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Titans Still Searching for Right Combination at Cornerback
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- Titans Still Searching for Right Combination at Cornerback
(Steve Roberts-Imagn Images)
The cornerback room for the Tennessee Titans has been under close watch lately.
It all started when the team decided to bench Alontae Taylor in Week 6, who is being paid $58 million over the next three years.
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Robert Saleh confirmed that the decision was made to give Taylor a chance to reset. Taylor was active for Week 7 against the Cleveland Browns, but didn't see the field .
The Titans have stated that they are trying to find more ways to put Taylor on the field. The natural choice is to put him at slot corner, but the problem is that Marcus Harris has been playing there all season and has looked good.
The team used Joshua Williams on the outside in Taylor's place. Tennessee is an interesting situation at cornerback.
For Saleh, he shared that the challenge is finding the right combination of cornerbacks.
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"You know, the challenge right now for us is to try to find the best combination," Saleh said. "The best three guys to go play football for us. Two corners. Nickel. Do we use dime more? Nickel more? Do we go five DB? 70? Seven DBs? I mean, we're looking at every option to try to make sure that we're putting our best players on the field. And that'll continue, even with Jeff being gone. I mean, you might see a three-man lineman package. You never know."
The Titans went through something like this at linebacker earlier in the year.
Cedric Gray suffered a concussion in a UTV accident before the season opener. This gave Anthony Hill Jr. a chance to prove himself, and he made the most of his opportunity. He led the team with 16 total tackles in the season opener.
Hill has stayed in the starting lineup, leaving less playing time for Gray. Gray has slowly worked his way back into the rotation.
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For a little bit, there were questions about who the starting linebackers would be for the Titans each and every week.
The Titans are trying to achieve the same thing with the cornerbacks. Taylor has this a tough decision for the Titans.
Taylor's specialty was playing nickel at the New Orleans Saints. This will be something to watch for the Titans over the next few weeks as they try to figure out the right players to start at cornerback.
Tennessee will need to make sure it plays the right cornerbacks on Sunday. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins pose a unique threat at the Cincinnati Bengals.
If you choose to focus on one of them, the other is sure to get open more often. It's going to be risk vs. reward for the Titans secondary.
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The Titans come into the game allowing the 10th-most passing yards per game (245.7).
The team can't afford to continue testing things out with the cornerbacks. There needs to a quick solution to this problem. We'll have to wait and see if the Titans can find the right combination in the cornerback room going forward.
Sunday's game kicks off at noon CT on CBS.
