Titans Clips
The Titans will have eight open training camp practices this summer, the team announced Tuesday.
Seven will take place at Vanderbilt Health Football Center. The other open practice to fans is the Blue & White Stadium Scrimmage at Nissan Stadium on Friday, Aug. 7.
All open practices are free to attend, with tickets claimed online.
Tickets to the Blue & White Stadium Scrimmage are available now at TennesseeTitans.com/TrainingCamp.
The team’s open practices at the Vanderbilt Health Football Center are Saturday, Aug. 1, Monday, Aug. 3, Tuesday, Aug. 4, Sunday, Aug. 9, Monday, Aug. 17, Friday, Aug. 21 (joint practice with Seattle) and Thursday, Aug. 27 (joint practice with Chicago).
A limited number of tickets will be available online for open practices at Vanderbilt Health Football Center on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Wednesday, July 15, at 10 a.m. CT.
Former Titans linebacker Tim Shaw, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2014, was teammates with running back Chris Johnson for three seasons. Johnson revealed on Good Morning America on Monday that he, too, has ALS.
Johnson now communicates with a speed-generating machine.
“I’ve got to brag on him,” Shaw told Paul Kuharsky of paulkuharsky.com by text. “He’s actually injected some hope in me. I’ve been in this fight for 12 years. Like anything else, you get into your routines and beliefs. His great attitude and excitement about treatments have shaken me out of survival mode, and I actually got a couple of treatments two weeks ago, and I’ve joined two clinical trials. So I don’t know if I’ve done anything for him, but he’s done a lot for me.”
Johnson joins Shaw, Steve Gleason, Tim Green and OJ Brigance as former NFL players pushing for ALS research and awareness.
“I’m very proud of CJ,” Shaw said. “Telling the world is super tough, especially when you’re a private person. Chris and I have been talking for a while. He’s got such a great attitude. He’s got all the motivation of his family, and he has faith in God for his future. So he’s crushing it.”
In 2021, a study of all “19,423 NFL athletes who debuted between 1960 and 2019 and played one or more professional game” resulted in a finding that the risks of developing ALS “were nearly four times as high as those of the general population.”
The murder case against former Titans scout Blaise Taylor continues.
On Tuesday, Taylor decided not to testify in his own defense.
It’s not a surprising decision. Most criminal defendants choose not to waive the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Doing so opens the door for an aggressive cross-examination that could help the prosecution more easily prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
As a practical matter, it’s a no-win situation for the defendant. Even though the judge tells the jury not to hold the decision not to testify against the defendant, it’s hard for many jurors to not conclude that, if the defendant was innocent, the defendant would get on the witness stand and say so.
Taylor allegedly poisoned his pregnant girlfriend by lacing pink lemonade with a lethal amount of cocaine. Both Jade Benning and her child died.
The case, now in its seventh day, is moving toward a conclusion. Closing arguments will precede the jury’s deliberations.
Taylor, who worked for the Titans from 2021 through 2023, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In choosing to go public with his ALS diagnosis, former NFL running back Chris Johnson chose not to focus on the link between the disease and football.
At one level, it didn’t really need to be mentioned. The connection has been established. For example, ALS is one of the specific conditions (along with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, early and moderate dementia, and certain cases of CTE diagnoses after death) that automatically qualified retired players (as of July 7, 2014) for no-questions-asked compensation from the NFL’s unlimited concussion settlement fund. And, in 2021, a study of all “19,423 NFL athletes who debuted between 1960 and 2019 and played 1 or more professional game” resulted in a finding that the risks of developing ALS “were nearly 4 times as high as those of the general population.”
At another level, it was more than a bit awkward that the segment on Good Morning America didn’t mention the ties between ALS and football, either during or after the Johnson interview was televised.
It came close, a couple of times. Johnson’s wife, Brittany, explained that she believed his initial symptoms (weakness in his right hand) may have been the result of a pinched nerve from playing football. And Michael Strahan’s narration of the piece addressed the belief that Johnson has a case of “sporadic ALS,” which happens with no family history of the illness. Given that, as Strahan said, 90 percent of all ALS cases are sporadic and basically random, the connection to football makes it not quite as random as it would be for someone who didn’t play.
Via Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing, Jeff Pearlman teed off on the failure to mention the link between ALS and football. (Here’s Pearlman’s full video.)
It absolutely needs to be mentioned. In our initial post regarding Johnson’s diagnosis, I focused solely on the fact that Johnson is suffering from a condition that has robbed him of his physical faculties. But, yes, the link needs to be mentioned. It needs to be known, by anyone and everyone who chooses to play, or to let their children play.
In his recent appearance on the Stick To Football, Tom Brady tiptoed around the topic of head injuries.
“It’s not my favorite thing to talk about,” Brady said. “I think that, like, part of what you sign up for as an athlete is, you’re willing to take more risks than what other people are willing to take.”
He’s right; they are. But the full range of risks should be known by everyone who signs up to play, at any and every level.
Yes, while playing a game you may suffer concussions — along with all sorts of other injuries, from torn ligaments to broken bones to a ruptured spleen to a serious neck injury causing permanent paralysis or death. It’s also important to realize that the accumulation of concussions and subconcussive blows to the head could cause long-term health issues, like ALS, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and/or dementia.
The existential threat to the game arising from the possible restriction of the flow of young players who, over time, will hone the best of the best into NFL-caliber athletes is real, but largely unspoken. While enough young men will continue to choose to play football (and will be permitted to do so by their parents), the quality of the athletes who make it to the highest level of the sport could diminish, over time, if the broader pool of players shrinks.
It doesn’t mean other sports are risk-free. If you’ve been watching the World Cup, you’ve seen a constant stream of subconcussive blows to the head (or possibly undiagnosed concussions), every time a player uses his skull to contact the ball. Beyond that, players’ heads are struck by elbows and knees and cleats and other heads.
Hockey, rugby, basketball, and baseball are also physical in their own ways, with an ever-present risk for head trauma. And combat sports like the UFC feature a stunning level of brutality, with fighters often taking repeated devastating blows to the head until the referee can literally dive between the participants to end it.
People will always choose to take risks in order to participate in the sports they enjoy. And many believe the benefits of participation in sports that entail the risk of brain injury outweigh the risks. Still, the risks should be acknowledged.
For the feature that disclosed Johnson’s fight with ALS, it wasn’t even a footnote.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
As it turns out, Dianna Russini didn’t FaceTime an NFL head coach for help in getting out of a ticket for texting while driving.
She claimed she did during a February segment with the Stugotz and Company radio show. Her anecdote was mentioned at the outset of last week’s lengthy article in the New York Times, her former employer.
The bodycam video of the Dianna Russini traffic stop has now been posted by Adam Herbets of the Center Square.
The seven minute, 10 second video includes the entire traffic stop. At no point does it include a FaceTime call to any head coach.
After the officer approaches her car, Russini says, “I’m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills. And that I what I was just sending to send [sic], a tweet. I was gonna pull over, because I have to make calls. I know you don’t care, but I just wanted you to know my reason why.”
The officer says, “Obviously you were on your phone for a while. . . . I understand you’ve got a job.”
Then, Russini says, “You know who I was on the phone with? Brian Daboll. He wants the job.”
Next, she asks the officer if he’s a fan of the Giants or Jets.
“I’m actually — I’m not a fan of either,” the officer says.
“What is your team?” Russini replies.
“I’m a Vikings fan, unfortunately,” he said.
Russini then shows him her phone, and a text exchange with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. But she didn’t FaceTime O’Connell. She simply showed the officer her phone.
She also added, regarding the Vikings, their “quarterback sucks.”
After going to his vehicle, the officer eventually returns and says, “I’m gonna cut you a break on the cellphone. I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait ‘til you get home, OK?”
And that was that. There was never a FaceTime. So, while it made for an interesting radio story on a radio show, it never happened.
The murder trial of former Titans scout Blaise Taylor has continued on Monday.
Taylor, 30, is accused of poisoning Jade Benning, who was pregnant with their child. Both the baby and Benning died in early 2023. He is specifically accused of lacing Benning’s pink lemonade with cocaine dissolved in alcohol.
On Saturday, one of Taylor’s former girlfriends testified that she had been impregnated by Taylor and has chosen to have an abortion. She also said that, after Taylor later impregnated another woman (not Benning), Taylor talked about trying to terminate the latest pregnancy.
“He was Googling things,” Apple Dennie testified, via News Channel 9. “He was looking stuff up to figure out how she . . . if there was something you could do to make her have an abortion. And asked me if I could get the abortion pills, and he could make her take them or put it in her drink.”
The prosecution rested its case on Saturday. The defense case commenced on Monday. The biggest question for the defense is whether Taylor will waive his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and testify on his own behalf.
Most criminal defendants don’t testify, mainly to avoid what would be an aggressive cross-examination that would outweigh the benefit of the defendant giving their side of the story on direct examination.
Former Titans running back Chris Johnson revealed on Monday that he has been fighting ALS for more than a year. After Johnson’s interview with Michael Strahan was televised by Good Morning America, Johnson’s former team issued a strong statement of support for him.
“Some people leave a mark on an organization that you just can’t put into words,” Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said. “Chris Johnson is one of those people for us. His leadership on the field, in addition to his impact in the locker room and Nashville community have written him permanently into the story of this franchise.
“Learning this news is extremely difficult, and we will support Chris every step of the way throughout his journey.
“We are holding him and his family close, and join our fans around the world in expressing our love for Chris.”
Johnson went public in order to provide hope for others who are suffering from ALS and their families. One way to support Johnson would be to donate to ALS research efforts.
There are multiple groups that are actively supporting ALS research efforts. We’re in the process of identifying the best ones that can be promoted here, for those who would like to donate.
Last February, former NFL running back Chris Johnson made the rounds in the days before the Super Bowl. He was fine.
Today, he’s battling ALS. To the point at which he can no longer speak.
Johnson revealed his condition in an interview with Michael Strahan on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“First, I want people to know I’m still me,” Johnson said. “ALS has changed what my body can do. But it hasn’t changed who I am.”
Johnson speaks with the assistance of a device controlled by his eyes. Shortly after his diagnosis, Johnson’s voice was recorded so that the machine-generated speech sounds like him.
He said it started when he noticed weakness in his right hand. “At first it was little things, like my grip didn’t feel right,” Johnson said. “And I wasn’t as strong as I’ve always been.”
Johnson’s wife, Brittany, said she thought it was simply a pinched nerve from his football career. Testing continued. Once Johnson was diagnosed with ALS, the outlook was grim.
“They told us about a medication that might extend life by a few months,” Johnson said regarding the initial message he received from his doctors. “Then they told us to get our affairs in order. It was hard hearing that, but after watching Good Morning America and seeing Dr. Merit [Cudkowicz] with Eric Dane, we reached out to her. She was willing to think more creatively, offering experimental treatments that might help in advance research.”
Johnson’s condition is regarded as a case of “sporadic ALS,” which occurs randomly in people with no known family history of the disease. More than 90 percent of all ALS cases fall into that category.
He has gone public with the goal of helping others. “If sharing my story helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research, or gives another family hope, then it’s worth it,” Johnson said.
He said the disease has progressed faster than he ever imagined it would.
“I want people to understand just how quickly ALS can attack your body,” Johnson said. “Just over a year ago, I was picking up my seven-year-old daughter, so she’d make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn’t do that.”
He wants people to realize that patients with ALS remain who they used to be.
“Your mind stays sharp,” Johnson said. “People sometimes look at the physical disability and assume you’re not still the same person inside. I still think the same. I still dream. I still love my family. My body just doesn’t cooperate.”
Johnson was one of the best offensive players in the NFL. A first-round pick in 2008, he rushed for 2,006 yards in his second NFL season. That year, he set a record with more than 2,500 yards from scrimmage, and he was named the NFL’s offensive player of the year. (He said on PFT Live in February 2025 that reaching 2,500 total yards was his proudest accomplishment.)
Johnson completed his 10-year career in 2017 after a year with the Jets and three seasons with the Cardinals, He gained nearly 12,000 yards from scrimmage.
Currently, Johnson is fighting a much different battle. But he remains as determined today as he was when he played.
“Right now, there isn’t a cure, but we’re seeing more research, more clinical trials, and more promising ideas than ever before,” Johnson said. “Seeing how hard these doctors and researchers are working gives me hope.
“As long as they’re fighting for people with ALS, I’m going to keep fighting, too.”
We wish him the very best as he continues the fight. Here’s hoping that ongoing research eventually will lead to a cure for ALS.
In 2021, Mical Johnson became the NFL’s first full-time female scouting assistant, when she was hired by the Titans. On Saturday, she was called to testify about one of her former colleagues.
Via Nick Brinkerhoff of USA Today, the fifth day of the murder case against former Titans scout Blaise Taylor included evidence from Johnson. (It’s unusual for a criminal trial to proceed on a Saturday. The presiding judge possibly hopes to get the case concluded before July 4 weekend.)
Johnson, whose employment in Tennessee overlapped with Taylor’s for two years, told jurors that she had never heard of Jade Benning, whom Taylor is accused of poisoning while she was pregnant with their child. Johnson also said she didn’t know Taylor was expecting a baby.
As to the prospect of becoming a father, Johnson testified that Taylor had said he’s “not ready yet” or “not anytime soon.”
She also said Taylor’s demeanor changed in the fall of 2022. Benning was poisoned in February 2023 while pregnant. Johnson also testified that Taylor remaining in Nashville for the 2023 Scouting Combine, which coincides with Benning’s poisoning.
Taylor faces charges of both first-degree murder and felony murder in connection with the deaths of Benning and her unborn child.
In March 2024, former Titans scout Blaise Taylor was arrested on suspicion that he murdered his pregnant girlfriend. The trial began earlier this week.
Via Fox 17 in Nashville, prosecutors allege that the 30-year-old Taylor poisoned Jade Benning and her unborn daughter by spiking pink lemonade with cocaine dissolved in alcohol. Benning died on March 6, 2023 — her 25th birthday. The baby died on February 27 of that same year.
Friday’s evidence included testimony from a medical examiner that Benning had high levels of cocaine in her system and no history of cocaine use.
On Thursday, a friend of Benning’s testified that Taylor made an alarming comment when discussing the preparation of the baby’s nursery.
“He told me he was going to paint a black hole,” the friend said, via WMSV 4. “I’m going to call it midnight — the further you look, the deeper you go.”
Taylor worked for the Titans from 2021 to 2023. Prosecutors seek a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
