Tennessee Titans: Kenny Vaccaro fits void like a glove

The Tennessee Titans have signed safety Kenny Vaccaro in the wake of the Johnathan Cyprien injury, giving them a perfect veteran replacement.

If all you watched of the Tennessee Titans last season was their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, you probably are under the impression that Johnathan Cyprien was one of their most critical pieces of the defense. The former Jaguar and current Titans strong safety was indeed a pivotal component of their upset win over the Chiefs as he was huge in coverage and big against the run.

With that thought, it would seem like a devastating blow to the Titans that Cyprien was lost for the season this past week after tearing his ACL in practice. While that does mean losing a starter — which is never good — the Titans weren’t put in that bad of a position by losing him right out of the gate.

On the whole last season, Cyprien left a lot to be desired. His success in coverage against the Chiefs was largely an anomaly in respect to what he did throughout the rest of the year. Where he played his best football was stepping up into the box and stopping the run. That’s certainly important, but it’s a bit easier to replace than a coverage monster at safety.

Even better for the Titans is that there was a tailor-made replacement waiting for them on the open market, and they went out and landed him. On Saturday, the team announced that they’d signed veteran free agent Kenny Vaccaro to plug into that role on the defense:

Vaccaro has been somewhat maligned throughout his career for inconsistent play, especially in coverage. However, in the case of Tennessee, they are asking him to step in for the injured Cyprien. Subsequently, what he lacks in terms of being a big presence in coverage isn’t something the Titans are accustomed to having consistently at the position anyway.

For the Titans at safety, the role of the strong is largely just to be an in-the-box guy that stuffs the run. In the meantime, they allow free safety Kevin Byard to patrol on the back-end of the defense in coverage. That’s where they succeeded most with Cyprien last season. And now with Vaccaro, they will have the chance to do more of the same in that regard.

Even better for Tennessee is that they have some intriguing depth behind Vaccaro. While the veteran will likely come in and start, they have a developmental talent in 2018 fifth-rounder Dane Cruikshank, who is athletic and a thumper in the same vein. Bringing another veteran into the room to help groom the Arizona product only helps the team in the long term, in addition to the aid it provides in the short term.

All told, this was a no-brainer signing for the Titans. Cyprien was big at times for them last season, but he was also arguably their least crucial defensive starter heading into 2018. How seamlessly Vaccaro will slot in seems like evidence enough of that. As such, a team with high hopes for this season shouldn’t miss a beat despite the injury.