AP Photo/Mark Zaleski
This question might’ve made every burning questions article we’ve done this year. That would be no surprise, as the injury-riddled Titans have 23 players on injured reserve, and have placed 34 on the list all season, both NFL highs.
The 23 players on Tennessee’s IR account for exactly 50 percent of the team’s salary cap, per Spotrac.
The Titans opted to rest their key players last week, but question marks remain about some of them, including Kristian Fulton, David Long and Amani Hooker, all of whom have missed multiple games in a row.
Long is on injured reserve but eligible to return in Week 18, and Fulton has been out since Week 14 with a groin issue. Vrabel said on Monday he hoped both would return to practice this week.
Hooker was spotted doing a good amount of work at practice last week, so he looks like he’ll get back, which is even more important after the Titans lost Andrew Adams, who was filling in for Hooker.
As far as other key guys who sat out last week, Derrick Henry, Denico Autry and Jeffery Simmons are all expected to play. Questions remain about Dylan Cole and Nicholas Petit-Frere, though.
The Titans will be fine on the inside if Long comes back to play alongside Monty Rice and/or Jack Gibbens. Right tackle is more problematic, as Le’Raven Clark was not good in place of NPF last week.
Getting Long, Hooker and Fulton back would obviously be huge for a Titans defense that will have to play its best game to keep a hot Jaguars offense in check. With Tennessee’s offense unlikely to score much, the defense won’t have much room for error.
