The Tennessee Titans locked up one of their homegrown players on Friday when they agreed to a three-year extension with 2019 fourth-round pick, safety Amani Hooker.
The extension will pay Hooker $33 million over three years, with $19.5 million guaranteed and a $10 million signing bonus. The annual average ranks 14th among safeties in the NFL, which is very fair.
Hooker, who ascended to the status as one of the better young safeties in the NFL in 2021, was happy to see the Titans’ faith in him.
“It means a lot,” Hooker said, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “It shows how much the Titans believe in me and trust me, and I have that same trust and confidence in them. I am just going to do my job to make sure I can help this team win and help them win a Super Bowl.”
Hooker is also excited to get to keep working alongside safety Kevin Byard, a pairing that made up an elite safety duo in 2021.
“It is definitely a blessing,” Hooker said of working with Byard. “Watching KB and how he is around the building, I wanted to mimic that because I’ve seen the success that he had off the field, and on the field as well.
“We have been together for four years, and we’re about to be together for another four right now,” he added. “So we’re going to be able to be on the same page and be able to make plays and we’ll be the best we can be.”
As much as Hooker’s impact has been felt on the field, he’s also making an impact off it. Titans rookie Roger McCreary had a great quote about what Hooker has meant to him early on in his career.
“Amani is one of the guys I like talking to the most. He’s one of the guys I look up to,” McCreary explained, per Ben Arthur of The Tennessean. “He’s a young guy who came in and made a huge difference in the defense. I really ask him for a lot of stuff.
“He knows when I’m down. He knows when I’m mad. He’ll just come talk to me and articulate how he’s picturing everything… he knows how to approach people. He knows how to help them out.
“He’s the opposite of [Kevin Byard]. KB is loud and the more vocal guy. People go to him first because he’s the [more established] vet. Amani is the more quiet guy. He’s also smart, but he might come to you different. He’ll be the one that’s like, ‘chill, you good’… he helps me out a lot.”
As if we needed more reason to love the Titans extending Hooker, McCreary just gave it to us.
