Succop On His Way Back from Injured Reserve

Titans designate kicker to return to practice this week; he is eligible to play as early as the following week

Ryan Succop has to wait at least another week. At least he does not have to watch … practice, at least.

The Tennessee Titans designated the veteran kicker to return from injured reserve Wednesday, which means he now can take part in workouts.

Succop has been on IR (return designation) since the start of the regular season because he required additional time to recover from offseason knee surgery. League rules stipulate that a player in his situation must miss at least eight games. That means the earliest he can play this season is Nov. 3 at Carolina. He is not eligible for this Sunday’s contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Nissan Stadium.

Coach Mike Vrabel indicated Monday that Succop’s return was drawing near. He said the kicker performed a typical pregame routine prior to Sunday’s victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. He and the team’s training staff then evaluated how he responded to that work before the decision to begin the process that will eventually return him to the active roster.

Wednesday, Vrabel said Succop “felt good” following Sunday’s session.

“These guys have a very specific routine about how they come back after they kick,” Vrabel said Monday. “One thing we asked Ryan to do (Sunday) was to go through a kicking workout, just like he would in the game. We’re trying to get him back. He can do all those things on his own as part of his rehab.”

The Titans have used two replacement kickers during Succop’s absence. Cairo Santos was signed in Week 1 and had the job for five weeks. He made all 12 PAT attempts but was 4-for-9 on field goals and was released after he went 0-4 in a loss to the Buffalo Bills. Cody Parkey was then signed and has made his only field goal attempt (45 yards against the Chargers) and two of three extra points.

Succop kicked in every game for the Titans over the previous five seasons. He is franchise leader in career field goal percentage at 86.6 (116-for-134) and is fifth in career scoring with 502 points. He scored more than 100 in each of the last three, including a career-high 136 in 2017, when he was 35-42 on field goal attempts and 31-33 on extra-point tries.

“He’s kicking and he’s not available to play this week, Vrabel said Wednesday prior to the day’s practice. “… We’ll just see where he’s at when he gets back out there to practice.”

Also Wednesday, outside linebacker Derick Roberson was re-signed the practice squad. The undrafted rookie out of Sam Houston State was on the practice squad through the first six weeks of the regular season, promoted to the active roster last Saturday but did not play against the Chargers. Tennessee waived him and re-signed defensive lineman Matt Dickerson on Tuesday.