Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Tennessee Titans need to find a competent punt returner. We've already seen this movie with Kyle Philips, but here are again.
Tennessee drafted WR Jha'Quan Jackson out of Tulane in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft with plans to designate him as the team's return specialist. Given the importance of reliably fielding punts and the new NFL kickoff rules putting returners in high demand, GM Ran Carthon and the Titans coaching staff deemed Jackson's skillset worthy of a draft pick.
But things have not really worked out like the Titans would have hoped. Not only has Jackson failed to generate any explosive returns, he has made some questionable decisions fielding the ball and fumbled five times in the role.
Jackson gets replaced
On Sunday against the Washington Commanders, Jackson fumbled a kick return that contributed to Tennessee's early 28-point deficit. After fumbling in Washington, the Titans replaced Jackson as kick returner with Julius Chestnut and Tyjae Spears, but he maintained his job as the punt returner. As Titans head coach Brian Callahan told the media on Monday, capable punt returners are hard to come by.
"Catching punts is challenging, and then catching punts with a live coverage coming at you is a whole another piece of the game. There's also a mentality that most returners have to have because those guys are—those are big collisions, there's a bit of fearlessness and it's just not for everybody," said Callahan. "Just because a guy's good with the ball in his hand doesn't mean he can field the punts, judge the punts and then still be able to transition and get vertical at field full speed versus a full speed cover. It is a skill."
It makes sense why the Titans did not want to make a sudden change in the middle of the game at such a difficult position. But moving forward, it's irresponsible to have Jackson returning punts. He cannot be trusted to hang on to the ball.
According to Callahan, Tennessee is exploring every option to fix the problem. That could even mean adding a player in free agency. "It's all on the table," he said. Ronnie Bell and Richie James come to mind as two experienced returners currently available in free agency. Internally, the Titans have Mason Kinsey on the practice squad.
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"Mason [Kinsey] is an option. Obviously, he's done it before. I've not seen—I mean, I've seen him doing training camp, but he's played in games, so yeah, he's certainly an option. And then we'll look at all of them," said Callahan.
Kinsey returned 11 punts for the Titans in 2023 and never fumbled with an average of 9.1 yards per return. For reference, Jackson is at 7.7 yards per punt return this season. I think Kinsey is the early favorite to receive a promotion to the active roster and handle punt return duties against the Jaguars, but that doesn't mean it's a long-term fix.
I really need to see some action to back up these words form the Titans head coach this week. If it's Kinsey, it's Kinsey. I'm totally fine with that. But if Jha'Quan Jackson is given another chance this week, it's another indictment on a coaching staff that has been playing with fire all season. Tennessee cannot reward incompetence with opportunity.
