Colin McCarthy roster spot may be in question after injury

NASHVILLE — Colin McCarthy’s future with the Tennessee Titans may be in limbo following a shoulder injury in Saturday night’s preseason opener with the Green Bay Packers.

McCarthy suffered a left shoulder injury in the third quarter of the game and was escorted from the field to the locker room.

Asked after the game, Coach Ken Whisenhunt, while not offering specifics on the injury, said McCarthy “probably is going to be out for a while with a shoulder.”

That is not good news for a player who took the Titans by storm as a play-making rookie middle linebacker in 2011 and was Tennessee’s defensive captain in the 2012 season. Also working against McCarthy is his $1.431 million base salary in the final year of his rookie contract — something that might be too big of a number for a backup player.

Since being named captain, McCarthy has seemingly been unable to catch a break — or rather he has had too many of them.

After playing 13 games with seven starts as a rookie, McCarthy struggled through his second year with a high ankle sprain, playing just seven games before going on IR. When he came back last season, he had lost his starting job to free agent Moise Fokou.

Saturday night when McCarthy suffered the injury, he was running with the third team unit and trying to secure a spot on special teams.

The Titans will be careful in their evaluation of the former Miami Hurricanes star. Speaking on McCarthy and backup center Chris Spencer, who suffered an ankle injury, Whisenhunt said the Titans would not be in a hurry to make a decision on either of them.

“They’ve been checked out today, but we’ll know more as the week progresses,” Whisenhunt said.

“We’re not faced with anything like (putting them on injured reserve) right now, so there’s no reason to even talk about that.”


(herald-citizen.com)