After Two Losses, Two Lose Their Jobs

Long-time long snapper Beau Brinkley and free agent cornerback Johnathan Joseph cut as Titans try to address issues.

The Tennessee Titans did not make another deal prior to the NFL’s trade deadline.

They did, however, cut two veteran players, and one move is more surprising than the other.

The team announced Tuesday that they waived 15-year veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph and nine-year veteran long snapper Beau Brinkley.

Undrafted in 2012, Brinkley has started every game for the Titans at long snapper since the beginning of that season.

However, when he was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list in October, the Titans signed 35-year-old snapper Matt Overton to the practice squad. Brinkley did not miss any games because of the illness but he has delivered a bad snap in each of the last two contests, one on a punt and one on a PAT. The latter resulted in an injury to punter Brett Kern.

A Pro Bowler in 2013, Overton is expected to replace Brinkley. He has not played in more than a year. He was the Indianapolis Colts long snapper from 2012-2016, and the Jacksonville Jaguars long snapper for 20 games (2017-2018).

“I think we have to do that each and every week at every position, and find out what gives us the best chance to win as we put together 48 guys for Sunday,” Vrabel said on Monday when asked about evaluating Brinkley’s performance this season.

Joseph’s release does not come as much of a surprise. The two-time Pro Bowler signed with the Titans this past offseason after spending five years with the Cincinnati Bengals and the last nine with the Houston Texans.

The 36-year-old has struggled in his seven starts with the Titans. He has played 90 percent of Tennessee’s defensive snaps but has registered just four passes defended, one interception and 24 total tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, Joseph has a grade of 62.4 rating in pass coverage and had a 35.0 rating against in the Titans’ 31-20 loss to the Bengals on Sunday.

Opposing quarterbacks posted a rating of 119.5 when throwing Joseph’s way.

The move also makes sense because the Titans agreed to trade with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday to acquire defensive back Desmond King, an All-Pro in 2018 who has four interceptions and four fumble recoveries in his career.