Titans make final cuts

The Titans, like all NFL teams had to get down to 53 players, and like all other NFL teams, some of the players that were cut were a surprise, others not at all. Two that are head-scratchers are Calvin Lowry and Roydell Williams. Lowry was not one of Fisher's favorites last season, Fisher wanted to keep LaMont Thompson instead of Lowry but Thompson played so bad in the preseason, the Titans had no choice but to cut Thompson. Last season Lowry was handed the free safety job at the start of last season and held the job for six games before giving way to rookie Michael Griffin. Griffin is clearly the better free safety than Lowry but Lowry contributed in several other areas. Later, when Chris Hope suffered a season-ending injury, Lowry re-entered the starting lineup at strong safety and made five starts. Lowry was also an excellent special-teamer, all of which makes his release puzzling, especially since the Titans now have four running backs, none of which are particularly good on special teams. After he was cut by the Titans, the Broncos signed Lowry. Lowry will probably never be an All-Pro but he's a bigger help to your team than another running back who will be inactive on most game days because he can't contribute in any way other than a running back.

The player the Titans may have to really worry about releasing is Roydell Williams. Not necessarily because he's a great player but because he plans to file an injury grievance against the Titans.
According to Terry McCormick of The City Paper:
"One of the agents for recently released wide receiver Roydell Williams may pursue a grievance through the NFL Players Association against the Tennessee Titans saying he was improperly released because of his ankle injury.“We’re going to get Roydell a second opinion on his ankle this week,” agent Rick Roberts said. “Common sense tells you he was hurt and he that wasn’t ready to play. You guys [media] saw that, and we saw that.“He was getting shots in his ankle and pushed back onto the playing field and at the end of it, they just gave him a high five, said he did his best, but just couldn’t do it. Luckily for us, that’s not the way the NFL works.”

Roberts said he has already spoken to the NFL Players Association and will view the results of the second opinion on Williams’ ankle before he and his partner Jeffrey Guerrerio decide exactly what course of action to take.Roberts is of the opinion that Williams should have never been removed from the PUP list in the first place until the ankle was 100 percent.“They rushed him back and then at last second he gets released without the injury healing, him being given a physical or anything. That’s not right for our client,” Roberts said. “In most situations, you put a guy on PUP and get him back healthy. I don’t feel like that’s what Roydell was given.”

Asked if he was worried that filing a grievance might make it harder for Williams, a three-year veteran, to get back on an NFL roster once he is healthy, Roberts said it was not a concern at the present.“We know Roydell is not close to 100 percent. … We’re going to do what’s best for Roydell,” Roberts said. “That’s not really our concern. We know that Roydell Williams at 100 percent can play for any team in the NFL. And he could be a starting receiver for a lot of teams. But Roydell at 65 or 70 percent is not good enough to play for anybody. Roydell knows that.”Williams cleared waivers on Sunday, and Roberts said no team would likely sign him in his present condition.“It’s like when I told the Titans spokesman yesterday, if Roydell came to their team in the condition he’s in right now, they wouldn’t sign him,” Roberts said.

When NFL players are released, they are given an exit physical and asked to sign a release which states the player is healthy. Roberts said Williams got no physical, and did not sign anything. That, according to one prominent NFL agent, allows Williams to get a second opinion from a neutral physician.“If he comes off PUP, and he has re-aggravated it or done anything, whether he’s pulled a hamstring, messed up his shoulder and if they release him, the team wants the player to sign [the release], and the player does not sign, you can go for a second opinion from a neutral doctor, you have the leverage as a player,” the agent, who asked not to be identified, said. “It happens a lot. If they released him injured, all they have to do is file a grievance. And once they file a grievance, that full amount of money goes against the team’s cap until it is resolved.”Williams had a base salary of around $520,000 and with bonuses and prorated money would have counted around $1 million against Tennessee’s cap this season."

Williams, like Lowry, probably wasn't going to the Pro Bowl in February but he has to better than a couple of stiffs they did keep like Chris "damn that football is hard to hold onto" Davis and Paul "I promise to catch the next one VY" Williams. If the Titans are setrious about improving the weapons surrounding VY, letting Williams go seems like an awfully strange way to show it. The knock on Williams is that he's a guy who has to be 100% before he'll play and the Titans must be worried that he won't contribute. Mike Heimerdinger also only rotates 3-4 WR a game unlike Norm Chow who rotated all 6 or 7. That means Justin Gage, Justin McCairens and either Brandon Jones or LaVelle Hawkins as 3 and 4. There are rumors that the Titans would look at Glenn Martinez who was cut by the Broncos. Martinez caught 14 passes for 175 last season but he was a good punt returner, he had an 80-yard TD against the Titans, and Heimerdinger is familar with him, coaching him in Denver last season.
That stable of WRs should have defensive coordinators across the NFL staying up even later worrying about which WR they have to shut down.