JC Latham reveals his own injury status for Titans vs Rams, Cam Ward to face second ferocious pass rush with concerning OL setup

The Tennessee Titans host the Los Angeles Rams in their home opener at Nissan Stadium this weekend, and tens of thousands of Tennesseans are flocking to downtown Nashville to witness the beginning of the Cam Ward era with their own eyes. After a messy 20-12 road loss to begin the 2025 season, the Titans are hoping their home crowd can help them stave off an 0-2 start.

Coach Brian Callahan is already in hot water with many fans after a disappointing first game, and he’s up against the natural amplification of the blame-o-meter that occurs whenever a team drafts a big-time quarterback. Now, in their first home game, he has the unsavory task of keeping the young signal caller upright without the best offensive tackle on the team.

Right Tackle JC Latham Announces His Injury Status Early

Second-year starting tackle JC Latham hurt his hip on the first day of joint practices against Atlanta in mid-August. He ended up missing multiple training camp practices because of it, but got himself to a place where he felt good going into Week 1.

“It happened that first day in the Atlanta practice,” Latham explained at his locker on Thursday. “Didn’t really know about it. You know, you try to kind of power through everything. So yeah, it just made it worse. I thought I was good to go by the game. I felt amazing when the game came, and then a couple plays in, things started to happen, so it’s pretty frustrating.”

We asked him if this was a pain tolerance injury, to which he responded, “No, it’s a strain, so you really can’t do anything. I mean, you take all the treatment and all the medication that you’re allowed to take to make it get better and reduce inflammation. But that’s pretty much it, though.” He also explained that this isn’t a lateral movement issue that makes playing tackle a uniquely challenging task.  “It’s like extending and contracting (the muscle). So whenever you do anything of that nature, it’s gonna be, it’s one of those type of things.”

Our last real question was about how his week changes when he’s not able to practice: “So I try to get as much film this week as I got last week. I’m taking the same approach. Our coach has us do an intricate film book study guide that we try to do all the time.” That’s when he started to let on that he might not be prepping to play in this weekend’s game. “And so I still try to get as much of that filled in as I can as if I’m actually playing, eat right, make sure my weight’s where it’s supposed to be at, lifting, everything like that. The only thing that I’m not doing is just playing. So everything else stays the same.”

Wait, did he mean not playing in practice? Or not playing in the game? That’s what we were all wondering. So the kind of hail-mary follow-up that typically leads nowhere was lobbed out there: so does that mean you aren’t playing this week?

“Yeah.”

Titans Face Brutal Rams Front Without Latham

When the Titans’ schedule came out in May, it was already quite bad that the Titans would face three arguably top-five pass rushes in the first month of the season. The only way that could’ve gotten worse was if the Titans lost any linemen, particularly a tackle. And less than one full game into the season, that’s the scary reality they’re dealing with.

In Week 1 against the Broncos, Latham left the game late in the third quarter. Swing tackle Oli Udoh came into the game and immediately allowed a sack on his first snap. He played 12 snaps of offense in total and allowed a QB hit in addition to the sack.

The Rams come to town with the reigning Defensive Rookie Of The Year, Jared Verse, ready to come screaming off the edge, likely to eat the lunch of whoever he’ll face. This is on top of the Rams potentially having to play without one or both of their starting guards against Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat. Needless to say, both starting quarterbacks could be in serious danger this weekend.