Saffold Dealing With 'A Nerve Thing'

The veteran left guard likely will see a specialist after the season but intends to play through the shoulder issue for the remainder of the 2021 NFL season.

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

Rodger Saffold took a knee and waited for trainers to tend to him twice during Sunday’s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It was not because he was in pain. In fact, it was the opposite.

“It’s numbness, tingling and all that thing,” the Tennessee Titans left guard said Tuesday during an appearance on Nashville sports talk radio station WGFX-FM 104.5 (The Zone). “Sometimes I can shake it out. I waited like four plays until I went down because it was still giving me fits.

“The crazy thing about it is that it could be from anything. … So, basically it’s a nerve thing.”

It has been a recurring issue in this, Saffold’s 12th NFL season. He has not missed a start but has failed to finish six of the Titans’ 13 contests, including the last two. A concussion forced him out of one game, but he quickly cleared the league’s protocols and was back out there the next one.

Before he left for good, Saffold played 40 snaps against the Jaguars, which was among his fewest on the year. It was the fourth time he was on the field for fewer than 60 percent of the offensive plays, and Aaron Brewer, who replaced him both times, finished in his place. At times earlier in the season, Corey Levin and rookie Dillon Radunz have filled in when needed because Brewer was on injured reserve.

“I love Rodger, and football is so important to him,” offensive line coach Keith Carter said. “Everybody in the organization would agree he’s going to do everything in his power to be out there and play through all the stuff going on.

“We have a lot of guys like that, and it’s what makes this job fun and worth it.”

Four times in his first 11 seasons, Saffold played all 16 games. Three others he played 15 and only twice has he played fewer than 10.

Saffold made it clear that he intends to be out there as much as he can through the remainder of the current campaign. He also noted, though, his is a situation that likely will require him to visit a specialist – but not until the offseason.

“It’s just kind of like, How can we manage it?” he said. “… I’ve got to grind through it. My team isn’t going to be playing in the Super Bowl while I’m sitting over there like, ‘Go guys!’

“I’ve got to play.”