NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans right tackle JC Latham landed on the physically unable to perform list six days before training camp opens. It is a less-than-ideal beginning to the most consequential season of his young NFL career. 

Latham enters 2026 with as much to prove as anyone on Tennessee’s roster.

Titans safety Amani Hooker also joined Latham on PUP. Neither situation is expected to be a long-term concern, but for Latham specifically, the timing matters. The PUP designation is not a five-alarm situation. 

Both players can come off the list at any point during camp. Both appeared sparingly during the offseason program when the issues are said to have surfaced.

Latham’s extension-eligible year carries real weight

 

This is not technically a contract year for the former 7th overall pick.

At the end of this season he becomes extension eligible. Left guard Peter Skoronski, who is also awaiting a substantial payday, serves as the ideal trajectory. Skoronski, the 11th overall pick in his own draft class, could command something in the neighborhood of $20 million per year.

The problem is that Latham has not yet lived up to his draft billing.

He has shown flashes of good play, stretches of bad play, and too many penalties. A hip injury cost him time last season. You can argue that Tennessee’s offensive line situation has been such a nightmare over the past six years, dating back to Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan’s first knee injury in 2020, that fans have a low bar for what constitutes a reliable starter. As the seventh overall pick in the draft, however, “serviceable” for Latham is not sufficient.

Skoronski, by contrast, is objectively good.

 He might be great. He was largely available for the Titans last year and will cash in on that availability at some point.  Latham needs to follow that model, and missing the opening of camp does not help.

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Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.