Former Vikings CB Joins the Titans
Much like the Minnesota Vikings, the Tennessee Titans have had a strange start to the 2023 season.
Tennessee has gone 2-3 over their first five games, and they’ve looked like completely different teams in many of their games. After a dominant victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4, they fell apart during a Week 5 loss against the Indianapolis Colts.
In the aftermath of that loss, the Titans have signed a former Vikings CB to their practice squad in an attempt to mix things up a bit. That CB is Tay Gowan.
Former Vikings CB Joins the Titans
The move was reportd by Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 earlier this week, who tweeted, “Titans signed Tay Gowan to practice squad.”
The CB has had a long path to the NFL. After beginning his collegiate career with Miami (OH) in 2017, Gowan would transfer to Butler Community College in Kansas to earn some more playing time. That season ended quite successfully as he intercepted six passes and was named an All-Jayhawk Conference member.
That season finally got him on the radar of big D-1 programs, and prior to the 2019 season, he transferred to UCF. During 2019, Gowan was one of the very best cornerbacks in all of college football.
Among cornerbacks with at least 400 snaps in coverage, he was one of just eight players to allow an opposing passer rating of below 55.0. Others on that list include Trevon Diggs, Jeff Okudah, and Derek Stingley Jr. As a result, Gowan was named a second-team All-AAC member.
However, before Gowan could build on that incredible 2019 season, COVID-19 decided to throw a monkey wrench into the 2020 season. The cornerback opted out of that 2020 campaign, much like many other collegiate players, and he entered the 2021 NFL Draft without a senior season being played.
Gowan fell all the way into the sixth round in the 2021 NFL Draft before the Arizona Cardinals snatched him with the 223rd overall pick. Before the 2021 season began, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles where he would play just two games before being waived in August 2022 and picked up by the Vikings and signed to Minnesota’s practice squad.
Gowan would play three games in 2022 for the Vikings, appearing in 15 special teams snaps throughout the course of the year.
Now, Gowan joins his fourth NFL team to begin his career, hoping to find a long-term landing spot. Currently, Tennessee has six CBs on their 53-man roster: Sean Murphy-Bunting, Kristian Fulton, Roger McCreary, Tre Avery, Anthony Kendall, and Caleb Farley.
It will certainly be a long road for Gowan to secure himself a roster spot with the team, but these are odds that the CB has overcome in the past. Hopefully, he is able to do so again as the Titans battle to get back into the AFC South race.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.