Titans officially add K Cody Parkey and two running backs to the 53-man roster; waive C Hroniss Grasu

We heard yesterday that Cody Parkey would be the Titans new kicker after the team waived Cairo Santos on Monday and that news was officially confirmed this afternoon by the team along with a couple other roster moves.

If you missed the news about Parkey yesterday, you can get caught up with our reaction to that addition here.

The other two moves are somewhat interesting, but not completely unexpected. Along with Santos, the Titans also waived backup offensive lineman David Quessenberry on Monday so they had an extra roster spot to fill. I speculated yesterday that running back Dalyn Dawkins might be the guy getting the call up from the practice squad because the team had just two backs on the active roster after moving David Fluellen to IR last week. The Titans did add Dawkins today, but they also added another back in former Cowboys backup Rod Smith. They made room for Smith by waiving another backup offensive lineman in center Hroniss Grasu, bringing them down to a more normal total of nine offensive linemen on the 53-man roster.

Smith seems likely to slot into the role that the team had planned for David Fluellen. At 6’-3” and 235 pounds, the 27-year old Smith is a bruiser who played extensively on special teams while in Dallas in addition to a short-lived position switch to fullback. Sound familiar?

You may remember him as a guy that popped up on the fantasy football radar briefly in 2017 and 2018 as one of Ezekiel Elliott’s primary backups. I don’t expect him to be involved in the offense extensively barring an injury, but if he does get called upon, he’s got some good hands for a back of his size.

The fact that the Titans chose to add two running backs to the 53-man roster instead of an edge rusher should be taken as a good sign that the team believes at least one of Cameron Wake or Sharif Finch will be able to play in Denver this weekend. Wake missed last week’s game against the Bills with a hamstring injury and Finch had to leave early with a shoulder issue. We should get our first injury update of the week tomorrow so we will find out more about both of those guys then.

The team also made two moves on the practice squad. They added David Quessenberry back, essentially swapping spots between him and Dawkins. They also released wide receiver Papi White from the practice squad and replaced him with center Daniel Munyer who spent most of the past two seasons with the Cardinals.