Wesley Woodyard ruled out and other notes from Friday’s injury report

The Titans will be without the services of starting inside linebacker Wesley Woodyard and starting safety Kenny Vaccaro this week. Woodyard suffered a shoulder injury against the Eagles that the team seemed hopeful that it wasn’t a serious injury. We knew that Vaccaro was likely going to be out after suffering a dislocated elbow against Philadelphia. He’s expected to miss 2-4 weeks total, but my guess is that we see him return after the Titans Week 8 bye.

Woodyard was injured just two snaps in to the Eagles game which means we’ve likely already seen what this linebacker group will look like this week. Jayon Brown becomes the “every down” linebacker for the Titans as he did last week against the Eagles and first round pick Rashaan Evans will get the majority of the snaps next to him. It will be good experience for the rookie as he continues to work in after missing most of training camp. Will Compton and Daren Bates will rotate in as needed behind those two.

At safety, veteran backup Kendrick Lewis will get the start next to All-Pro Kevin Byard. Lewis got his first action as a Titan last week and is the kind of steady presence that you want filling in when a starter goes down. Rookie Dane Cruikshank and special teams ace Brynden Trawick would be the next guys up.

Outside of that, the Titans appear to be approaching full strength. Blaine Gabbert and David Fluellen will make their returns this week and backup tackle Dennis Kelly even got a full practice in on Friday. He is listed as questionable for the game Sunday.

On the other sideline, the Bills are also relatively healthy, but starting safety Micah Hyde, backup safety Rafael Bush, and starting tight end Charles Clay are all listed as questionable. If neither safety can go, Buffalo would be in some trouble there opposite Jordan Poyer.