Two-Time Pro Bowl TE Agrees to One-Year Deal

The Cleveland Browns released Austin Hooper this week after two seasons that did not measure up to his best days with the Atlanta Falcons.

Brian Fluharty/USA Today Sports

The Tennessee Titans brought back their top three tight ends last season.

This time, they will provide a player at that position with an opportunity for a comeback.

Austin Hooper, a two-time Pro Bowler released earlier this week by the Cleveland Browns, agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal with the Titans on Friday.

That immediately makes him the most accomplished receiver among Tennessee’s current tight ends. For example, Geoff Swaim, who re-signed last week, has 88 career receptions over seven NFL seasons. Hooper has caught as many as 75 passes in a single season and has come up with 73 percent of the throws that have come his way throughout his career.

Two of the tight ends who re-signed with the Titans last season – Anthony Firkser and MyCole Pruitt – are currently unrestricted free agents. There no longer is room for one of them, and that is presumably Firkser, who led that position group with 34 receptions for 291 yards in 2021.

In four years with the Atlanta Falcons (2016-19) and two with the Browns (2020-21), Hooper has caught 298 passes for 3,024 yards and 23 touchdowns.

He made the Pro Bowl in each of his final two years with the Falcons, which helped him land a four-year, $42 million free-agent deal with Cleveland in 2020. His best season was 2019, when he caught 75 passes for 787 yards and six touchdowns. In 2018, he caught 71 passes for 660 yards and four touchdowns.

The last time the Titans had a tight end with at least 70 receptions in a season was 2017, when Delanie Walker had 74 for 807 yards and three touchdowns and earned his third straight Pro Bowl invitation.

With the Browns, Hooper averaged 42 receptions and 390 yards, and he scored three touchdowns over the last two years. The decision to release him saved the Browns $9.5 million in salary cap space.

The 27-year-old was a third-round pick (81st overall) in the 2016 NFL Draft. He has missed just nine games in his career and has played at least 13 in each of his six seasons.