As the Tennessee Titans were getting toasted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11, cornerback Kristian Fulton was pulled in the third quarter and was replaced by Tre Avery.
At the time, it wasn’t clear if Fulton was pulled because of injury or the fact that he was playing so poorly, but head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed on Monday that it was indeed a benching.
Fulton, who looked to be turning the corner in recent weeks, finished with six receptions allowed on six targets for a whopping 115 yards.
While he didn’t go into specifics, Vrabel said it was more than just about Fulton getting beat.
“I felt like it needed to be better,” Vrabel said, according to Jim Wyatt. “And we’ve had a conversation, and I’ll keep that between (Kristian) and I. We have to move on to this week. Getting beat is one thing. We just have to make sure we are executing the call and the scheme. Corners are going to get beat … so that wasn’t the reason we put Tre in there. There were some other reasons that Kristian and I talked about.”
Two bad plays that stood out the most were Fulton getting beat by wideout Calvin Ridley down the sideline, and the LSU product abandoning his zone coverage to make a play on Trevor Lawrence, which resulted in D’Ernest Johnson getting loose for a big gain through the air.
Unfortunately, the Titans didn’t get much better from Avery, who gave up three receptions on three targets for 40 yards and a score in 26 snaps.
It was just another stark reminder that as bad as Fulton has been, the Titans simply don’t have the horses to replace him, especially with Sean Murphy-Bunting’s injury leaving the secondary shorthanded.
It remains to be seen if the Titans will go back to Fulton in Week 12, but it’s not like they have any viable options to replace him with.
