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The Titans have officially agreed to terms with former Steelers linebacker Ola Adeniyi, according to the team:
Titans agree to terms with LB Ola Adeniyi (@Love_Ola_9)
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) March 22, 2021
Details » https://t.co/2T6SOvblA0
It’s a one-year deal, per Ian Rapoport and Adeniyi’s agent Erik Burkhardt:
Former #Steelers OLB/special teams ace Ole Adeniyi is signing with the #Titans on a 1-year deal, per @ErikBurkhardt.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 22, 2021
Monetary terms of the contract have not been released.
Don’t get confused by the linebacker tag. This is a special teams signing. Adeniyi is known as one of the best special teams players in the league. The Titans have a bunch of key special teamers on the open market right now — Daren Bates, Will Compton, Nick Dzubnar and Senorise Perry just to name a few. The team also released Chris Milton, another core special teamer, earlier this offseason. It’s possible that a few of those players find their way back to Tennessee in wave two or three of free agency, but they won’t all be in two-tone blue in 2021.
Adeniyi originally signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent at the conclusion of the 2018 NFL Draft. He’s the second Steeler to sign in Tennessee this offseason, following the Bud Dupree splash.
Adeniyi played his college football at Toledo, where Brett Kern and Logan Woodside also played their college ball.
His first impression of Nashville was eerily similar to my first impression of this wonderful city:
New @Titans OLB Ola Adeniyi (@Love_Ola_9) visited Nashville in past and said it was "live." ... "There was a tractor pulling a party, van thing. I was confused, but everybody was so excited. There was a tractor in the streets of downtown, and I'd never seen that before."
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) March 24, 2021
Same Ola, same.
Let’s take a deeper look into how PFF graded Adeniyi throughout the 2020 season.
Total snaps played on defense: 146
Run defense snaps: 63
Pass rush snaps: 72
Solo tackles: 4
Assists: 1
* ED with at least 20% of league-highest volume are ranked.
Overall grade: 51.6
Run defense grade: 51.2
Pass rush grade: 50.4
Unfortunately, these numbers are a result of the few defensive snaps Adeniyi played in 2020. It doesn’t include the wonderful work he did on special teams.