in all 4 of the Titans’ games so far this year and he has 15 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception (he returned it 97 yards for a TD against the Browns), defensed 1 pass and he has 1 tackle for a loss.  The Titans are in good hands with Babineaux.

The Titans have signed 27-year old WR Donnie Avery.  Avery missed all of last season due to a knee injury.  He has played in 31 games in his first 3 years in the NFL and he has caught 100 passes for 1,263 yards (12.6 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  Avery also carried the ball 14 times for 99 yards (7.1 ypc) with 1 TD run in this career so far.  When healthy, Avery is a solid WR, so I like this low risk/high reward signing for the Titans.

The Tennessee Titans have lost 23-year old WR Kenny Britt for the rest of the season due to a torn right ACL.  Britt played in all 3 games for the Titans this year and he caught 17 passes for 289 yards (17.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Veteran Nate Washington will become the Titans’ new #1 WR, but the Titans will need one of their younger receivers to step up and replace Britt in the starting lineup.  23-year old Damian Williams (2 rec, 24 yards), 25-year old Lavelle Hawkins (5 rec, 38 yards) and 24-year old Marc Mariani (3 rec, 13 yards) are the guys who will be competing for a starting job this week in practice.  This is a HUGE blow to the Titans’ passing game as Britt was the best WR on the team by far.

The Tennessee Titans have acquired 24-year old fullback Quinn Johnson from the Packers for an undisclosed draft pick.  Johnson played in 11 games (4 starts) for the Packers last year and he didn’t carry the ball at all.  He did catch 3 passes for 26 yards (8.7 avg) for the Packers last year.  He has now played in 20 games (4 starts) in his first two years in the NFL and he has caught 5 passes for 30 yards (6.0 avg).  He has yet to carry the ball.  The Titans acted quickly in trying to replace Ahmard Hall.  Johnson will likely start the first four games of the season for the Titans, with his main job being run blocking.

The NFL has suspended 31-year old fullback Ahmard Hall for the first four games of the 2011 season due to him testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.  Hall is one of the best blocking fullbacks in the entire NFL.  Hall played in all 16 games (4 starts) for the Titans last year and he carried the ball 1 time for 1 yard.  He also caught 15 passes for 100 yards (6.7 avg) last year.  Hall has now played in 73 games (33 starts) in his first five years in the NFL and he has carried the ball 18 times for 56 yards (3.1 ypc).  He has also caught 64 passes for 515 yards (8.0 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Chris Johnson and the Titans’ offense in general is going to miss Hall while he’s out of action.

The Titans have released 30-year old WR Justin Gage.  Gage played in 11 games (4 starts) for the Titans last year and he had 20 grabs for 266 yards (13.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He played in 51 games (33 starts) in his four years with the Titans and he caught 137 passes for 2,050 yards (15.0 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Gage is going to hook on with another team in 2011, but the Titans wanted to go in a new direction at WR.

The Titans have waived 28-year old DE Jacob Ford.  Ford played in 14 games for the Titans last year and he had 42 tackles, 3 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and 1 forced fumble.  Ford played in 43 games in his three years with the Titans and he has 90 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, 15.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 2 passes defensed.  Some team is going to snap Ford right up, and the Titans might regret cutting him down the road.