One of the Tennessee Titans’ key pending free agents, linebacker David Long, found a new home on Monday when he reportedly agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins on a two-year, $11 million deal.
As I opined in another article, the fact that Long did not end up back in Nashville despite commanding a very reasonable price tag suggests the Titans weren’t interested in bringing him back to begin with.
If that is indeed the case, it’s not hard to see why.
While a very good player, Long has never played in a full season and missed 12 games the past two years due to soft-tissue injuries, something head coach Mike Vrabel called him out for after the season was over, basically hinting he and other Titans players needed to work harder to avoid them.
“We look at soft-tissue injuries,” Vrabel said. “We look at those soft-tissue injuries of repeat offenders. It doesn’t take too hard to look and see Kristian Fulton and David Long, they were repeat offenders in soft-tissue injuries.”
Those same soft-tissue injuries likely led to Long’s market not being great. On Tuesday, Long took to Twitter to say he thinks the concerns over his injury issues are overblown.
You would’ve thought I tore my ACL the way they treating me 😭 wild
— Day✖️2 (@David__Long) March 14, 2023
The Titans had every right to be hesitant to re-sign him, especially given the fact that this team has been the most injured in the NFL the past two years.
Still, even considering that, I would’ve been content with paying him the money he received from Miami.
