Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports
Titans Give Oft-Injured D-Lineman Another Shot
Da’Shawn Hand has found it difficult to finish a season in the NFL.
His appearance for the Tennessee Titans in their Week 18 victory at Houston back in January, however, could have been the start of something. The Titans confirmed Tuesday that they signed the 26-year-old defensive lineman to a free agent contract.
Hand (6-foot-3, 297 pounds) originally joined the team as a member of the practice squad on Jan 5, and he saw action (six snaps on defense) in the 28-25 triumph at Houston.
He was not credited with any tackles, but it was the first time in his four-year career that he was available to play in the final week of the regular season. A fourth-round pick by Detroit in 2018, he spent the last two weeks of his rookie season on injured reserve and the same was true for the final three weeks of each of the next two years.
Actually, Hand was on injured reserve with a groin injury when the Lions released him on Nov. 30, 2021. An injury settlement with Detroit allowed him to sign with any team once he cleared waivers, and the Titans added him a little more than a month later when Teair Tart and Naquan Jones were sidelined by injuries.
Hand dealt with a knee injury in 2018, elbow and ankle injuries in 2019 and groin and ankle issues in 2020.
He has appeared in just 30 games (11 starts) over four seasons, 29 of them with Detroit. He managed to play 13 games as a rookie but has not played more than 10 in a season since. In 2021, the groin injury limited to three games with the Lions before he took the field for Tennessee. He has been credited with 54 tackles, three sacks and one fumble recovery.
One of the country’s top high school recruits in 2014, he played four seasons at Alabama with Titans linebacker Rashaan Evans and did not become a full-time starter until his senior year.
