Titans receiver Calvin Ridley was involved in an incident over the weekend at the Nashville International Airport. No details were provided by the Titans, who simply acknowledged that they were aware of it.
On Monday, coach Robert Saleh called it a “very minor miscommunication.”
The folks at AtoZSports.com recently reported that Ridley was “allegedly involved in a verbal and physical altercation with an airport valet driver that resulted in an injury, and the valet sought to press assault charges with local law enforcement.” When Ridley spoke to reporters on Wednesday, he seemed to confirm that account of the situation.
Ridley said he took his keys from the valet, and that the valet claims Ridley “broke his finger,” via video posted by Paul Kuharsky.
As to whether Ridley is facing criminal charges, he said, “I don’t know.”
It seems like it’s not a big deal. Where it goes from here may largely depend on how aggressively the valet driver pushes it, either by insisting on criminal charges or filing a lawsuit. Or both.
Titans Clips
The Titans have added a linebacker.
Tennessee announced on Wednesday that the club has signed Mohamoud Diabate off of Carolina’s practice squad.
Diabate was with the Titans earlier in the year, spending the offseason and training camp with the club. He was on the practice squad and appeared in one game before being released from the unit late last month. He then joined the Panthers’ practice squad.
Diabate spent the last three seasons with the Browns, appearing in 46 games with 18 starts.
In all, Diabate has recorded 128 total tackles with eight tackles for loss, three passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
The Bills are bringing in some help for their secondary.
Buffalo has agreed to acquire veteran safety Amani Hooker from Tennessee.
Tom Pelissero of Netflix was first to report the trade. Multiple reporters note Buffalo will send Tennessee a second-round pick in exchange for Hooker and a fifth-round pick.
Hooker, 28, currently leads the league with five interceptions in 2026. He’s also recorded 52 total tackles with one tackle for loss.
A fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, Hooker has appeared in 103 games with 74 starts. He’s tallied 17 career interceptions with 45 passes defensed and five forced fumbles.
Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott is getting another look from an NFL team.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Elliott will work out for the Bears on Tuesday. It’s the first time that Elliott has met with a team since being released by the Titans last month.
Elliott was released after he went to his car to retrieve a gun in the wake of an argument with Titans offensive tackle JC Latham. Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers helped de-escalate the situation and Titans head coach Robert Saleh called Elliott a good person who had “a terrible lapse in judgment.”
Saleh said he hoped Elliott would get another chance and it could come in Chicago. He had 11 tackles in five games with the Titans and started 64 games over six seasons with the 49ers and Browns to open his career.
News emerged on Sunday night that Titans receiver Calvin Ridley was involved in an incident over the weekend at Nashville International Airport.
Few details about the incident have been made public, which continues to be the case after head coach Robert Saleh’s news conference on Monday.
“With regards to Calvin, we’re aware of everything that’s happening,” Saleh said. “From my understanding, it was a very minor miscommunication at the airport. Unfortunately, law enforcement has it, and that’s about as far as I can go with commenting.”
It’s been a rough 2026 for the Titans so far, as they’ve won just one game and have dealt with multiple off-the-field incidents.
Saleh said he wouldn’t call these situations “frustrating,”
“Ultimately, when you’re losing, everything is kind of exacerbated,” Saleh said. “But all 32 buildings deal with things throughout the season. It’s unfortunate with what happened, but I’m sure we’ll move on with business as normal.”
Coming off their Week 9 bye, the Titans will host the division-rival Jaguars in Week 10.
The Titans had a bye in Week 9. One of their players made a headline anyway.
Via WKRN, receiver Calvin Ridley was involved in an incident over the weekend at Nashville International Airport.
“We are aware of the incident and are in communication with Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority,” the team said in the statement. “We will not be able to comment any further at this time.”
No details regarding the nature of the incident have been released.
The news comes at a time when Ridley has been the subject of trade rumors and speculation. He’s in the third year of a four-year, $93 million contract with the Titans.
A first-round pick of the Falcons in 2018, Ridley was suspended for all of the 2022 season for betting on games — including games involving his team.
He was traded to the Jaguars in November 2022. He spent 2023 in Jacksonville before signing with the Titans as a free agent in 2024.
In seven 2026 games, Ridley has six catches for 91 yards.
Titans wide receiver Carnell Tate’s second month of NFL games went well for him.
Tate had 21 catches for 290 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee’s four games last month. The touchdown came against the Colts in Week 6 and helped the Titans pick up their only victory to this point in the season.
While that record has not produced much reason for honors, Tate’s play did earn him the offensive rookie of the month award. He’s the first Titans player to take that prize since A.J. Brown in 2019, but linebacker Anthony Hill was the league’s choice as the top defensive rookie for September.
Tate has 34 catches for 413 yards and a touchdown over the entire season.
Fresh off last week’s trade from the Titans to the Bears, defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons had a clear impact on Monday night’s win over the Seahawks.
Simmons finished the game with six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and a pass defensed in the 34-17 victory.
Head coach Ben Johnson told reporters after the game that he gave Simmons a game ball or the performance.
“Our guys were excited the moment they heard the news we were bringing him on, and he’s fit right in,” Johnson said. “We have a high-character locker room, and he’s that himself. You can feel his presence out there, whether it’s during the play or even after the play. You can feel him talk a little smack as well which I think that elevates everybody around him.
“I thought he played outstanding. He got one of the game balls. To come in there and have a share of the lead of tackles and a sack in his first game, his impact was profound.”
The Bears allowed just 252 total yards on Monday night, which was 1 yard off from Seattle’s lowest output of the season. The Bears will be at home to play the Buccaneers on Sunday night in Week 9.
After consistently telling teams that defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons would not be traded, the Titans decided last Tuesday to listen to offers.
This Tuesday, they have another decision to make about one of the key offensive players on the roster.
Multiple teams are interested in running back Tony Pollard. So far, however, G.M. Mike Borgonzi has declined to engage in conversations about a potential trade.
Whether that will change remains to be seen, with or without someone calling owner Amy Adams Strunk directly.
Regardless, Pollard is an attractive option for any contender looking for help at the position. His contract is very affordable, relative to the veteran market. His 2027 base salary is $5.99 million (with $3.32 million left for 2026). In 2027, he’s due to earn a non-guaranteed base salary of $6.74 million. (In each year, he earns $30,000 for each game in which he’s on the active roster.)
Over the past two games, Pollard has rushed for 246 yards and five touchdowns. He’s averaging in those two games 5.34 yards per carry.
Pollard has four straight 1,000-yard seasons (two with the Cowboys, two with the Titans). At 595 yards through eight games, he’s on pace for a fifth.
With multiple teams linked to Colts running back Jonathan Taylor — and with the Colts not yet in a ballpark that will get a deal done — Pollard could become a much more affordable Plan B as the trade deadline creeps closer and closer.
Giants coach John Harbaugh apparently ruffled some feathers in Nashville by making a phone call to Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk in an effort to spark trade discussions for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. And Harbaugh doesn’t care about any “code” that he may have violated by going over the head of Titans G.M. Mike Borgonzi.
Harbaugh admitted to reporters on Monday that he made the call. And he vowed to make similar calls, if it’s in the best interests of the team.
“I did, I did,” Harbaugh said regarding whether he called Strunk. “I left a message. . . . Because you turn over every stone. You know, gonna try everything. I mean, I just, I’ll put it out there, man, we’re open for any call. Anybody wants to call us or call anybody. Call.”
Next came a discussion about songs that send the “call me” message, from the Blondie song of that name to the more recent Call Me Maybe.
“Let’s put that out there,” Harbaugh said. “Put that out there. It was kind of, like, fun to see the outpouring of interest in that. I enjoyed it. We’re not like — we’re not part of any secret society oath that says you can only talk to somebody. We’re not in that. We didn’t get memoed on that. We’re not in that agreement. So like I said, anybody can call us. We won’t be adhering to that particular agreement.”
Amen to all of that. The only rules that should matter are the written rules. Those who tiptoe around unwritten rules undermine their chances to get shit done.
Besides, calls between teams happen at many different levels. There isn’t an exclusive G.M.-to-G.M. network of bat phones.
In this specific case, the Giants apparently weren’t getting anywhere with Borgonzi. So they got creative, and resourceful.
As we understand it, they didn’t hear from the Titans to see if they’d match or beat the offer the Bears made for Simmons. Which would seem to be the sensible thing to do before finalizing a deal — unless the Bears expressly set a firm and quick take-it-or-leave-it deadline that prevented the Titans from exploring whether more could have been gotten from another team.
