NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans got a jump on the NFL trade deadline by starting to stock up Wednesday on draft picks with a pair of trades. More moves are likely for a franchise mired in a 1-5 start that is the Titans' worst since 2015 that cost Ken Whisenhunt his job after going 1-6 to open his second season.
Tennessee could reach 1-6 Sunday after a game at Detroit (5-1). Coach Brian Callahan couldn't address the moves, which weren't finalized when he talked with reporters midday. He called such moves the reality of the NFL business and made clear this isn't what the Titans expected after being among the league's biggest spenders in free agency.
“That’s part of our life in the league," Callahan said. "And when you get to these juncture points in the season and things like this happen. I mean, it’s usually because you’re in the spot we’re in.
” The Titans traded three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Kansas City early Wednesday. Tennessee reportedly will be paying some of Hopkins' salary with the conditional fifth-round selection becoming a fourth if the Chiefs make the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six seasons. Then they traded their second-leading tackler in linebacker Ernest Jones Jr.
to Seattle for linebacker Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick. That ended a short stay in Tennessee for Jones, who was traded by the Rams to the Titans in late August and is in the final year of his rookie contract. Jones led the Rams in tackles las.
