Titans Have Seen Enough Of Beasley
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans needed Vic Beasley to do one thing. He could not do it.
Tuesday, after five games in which the 2015 first-round draft pick (eighth overall) produced zero sacks, franchise officials announced that they would release Beasley. The move will be official Wednesday.
“(Beasley) continues to work,” Vrabel said Monday. “He has been practicing with us and showed us in practice that he’s ready to go.”
Instead, they showed him the door and ended what was an unproductive relationship from the start.
The Titans signed Beasley to a one-year, $9.5 million contract early in free agency. The hope was that the one-time NFL sacks leader (he had 15 1/2 with Atlanta in 2016) would resurrect a pass rush that has had one player record 10 or more sacks in the previous six seasons (Brian Orakpo had 10 1/2 in 2016).
However, Beasley was a no-show for more than a week at the start of training camp and when he did arrive, he failed a physical because of a knee issue. He was finally added to the active roster a week before the season opener but was inactive for the first two games.
He played a season-high 38 snaps in Sunday’s loss at Cincinnati but was not credited with a tackle, a sack or even a quarterback pressure. In his five appearances for Tennessee, he notched three tackles, one tackle for loss and one forced fumble.
“Anytime you come to a new environment, you know, you want to have that great first impression,” Beasley said two days before his Titans debut. “You want to just show the people that you’re really, really into working with the team and want to be here.
“I’m excited. I feel like this is an opportunity for me to put myself back in that category of one of the elite pass rushers. … It’s a new start for me. I’m more than excited about it. I know the coaches are excited about it, and the only way to find out what I can do – that’s by playing.”
The Titans found out and decided that he is not worth what they paid him.
Also Tuesday, Tennessee waived veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph and long-time long snapper Beau Brinkley, two players who had their own struggles this season.
The Titans started the season 5-0 and were one of the last three NFL teams without a defeat. They now have lost two straight – and decided that changes must be made.
“When we lose, we all have to coach and play better, continue to improve,” Vrabel said. “At this point in the season teams are going to go in one of two directions, they’re going to keep getting better or they're not, and were a team last year that continued to improve. That's my charge now, is to make sure that we’re one of those teams that keeps getting better.”
