The Titans are staring at a messy solution at right guard heading into Week 3.
Fernando Carmona went down early in the loss to the New York Giants with an ankle injury, and Jordan Schultz later reported that the rookie will be sidelined on a week-to-week basis. It’s a blow for Tennessee, but at least it doesn’t sound like a season-ending issue for a player who had already emerged as one of the team’s early-season bright spots.
Jackson Slater stepped in for Carmona and held up reasonably well, but his own availability is now a problem. Head coach Robert Saleh said Slater suffered a “significant” foot injury, though he still played through it. The expectation is that Slater will be out even longer than Carmona, and the Titans placed both players on IR earlier this week.
That leaves Tennessee with a real decision to make against the Baltimore Ravens. The most obvious name on the board is Atonio Mafi, who was just claimed off waivers to the 53-man roster. A 2023 fifth-round pick out of UCLA, Mafi has seven career starts, but the results so far have been underwhelming.
There’s another option, though, and it may be the one that makes the most sense. Garrett Dellinger was recently elevated from the practice squad to the active roster, and he was one of the more surprising additions to the initial 53. He spent the entire offseason in the offense, which gives him a clear advantage in terms of familiarity with the system.
Dellinger also had a strong preseason. The former LSU lineman didn’t allow a single pressure or sack, and his pass-protection PFF grades were 74.8, 72.3 and 80.3. His run-blocking grade checked in at 81.9.
Rookie Pat Coogan is another possibility, though he’s more naturally a center than a guard.
For now, the most likely answer is that the Titans will choose between Dellinger and Mafi at right guard against Baltimore. There’s also the question of whether they’d consider bringing back Kevin Zeitler. Either way, Tennessee has a spot to fill and not much margin for error.
In Other News...
Derrick Henry Just Made Ravens-Titans Even More Personal
Derrick Henrys departure from Tennessee already carried plenty of weight, but his latest reflection adds another layer to one of the NFLs most familiar recent reunions. The former Titans star said the team did not offer him a contract before he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2024, and he called the whole ending bittersweet after years of carrying the franchises offense and becoming one of the defining players in modern Titans history.
Henry also said he could feel Tennessee was ready to move on during the 2023 season, which helps explain why the split came together the way it did. Since landing in Baltimore, he has kept producing at a high level, while the Titans have gone through a difficult stretch of their own, giving every meeting between the two sides a little more edge than a typical reunion ever could. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Quarterback Pressure Just Put Cam Ward In A Tough Spot
As the Titans turn their attention to Baltimore, the quarterback conversation around Cam Ward has only gotten louder. Tuesday morning brought no indication that head coach Robert Saleh was preparing to make a switch to Mitchell Trubisky, but the topic has clearly moved beyond idle chatter as Tennessee tries to steady an offense that has lagged near the bottom of the league in total production and scoring.
NFL insider Mike Jones floated the idea that a change could help both the team and Wards long-term development, especially if the rookie continues to struggle. For now, Ward still appears positioned to start, but the pressure around the position is real, and the next stretch of games could determine whether Tennessee keeps riding with him or finally considers a different direction. [Read more 🡒]
Two Memphis Powers Just Changed A Tennessee Football Debate
The most interesting football development in Tennessee right now is not happening on a college sideline or in an NFL building. It is coming from Memphis, where Memphis University School and Christian Brothers High School have decided to step away from their assigned TSSAA Division II-AAA schedules for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, a move that will keep both programs out of the state playoffs during that stretch. Instead, each school plans to build a 10-game regular season and finish with bowl games, a notable shift for two programs that have long been part of the private-school conversation in the state.
The timing matters because this decision lands right as the TSSAA is reshaping its private-school football classifications, adding another layer to an already evolving landscape. For the schools involved, it is as much about control over the schedule as it is about competition, but the ripple effect reaches beyond Memphis. Any change involving programs with this kind of profile tends to reopen the broader debate over how Tennessee should organize private-school football, and now the question is how many others might look at this move and wonder whether a different path is worth considering. [Read more 🡒]