CBS Sports: Titans’ sensational star ruled out for rest of the season due to serious injury.
Chidobe Awuzie, the starting safety for the Tennessee Titans, has been placed on injured reserve.
Awuzie was placed on the injured reserve on Friday, as head coach Brian Callahan of the Titans had stated earlier in the week.
After the team’s Week 9 game against the New England Patriots, Awuzie will be eligible to play again. He will miss the team’s next four games. This season, the Titans get an early bye week in Week 5. The Miami Dolphins, the Indianapolis Colts, the Buffalo Bills, and the Detroit Lions are Teenesee’s next four opponents. The Miami Dolphins play this Monday night.
Linebacker Luke Gifford has been signed by the Titans to take the 53-man roster spot. During the season’s first three games, he was temporarily elevated and saw action on special teams. McTelvin Agim, a defensive lineman, has also been added by the Titans to the practice squad. This season, through three games, Awuzie has racked up four combo tackles, three of which have come from solo tackles, and one assist. Having played with the Cincinnati Bengals for the previous three seasons, this is his first season with the Titans.
He amassed 156 total tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions that he recovered for 42 yards, two forced fumbles, and one fumbled recovery in 37 games with 32 starts over his three seasons in Cincinnati. Awuzie and the Bengals agreed on a one-year contract. In Super Bowl 56, early in the third quarter, he intercepted Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford for the first time in his career. Awuzie has previously been placed on the injured reserve. In 2022, he sustained an ACL tear that ended his season. He participated in eight games that year, recording 29 tackles and five passes defended.
Awuzie had two tackles for loss and 57 total tackles in his final season with the Bengals. The Dallas Cowboys selected him with the 60th overall pick in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft, before he joined the Bengals and Titans. The first four years of Awuzie’s career were spent in Dallas. After being selected twice for the second team All-Pac-12, he was drafted out of the University of Colorado. Currently rated ninth in opponent pass play percentage, second in opponent completion percentage, fourth in opponent yards per pass, and third in opponent passing yards per game, the Titans will be missing Awuzie’s presence.
