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The Tennessee Titans are not exercising right tackle Jack Conklin's fifth-year option.
NFL Network's Mike Garafolo (via NFL.com's Herbie Teope) reported the news on May 1. This comes two days before the league's deadline for first-round selections of the 2016 NFL Draft class.
Titans are not picking up former first-round pick Jack Conklin's 5th-year option, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 1, 2019
The Titans seem to be wary of Conklin's injury history. A first-team All-Pro selection in his rookie year, Conklin started 32 games for Tennessee in his first two pro seasons.
However, Conklin sat out the first three games of the 2018 NFL season due to an ACL injury he sustained during the 2017 divisional round against the New England Patriots.
He also missed this season's Week 10 game against the Patriots due to a concussion. Conklin sustained the injury against the Dallas Cowboys the previous week.
Five weeks later, Conklin suffered a knee injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars which put him on season-ending injured reserve, per NFL.com.
The Titans will use the 2019 NFL season as a measuring stick to see if Conklin is worth keeping for the foreseeable future. If he can't stay healthy, he will test the free agent market in 2020.
Among the 62 OTs with at least 800 pass-blocking snaps played since 2016, #Titans’ Jack Conklin ranks 24th in pressure percentage allowed at 5.7%.
Conklin’s three-year run-blocking grade (73.3) ranks inside the top-20 among qualifiers, as well.https://t.co/RFbJYCiXQP pic.twitter.com/DwtnSuL9sk
— PFF TEN Titans (@PFF_Titans) May 1, 2019
According to Teope, Conklin becomes the highest-drafted player from 2016 who didn't receive a fifth-year option from his team. Another Top 10 pick from four years ago, New Orleans Saints cornerback Eli Apple (selected 10th overall), experienced the same fate.
Had Tennessee exercised Conklin's fifth-year option, he would've earned $12.86 million in 2020. That much would've made him the third-highest paid right tackle in the NFL, per The Tennessean's Erik Bacharach.
Now, he joins a lineup of impending Titans free agents at the conclusion of the 2019 NFL season. These include quarterback Marcus Mariota, running back Derrick Henry, safety Kevin Byard, and cornerback Logan Ryan, per Bacharach.
