Is This The Titans' Next Backup Quarterback?

Logan Woodside has never thrown a regular season pass but impressed last season while recovering from injury

NASHVILLE – Those who paid attention to the 2019 preseason saw plenty of Logan Woodside at quarterback for the Tennessee Titans.

It was what Woodside did when virtually no one was looking, though, that really caught the eye of coach Mike Vrabel. More importantly, it allowed him to envision the possibility that the 25-year-old who never has taken a snap in a regular season game could be the Titans’ backup in 2020.

“[I] watched him prepare while he was on injured reserve last year, watched him prepare mentally and was very impressed with that, which is something that for a young player you have concern about sometimes, ‘Can he stay engaged?’” Vrabel said this week on a conference call. “But this is a player that was rehabbing while he was on injured reserve, stayed locked in, stayed focused in the meetings and was ready on the gameplan.”

Woodside was the Titans’ leading passer during the 2019 preseason with 46 completions on 76 attempts (60.5 percent) for 539 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He led the team in attempts each of the first three contests and played all of the preseason finale, a 19-15 victory at Chicago.

Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill combined for 56 preseason passes.

Woodside was released in the final preseason cuts but signed to the practice squad a day later. Following the regular season opener, he was moved to the practice squad injured list, where he spent the remainder of the season.

With Mariota now a member of the Las Vegas Raiders, Woodside is the only quarterback other than Tannehill currently on the Titans’ roster.

“We’ll look to the draft and see what the pool of free agents is like,” general manager Jon Robinson said. “(Woodside) has done some good things for us, and he’ll get a chance to compete with whoever else we bring in here.”

If Woodside ends up second on the depth chart, it would represent a significant philosophical shift.

The last time the Titans’ backup quarterback had no regular season experience was 2011, when rookie Jake Locker, a first-round pick, filled the role. The same was true with Vince Young early in 2006, but he became the starter after just three games. Over the course of five seasons together, he and Kerry Collins swapped roles numerous times.

The backup job was Billy Volek’s from 2003-05, prior to which he had thrown just one pass in a regular season contest.

Before him, established veterans Dave Krieg (1997-98) and Neil O’Donnell (1999-03) served in that capacity. With Robinson as general manager, Matt Cassel (2016-17), Blaine Gabbert (2018 and Tannehill (2019) – all had been starters earlier in their careers – have been tapped for that spot.

A seventh-round pick by Cincinnati in 2018 after a record-setting career at Toledo, Woodside spent time on Tennessee’s practice squad that September and re-signed with the team last April. In between he played seven games for San Antonio in the short-lived Alliance of American Football.

“[Quarterbacks coach] Pat (O’Hara) would meet with him at the end of the week like he was going to play a football game, which I thought was great,” Vrabel said. “From a mental standpoint we would try to prepare (Woodside) like he was going to go play a football game, even though he was rehabbing.

“So now, we’ll see what he looks like physically when we can get him back out there throwing and then we’ll make decisions.”