Compton To Take Charge of the Defense

With Jayon Brown out for the season, the veteran backup will be the one calling the plays for that unit starting Sunday.

Arguably nobody’s role on the Tennessee Titans has changed more -- or as quickly -- as Will Compton’s.

With inside linebacker Jayon Brown now out for the remainder of the season with an elbow injury, Compton has a bigger role. He will wear the green dot on the back of his helmet, which indicates coach-to-player communication. That means he will be the voice of the Titans’ defense in the next game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Currently, Compton is on the practice squad. He either will be added to the 53-man roster or designated as a gameday addition for Sunday’s contest at Indianapolis.

“The number one thing with the signal caller, they want to try to keep it the same as possible as if Jayon was in there,” linebacker Rashaan Evans said. “Will will be the one that will be taking the calls and all of that other stuff. We want to keep it as normal as possible even though Jayon is gone, because sometimes little things like that can affect the rest of the defense.”

The 31-year-old inside linebacker was added to the roster in August and re-signed to the practice squad a day after being cut in October. He has jumped from the practice squad to the game day roster a handful of times since.

In the Titans’ 30-24 overtime victory on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, Compton replaced Brown shortly before halftime. Compton played 33 defensive snaps from that point on and registered six tackles, which more than doubled his total for the season. He had four stops in his first four appearances.

“It's the next guy up mentality,” outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen, the man who will be communicating with Compton, said. “These guys have to step up. I think you saw that on Sunday. Will Compton went in there and did a lot of good things for us. He was ready to go, ready to play -- the ultimate pro so to speak -- not getting any reps and still being able to go in there and execute at a high level.”

Now in his eighth NFL season, the undrafted product out of Nebraska has played in 84 games with 39 career starts. Compton spent five seasons with Washington, one with the Raiders and now two with the Titans (2018 and 2020). He has 362 career tackles and one sack. He collected a career-high 122 tackles for Washington in 2015, when he started 10 games. In nine contests (four starts) with the Raiders last season, he made 39 tackles.

He came to the Titans in 2018 with a chance to compete for a starting job on defense. Ultimately, though, he served as a role player behind Wesley Woodyard and Brown but led the team with 11 special teams stops.

He now has a bigger opportunity ahead of him.

“I am excited for Will to come up and do his thing,” Evans said. “We’ve been working really hard all week, just communicating with each other on keys and techniques and stuff like that. I am excited for this game.”