Tennessee Titans Activate OL Dillon Radunz, Waive Three Injured Players
The Tennessee Titans have to cut their roster down to 53 players by Tuesday afternoon and we have already seen some of the cuts roll in. Those cuts continued on Monday when the Titans waived three players with an injury designation in Jonathan Ward, Alize Mack and Josh Thompson, but the Titans also activated Dillon Radunz from the physically unable to perform(PUP) list.
Radunz is heading into his third season and has been a disappointment since being drafted in the second round in the 2021 NFL draft out of North Dakota State. Radunz struggled to get on the field at times and other times dealt with injuries causing him to only appear in 23 games so far and only start five of those.
His latest injury was a torn ACL in Week 15 of 2022 against the Los Angeles Chargers. With the struggles of Dennis Daley at left tackle, fans clamored for Radunz to get a spot at the position he played in college, all season long. Radunz finally got the opportunity and tore his ACL 10 snaps into the game.
Radunz getting activated this soon considering tearing his ACL so late in the season, makes this a bit of a surprising move. Head coach Mike Vrabel talked about Radunz recovering so soon and how encouraging it is to get him back.
"Very encouraging," Vrabel said. "Dillon (Radunz) worked extremely hard to get back out here and through conversations with his surgeon, our doctors, Dillon most importantly. Just excited to get him back out there. We're probably a little bit away from team, but I think it is also important that the player gets to a point that you're done rehabbing and he gets back out there with his teammates in individual and figure out group things. We'll see where he is."
Coming off of such a serious injury, it would make sense to play it slow with Radunz. As Vrabel implies, coming off the PUP list doesn't mean Radunz can suddenly be thrust in the live contact action on day one. It will take some time.
Once Radunz is fully ready though, could he potentially battle for a spot on the starting offensive line? Say a position like right tackle where the Titans could use as much talent as they can find? Vrabel wasn't ready to go there yet.
"Certainly, we want to just make sure to see how he feels before we start making him an option anywhere. First step is just getting him out there."
Along with the Radunz activation came the aforementioned cuts. Running back Jonathan Ward, defensive back Josh Thompson and tight end Alize Mack were all waived, but with an injury designation. The designation doesn't change anything, but just declares the players are in fact injured.
We will see more roster moves from the Titans as the day unfolds and as the Tuesday deadline approaches.
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