It’s still very early in the offseason but the Tennessee Titans are already putting together a list of candidates for punt return duties in 2024 during organized team activities.
The Titans utilized four different players for the role in 2023. The first, wide receiver Kearis Jackson, suffered a season-ending injury after taking six attempts early in the season.
Then, there was fellow wide receiver Kyle Philips and cornerback Eric Garror, both of whom fumbled the job away before it was reclaimed by wide receiver Mason Kinsey, who finished out the year with the job.
According to Titans beat writer Paul Kuharsky, Kinsey, Philips, Jackson and Garror were all fielding punts at the first open session of OTAs on Tuesday. New entrants into the mix included two rookie receivers, sixth-round pick Jha’Quan Jackson and UDFA Sam Schnee.
Kuharsky added that Jackson dropped one of his attempts, so he’s not off to an ideal start.
After none of the aforementioned players did much with the role in 2023, the job remains wide open ahead of the 2024 season.
One thing all of those players have in common is they aren’t roster locks by any stretch, so winning the job could be the difference between them making the roster or not.
We didn’t hear of any candidates for kick returner, but that job figures to be Tyjae Spears’, barring the Titans wanting to make a change there in the interest of not putting him at further risk for injury.
He tallied a solid 20.8 yards per return last season and has all he tools to be a difference-maker if the Titans can get better blocking for him, something that has been an issue for years now.
