10/15 injury report: Julio Jones practices for third day in a row

The Titans’ Friday injury report for Week 6 has arrived with a mixture of good and bad news.

As John Glennon points out above, tomorrow (Saturday 10/16) is a day worth monitoring with it being a Monday night game.

Starting with the good news, wide receivers A.J. Brown and Julio Jones were full participants. It certainly appears as if the Titans will have their top two receivers available for the first time since Week 2 at Seattle (Brown exited Week 3 after playing less than 10 snaps). It’s an excellent omen for an offense that will likely need to score points in bunches if they hope to make this a closely-contested game. Brown did make some interesting comments regarding his expected snap count over the next few weeks. Brown will play on Monday in some capacity barring an unforeseen setback.

Elsewhere, rookie cornerback Caleb Farley returned to practice after dealing with an “illness” throughout the week. Farley played a season-high 22 snaps against the Jaguars a week ago and had his good and bad moments. Don’t look now, but the rookie cover-man could be in line for a start with Kristian Fulton continuing to miss practice with the ever-so haunting hamstring injury. Fulton appears to be trending in the wrong direction at this point. His absence would leave a massive hole in a Tennessee secondary that is preparing for a huge challenge against Josh Allen and his high-flying group of pass-catchers. Should Fulton indeed miss the game, it would mean more snaps for Farley and Breon Borders on the outside. Borders has been the preferred player in that scenario in recent weeks, but this is starting to smell like Farley’s “welcome to the NFL” game.

Outside linebacker Bud Dupree was downgraded to “Did Not Practice” after being a full participant a day ago. It leaves his Monday status in doubt. Dupree continues to recover from last year’s ACL injury.

Switching back over to the good news, starting left guard Rodger Saffold was a limited participant after missing practice on Thursday. The Bills have an excellent defensive front, and the Titans will need all hands on their deck if they’re to handle Buffalo’s front four. Saffold’s participation would mean even more given that his backup Aaron Brewer is currently on injured reserve. Corey Levin would likely get the start should Saffold have to miss this contest, but it appears as if Saffold will try to play through his shoulder injury.

Defensive lineman Teair Tart returned to practice after missing Thursday. He should be in line for his usual workload. Taylor Lewan was upgraded to “full” after being limited a day ago. Rookie linebacker Monty Rice missed practice for the second consecutive day and is unlikely to feature. Running back Jeremy McNichols missed practice. Could sophomore ball-carrier Darrynton Evans make his 2021 regular season debut? It would make sense.

We’ll have to check back on Monday night for the inactive lists for both teams for a final update.