Humphries Reflects on Long Wait For Playoff Debut

Ankle injury kept wide receiver on the sideline for the Titans' two postseason victories

Adam Humphries’ wait to experience an NFL playoff game lasted a little longer.

The wide receiver finally got there in 2019, his fifth year in the league and first with the Tennessee Titans. Yet it was not until the conference championship – the Titans’ third postseason contest in as many week – that he finally got on the field.

An ankle injury sustained late in the regular season forced him to sit out the wild card round at New England and the divisional round at Baltimore.

“It was a cool experience to be able to play in the postseason and to see our team really get hot and play our best football towards the end of the season,” Humphries told GoUpstate.com last week. “… It was such an awesome experience to get out in there in Kansas City.”

Humphries played just 13 snaps in the 35-24 loss at Kansas City that ended the Titans’ playoff run.

He made the most of those limited opportunities, though, with four receptions for 25 yards. Three of his catches went for first downs (two on third down, one on fourth down) and the other was a nine-yard gain on first-and-15. Only Corey Davis, with five, caught more passes for Tennessee that day.

Prior to that, Humphries had missed six straight contests, which also was something new. During his first four seasons in the league he missed just four games – and two of those were because he spent a little time on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad as a rookie (he was undrafted out of Clemson).

“Obviously the ankle injury was tough, but our team did a great job of taking care of me and allowing me to get back the best I could,” he said. “It’s a tricky injury especially with my position and being able to cut and separate with quickness, it really hurts that ability.”

He managed to get healthy just in time to get some playoff experience.