Short-Lived Spring League A Springboard for Woodside

Tennessee Titans saw their backup quarterback candidate improve in the Alliance of American Football

If Logan Woodside is the Tennessee Titans’ second-string quarterback in 2020, they will have the short-lived Alliance of American Football to thank for it.

In fact, they already have expressed their gratitude.

Woodside was a starter for the San Antonio Commanders in the developmental circuit, which ceased operations before the end of its first season in the spring of 2019. In the eight games he did play, he completed 57.7 percent of his passes for 1,385 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Less than a week after his final game with San Antonio, the Titans re-signed Woodside, who had spent three weeks on their practice squad early in the 2018 regular season. That summer, Daryl Johnston, San Antonio’s general manager, visited Tennessee’s training camp.

“(Titans general manager Jon Robinson) said, ‘I can’t thank you enough. You guys did a great job with Logan Woodside,’” Johnston told the San Antonio Express-News. “‘He was so much more mature than he was last year when he was with us, and you can see the value and the opportunity of what you guys provided. He’s a different person. It’s night and day.’”

A record-setting passer at Toledo, Woodside was a seventh-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2018 NFL Draft. That summer he completed 10 of 18 passes for 100 yards in two preseason appearances. The majority of his playing time came in the preseason finale, two days before the Bengals released him.

Last year with Tennessee, he played in all four preseason contests and twice completed more than 70 percent of his throws. He played start-to-finish in the preseason finale and had a 104.4 passer rating in a victory.

Woodside has yet to play in an NFL regular season game, but as of now he is the only quarterback other than Ryan Tannehill on the Titans’ roster. Coach Mike Vrabel has touted him as a legitimate candidate to be the No. 2 when the regular season arrives.

“When you’re a third quarterback on an NFL roster, you don’t get seen a lot. You don’t get to practice a lot. You’re a scout team guy,” San Antonio coach Mike Riley said. “So, him taking a step out of that and getting to play in [AAF] games and prepare like a quarterback for the games was really good for him, and I think helped him find a somewhat stable position through the year with Tennessee.”