Adeniyi Has Plenty of Reasons to be Pumped About Joining Titans

From a reunion with a former Pittsburgh Steelers teammate to the downtown scene, the free-agent linebacker 'can't wait' to get started.

To say that Ola Adeniyi is excited to join the Tennessee Titans would be an understatement.

The linebacker and special teamer is thrilled to sign with the team for many reasons. He’s raring to be on a team coached by Mike Vrabel, a player who he admired growing up. He’s electrified to come to Nashville, a city he called “Cashville” during his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

Clearly, though, he’s most thrilled to be joining one of his teammates from his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, standout linebacker Bud Dupree, who signed with the Titans last week.

“I can’t wait to get with my boy Bud,” Adeniyi said. “Shout out to Bud. I learned a lot from him. I can’t wait to get with him again. That’s my dog.”

Adeniyi spent each of the last three seasons on the Steelers. Dupree, of course, spent six seasons there and developed into a premier pass rusher.

Undrafted out of Toledo in 2018, Adeniyi said his locker was right next to Dupree’s during his rookie season.

“When I came into the league, I was overweight,” Adeniyi said. “... I got to talk to him on a daily basis, man. Him, also having a struggle in his rookie year, he had advice for me. He was just an OG (original gangster) to me. Just talking about how to succeed in the league and how to make a living. Bud is probably one of the smartest guys I know financially. Learning things like that on the field and off the field from him, it was amazing.”

Adeniyi has been a mainstay for Pittsburgh’s special teams over the past two seasons, when he logged more than 500 snaps in the kicking game versus just over 200 on defense. He spent virtually all of his rookie season on injured reserve but has missed just one game since.

The fourth-year pro has not played an overwhelming amount on defense. He has logged just 10 career tackles – seven of them this past season – as a linebacker. However, Vrabel’s 14-year playing career as a linebacker for the Steelers, New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs made his decision to join the Titans easy too.

“You have to be aggressive,” he said. “I know coach Vrabel knows that. He played the position. He knows the mentality you need to play linebacker. You have to aggressive and able to hit anybody at any time. You can’t be scared.”

Living in Nashville also appealed to Adeniyi. While he has not explored the city to its entirety yet, he remembers a time when he visited high school teammate Ronald Monroe, who began his college career at Vanderbilt.

He recalled the downtown scene being “lively.”

“I was walking around trying to find something to eat when I came down,” Adeniyi said. “There was a tractor pulling a party van (bus). I was confused, but everybody was so excited. It was a tractor in the street of downtown. I’ve never seen that before.

“I just can’t wait to get there.”

Given all of the factors, the Titans seemingly were the perfect fit for the 23-year-old who hopes to make an impact in any way he can.

“Me and my agent sat down and talked about it, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a great fit,” Adeniyi said. “... I feel like I can contribute.”