Jon Robinson: Tennessee Titans 'counting' on CB Caleb Farley making big impact in Year 2
The Tennessee Titans will be “counting” on cornerback Caleb Farley to have a big impact in 2022, general manager Jon Robinson said.
Farley, the 22nd pick in the NFL draft last April, was limited to three games as a rookie after suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 6 against the Bills. The former Virginia Tech star entered the NFL with back concerns, which slowed his start to training camp. He also battled shoulder issues that kept him out of three games.
“This will be a big offseason for him,” Robinson told The Tennessean at the Senior Bowl last week. “He’s working hard, rehabbing. He knows what he needs to do. It’s been told to him what he needs to do. And he’s a hard worker. Caleb is a great guy. But he needs to do everything that he can – in his power – to make sure that he’s healed, stable, in shape.
“We’re going to be counting on him. We drafted the guy for a reason. I’d say he was a pretty highly regarded prospect. He was an easy guy to evaluate off of the film. Just watching the player move around, what he was capable of.”
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Farley should be in the mix to start at outside cornerback next season alongside Kristian Fulton, who became a full-time starter in 2021 after an injury-riddled rookie season. But the Titans also have 33-year-old veteran Jackrabbit Jenkins, who’s due $6 million in base salary in 2022. Jenkins started 13 of 14 appearances for Tennessee this season. The team could save $6.911 million against the cap by releasing him before June 1, according to the website Over The Cap, which tracks NFL salary information.
While the pass rush was drastically improved this season, cornerback play was inconsistent. The Titans ranked 25th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game.
“I think overall, it was a group that improved,” Robinson said. “I thought Kristian Fulton improved as a whole on the season. Again, everybody wants to micro-evaluate (and) look at everything through the lens of the Bengals game. I don’t think we had our best game tackling at that position group. We’ve made a lot of plays, though. Elijah Molden has made plays for us in the slot. Certainly, K.B (Kevin Byard). (Amani) Hooker played an outstanding game in the Bengals game. I feel like we have some good youth at that position group with Farley, Fulton, Molden. We have some veteran guys too.
“You can’t have enough guys that can cover and enough guys that can rush the passer. Those are the two things that are really important, especially on third down.”
Ben Arthur covers the Tennessee Titans for The USA TODAY Network. Contact him at barthur@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @benyarthur.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans counting on Caleb Farley making big impact in Year 2
