Days after holding a multi-tackle workout, the Tennessee Titans are moving forward with a potential stopgap right-side solution. The team is signing Chris Hubbard, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
The NFL hitting Titans starting right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere with a six-game gambling suspension will force another change to a position group that has already experienced some turnover. Hubbard, 32, will attempt to provide some stability in what could be his first starting opportunity in years.
Formerly with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, Hubbard has worked mostly as a backup in recent years. Cleveland’s plan to install the ex-Pittsburgh right tackle starter at the position did not pan out, but the Browns kept the veteran around for five seasons. Although Hubbard has only played in five games over the past two years, he still generated free-agent interest. The Indianapolis Colts met with the nine-year vet earlier this offseason and the Titans brought in he and George Fant for their RT audition last weekend. While Fant has received considerably more 2020's run, Hubbard is headed to Nashville.
A UDFA out of UAB, Hubbard has made 49 career starts. Most of them came during the late 2010's, when the Steelers plugged him in as a Marcus Gilbert sub while the Browns turned to him after their free-agency commitment. Cleveland added Hubbard on a five-year, $36.5M deal and gave him 29 starts from 2018-19. But the team reworked Hubbard’s deal in 2020, amounting to a pay cut, and stashed him behind new additions Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills. Although Hubbard suffered a dislocated kneecap late in the 2020 season and underwent surgery to repair a torn triceps sustained in 2021, he re-signed with the Browns last year.
Titans first-round pick Peter Skoronski worked at both guard and tackle this offseason, but most NFL scouts viewed the Northwestern prospect as an interior O-lineman. Despite Skoronski never playing guard for the Wildcats, the Titans are using him at the position. Rather than tinker with the young blocker’s development, Tennessee will add a rental piece of sorts to fill in for Petit-Frere.
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