NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans have been a disaster on special teams all season long. From the punt blocking to the kick coverage, the Titans have deemed their special teams performance "unacceptable" more often that not throughout the 2024 season. 

Specials teams coordinator Colt Anderson has rightfully been under fire. The fanbase is ready for the organization to move on. But according to Anderson and head coach Brian Callahan, the Titans are happy with the direction things are going thanks to two players on the punt unit. 

Cornerbacks Tre Avery and Justin Hardee have excelled at gunner. In Week 10, Tennessee's net punt yardage (50.0) was the second-best mark in Titans franchise history. That's a step in the right direction, even if it's marginal. 

"First and foremost, I thought our two gunners Hardee and Avery both were fantastic in coverage this week, which was really good to see. Hardee forced a penalty. We forced fair catches. We covered really well. That was good to see from that unit," said Callahan during his opening statement of Monday's press conference. "We felt Tre's [Avery] speed back out there and Hardee's played really well. And I think it was the second-highest net now in history of the Titans. So that's a positive start there for us and trying to get our punt coverage locked down. So that was really good. I thought those guys did a nice job, I thought Stoney [Ryan Stonehouse] punted well."

Anderson reiterated the importance of forcing penalties on the opponent when I asked about his gunners on Thursday. He went as far as to say that forcing penalties is better than making tackles. Hardee did that twice on Sunday against the Chargers.

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Avery is former undrafted free agent out of Rutgers that has been with the Titans since 2022. Out of his 34 career games played, Avery has made five starts at cornerback and played 652 defensive snaps. 

He was dropped down the depth chart in 2024 with the additions of L'Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie, and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. among others. Avery was actually cut before the regular season and signed back to the Titans practice squad, but now appears to have carved out a role for himself at gunner and earned a place back on the 53-man roster. 

Hardee played his college football at Illinois and is another former undrafted free agent. He's now in his eighth NFL season and made the Pro Bowl on special teams with the New York Jets in 2022.

After being cut by both the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers this season, Hardee now has a new home in Nashville. The coaching staff was really excited about what he could bring to the table on special teams, and he seems to be living up to the hype. 

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