Just three days after signing Milo Eifler, the Tennessee Titans have placed the veteran lineback on injured reserve. Immediately replacing Eifler is LB Reid Carrico, who signs with the Titans as an undrafted rookie waived by the Cleveland Browns earlier this month.
Carrico could certainly be joining Tennessee at a more opportune time. After all, he's hopping into rotation just six days before roster cuts are due for the regular season. If he wants to make any kind of lasting impact in Nashville, he'll have to do it fast.
Yet, this is a prospect that Titans fans should be careful not to count out too hastily. Carrico's brief stint with the Browns in camp showed flashes of his defensive ability, and under Robert Saleh, maybe the rookie will be in a better scenario to truly prove what he's made of.
That's not to say that Carrico will trot out with the starters in this coming Saturday's preseason bout with the Chicago Bears , but the tools are here for a player that could contribute in time. It wasn't even a full month ago that Carrico came down with a pick in one of Cleveland's practices.
Cleveland ultimately waived the first-year defender, sure, but this is also a matter of time and place. Whether or not Carrico is meant to play a somewhat serious role in Tennessee is irrelevant to the fact that he potentially could.
Looking back at his metrics in college shines a little more light on the Titans' newest addition.
In his final year with the West Virginia Mountaineers, Carrico logged a career-high 4.5 sacks and 69 total tackles. A former four-star recruit who began his career with the Ohio State Buckeyes back in 2021, it took Carrico transferring away from that prestigious program to get a real shot at playing time.
It didn't take long after that for the spry, 6'2" linebacker to make an impact in the Big 12 conference. Given a few more productive years in the NCAA, we may have been looking at a different draft profile for Carrico entirely. Still, his development tract remains alive in the NFL.
The Titans are the newest team to lay the groundwork for him to keep building on that. Carrico isn't at all a likely candidate to make the 53-man roster, but he's the ideal sort of player to keep around on the practice squad.
If the rookie gets his chance against the Bears this week, few players would be more hungry than the guy trying to make sure he doesn't get waived twice in the same month. Keep an eye on this one, Titans fans.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/titans/onsi as Titans Sign Rookie LB Reid Carrico: More Potential Than You Might Think .
