What Mike Vrabel said about potential replacements for Titans CB Kristian Fulton
NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has not held back when reflecting upon the recent performance of Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton. When asked after the game in Indianapolis, Vrabel said he gave some thought to pulling Fulton altogether. The 25-year-old corner gave up multiple explosive plays and was flagged for defensive pass interference […]
NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has not held back when reflecting upon the recent performance of Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton.
When asked after the game in Indianapolis, Vrabel said he gave some thought to pulling Fulton altogether. The 25-year-old corner gave up multiple explosive plays and was flagged for defensive pass interference twice on Sunday.
If this was a one time thing, you could chalk it up as a bad day and move on. But poor technique and discipline has been a recurring theme for Fulton on the 2023 season, and it's got Titans fans (and coaches) looking at replacing him.
"I don't know. We'll see," said Vrabel when asked if Fulton's recent mistakes are correctable. "They better be correctable quickly. Would hope that we wouldn't be having these conversations about putting our eyes in the backfield and grabbing guys down the field when we're in phase. I think those are just things that we have to be able to understand you're in a phase there's no reason to grab a guy."
Vrabel was later asked about how he handles a player like Fulton, who has ability but is not producing results. "At some point in time, this is professional sports," said Vrabel.
You don't have to be a savant to realize the Titans need to consider sitting Fulton on the bench. But anyone making a case for Fulton to be replaced should probably also be aware of options behind him on the depth chart.
The next two guys up in the cornerback room would probably be Tre Avery (a second-year corner who played 14 games fro the Titans last season) and Kindle Vildor (made 22 starts for the Chicago Bears from 2020-2022).
Another alternative would be moving Elijah Molden back into the slot, rotating Matthew Jackson, Shyheim Carter, Dane Cruikshank into the safety rotation more frequently, and pushing Roger McCreary outside.
Are any of those options better than Fulton? I can't say for sure, but Mike Vrabel made it clear during Monday's press conference that he has confidence in Tennessee's depth.
"Sure. Yeah, that's why everybody's here and that's something that could happen," said Vrabel when asked if he feels good about the younger guys behind Fulton on the depth chart. "We'll see where things go here the rest of the day in our meetings and as we work towards Baltimore."
The Titans are clearly still considering making a move in the secondary. And who can blame them? At this point, you have to find an answer and a way to limit explosive pass plays. Fulton hasn't been that guy, maybe somebody else will.
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