One of many key injuries the Tennessee Titans suffered in 2023 was to punter Ryan Stonehouse, who was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury during the Week 13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Prior to his injury, Stonehouse was having a fantastic season and was on track to once again make history, with his 53.1 yards per punt matching the NFL record he set during the 2022 campaign.
Upon going down against the Colts, it was immediately obvious that the second-year punter had suffered a serious injury, although it remains unknown exactly what it is.
“You feel sorry for yourself for a day,” Stonehouse said, according to Jim Wyatt. “Because your whole life has changed from doing one thing to totally doing something opposite. I think you maybe sit in it for two days. The first day you are confused. What do I do now? When do I get surgery? What does the (recovery) process look like? The next day, it sets in: Well, my season is over, and this sucks.”
Stonehouse did say, however, that he feels great and is focused on rehab. He hopes to be able to walk without later this week.
“I feel great,” Stonehouse said. “I literally feel like I could not feel better after surgery. Right now, all I care about is rehab, and getting back. And you just have to attack it.”
Stonehouse is now taking a glass-half-full approach to looking at his injury, with the Colorado State product revealing it has given him a better idea of how he can improve moving forward.
“The cool thing about what I went through this year is I feel like I know exactly what I need to do to be better than I was this year,” he said. “Like, I need to improve on plus-50s, and that sort of stuff. I feel like I know exactly what I need to do, and if I can just get back to where I was, I don’t have any worry. I know what it takes. And, I enjoy the process of improvement.”
It remains to be seen if Stonehouse will be ready for the start of next season, but if not, the Titans may have a temporary solution in-house after fellow punter Ty Zentner was solid in relief of Stonehouse.
