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Lewan Sustains Season-Ending Knee Injury

Titans lose their starting left tackle ahead of a game against Pittsburgh, which leads the NFL in sacks.

David Boclair

NASHVILLE – Taylor Lewan won’t have to deal with any more injuries this season.

The last one will last him well into the offseason.

The Tennessee Titans left tackle announced via Twitter on Monday that he sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The injury will require reconstructive surgery that will cause him to miss the remainder of the season.

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” he wrote. “I’m going to handle this rehab like a Pro [sic] and come back better than ever.”

Lewan was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon.

It is the most significant injury in the career of the three-time Pro Bowler and 2014 first-round pick (11th overall). He missed five games during his rookie season with a high ankle sprain. Over the next five years, he was sidelined just two games because of injuries, both concussions (Week 17 of 2015 and Week 2 of 2018).

It is hardly his first injury this season, though. An issue with his right knee knocked him out for 11 plays in the season opener against Denver. Issues with each shoulder limited him to 18 plays in Week 3 against Minnesota and 44 (of 66) offensive snaps in Week 6 against Buffalo.

Lewan played 45 snaps against the Texans before he was injured in the third quarter.

"Disappointed for Taylor," coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. "He works extremely hard. We're confident that he'll be back."

Free agent Ty Sambrailo has filled in for Lewan each time he has been injured this season. A second-round pick by Denver in 2015, Sambrailo has played 62 games with 13 starts in his career, which includes time spent with the Broncos and Atlanta as well as Tennessee.

He has not started at left tackle since his rookie year.

Dennis Kelly filled in at that spot for the first four games of 2019 when Lewan served a suspension for violation of the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Kelly has been the starter at right tackle for every game this season.

If coaches believe Isaiah Wilson, the Titans’ first-round pick in this year’s draft, is ready to play, Kelly could move to the left side and Wilson could take his spot on the right. Wilson, however, has yet to make his NFL debut after having spent the first four weeks of the regular season on Tennessee’s COVID-19 reserve list. Wilson also missed time during training camp.

"How we try to operate is we'll get the next guy in there," Vrabel said. "We'll see what's best for the team and try to move forward with the next guy in there. (Sambrailo) has played a bunch in that backup role here in the first five games."

The Titans (5-0) face the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-0) on Sunday at Nissan Stadium in a game that will determine the AFC’s last undefeated team. Pittsburgh leads the NFL with 24 sacks.

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David Boclair
DAVID BOCLAIR

David Boclair has covered the Tennessee Titans for multiple news outlets since 1998. He is award-winning journalist who has covered a wide range of topics in Middle Tennessee as well as Dallas-Fort Worth, where he worked for three different newspapers from 1987-96. As a student journalist at Southern Methodist University he covered the NCAA's decision to impose the so-called death penalty on the school's football program.

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