Cornerback Plucked Off Practice Squad

The Arizona Cardinals evened the score with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday.

Arizona signed cornerback Breon Borders off Tennessee’s practice squad and to its active roster.

Back on Oct 20, the Titans signed Greg Mabin off the Cardinals’ practice squad, and he immediately started two games at cornerback in place of the injured Kristian Fulton. Mabin then missed four games with an ankle injury before he returned to action Sunday against Jacksonville as a backup.

Coincidentally, Arizona also released former Titans long snapper Beau Brinkley, who went to that team as a member of the practice squad last month.

Borders had been on Tennessee’s practice squad since Nov. 11, two days after he was released. He played in two of the last four games as a gameday addition to the active roster. Before that, he spent the first nine weeks of the season on the active roster, was uniform for every game but played primarily on special teams.

When Fulton got hurt, franchise officials got Mabin rather than have Borders replace Fulton.

Undrafted out of Duke in 2017, Borders started five games and played one other for Tennessee in 2020 after having spent four weeks on the practice squad. He made 27 tackles with one tackle for a loss and six passes defended – all career-highs – after injuries and the release of veteran Johnathan Joseph created an opportunity for him. He finished the season on injured reserve due to a hip injury.

From 2017-19, he spent time with Oakland, Buffalo, Houston, Jacksonville and Washington and appeared in 13 games.

A year ago, coaches consistently praised his competitiveness. This year, they obviously looked for something different when injuries hit that position group again.

Now, it is the Cardinals who see a need for him.