Video: Inside linebackers coach Tyrone McKenzie addresses Wesley Woodyard's new role

Veteran linebacker now a backup after five seasons as a Titans starter

There is little that Wesley Woodyard has not seen or done in his NFL career, which is now in its 12year.

It has been a while, though, since the veteran inside linebacker has been a backup. Yet that is exactly the role in which he finds himself as the Tennessee Titans prepare for Sunday’s season-opener at Cleveland (noon, CDT).

Rashaan Evans, the Titans’ 2018 first-round pick, has taken Woodyard’s spot next to Jayon Brown, a fifth-round pick in 2017. Those two are now the starting inside linebackers with Woodyard as the top reserve.

Since he signed with Tennessee as a free agent in 2014, Woodyard, now 33 years old, has appeared in 78 games and has started 68 of them, including all 30 he played over the past two seasons. He has finished as the team’s leading tackler three times (2014, 2017 and 2018) and his 172 stops (104 solo, 68 assisted) in 2017 were the most by a member of the Titans defense since Keith Bulluck had 180 in 2002.

Inside linebacker coach Tyrone McKenzie addressed Woodyard’s new role Monday and said – in a way – nothing has changed.