Titans lead NFL in ‘man games lost’ going into Week 18

There have been a few teams that have come close, but the Tennessee Titans are the most injured team in the NFL this season, and really have been over the last two years.

Entering their Week 18 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Titans are tied for the most players currently on injured reserve with 23. For reference, that’s 50.11 percent of the Titans’ salary cap currently on IR, per Spotrac.

Tennessee has also put the most players on IR during the season with 34, a category they led the league in last season.

In terms of total players fielded, a record the Titans broke in 2021 with 91, Tennessee has a league-high 86. They’ll fall just short of setting the single-season record for the second-straight year.

The Titans are also tops in games missed by injured players, or “man games lost,” another injury statistic we’ve covered ad nauseam during the 2022 campaign.

The Titans are now up to 312, 36 more than the next closest team, the Denver Broncos, who are also tied with Tennessee for most players currently on injured reserve.

NFL through week 17, Top 5, most games missed by injured players and health protocols

TEN 312
DEN 276
ARI 259
SEA 251
NOR 250https://t.co/y6BHmUfLSO

— Man Games Lost NFL (@ManGamesLostNFL) January 6, 2023

The NFL record is 394, set by the 2017 Indianapolis Colts. The Titans won’t be getting there, but they are sure to finish as the league leader. In 2021, the Titans finished third with 336. They’ll at least some close to passing that on Saturday night.

On the opposite side of the injury spectrum is the Titans’ Week 18 opponent in a do-or-die game for the AFC South, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jacksonville has actually been the least-injured team in the NFL this season, as they have the fewest amount of games missed by injured players going into the regular season finale with 72, 36 fewer than the next closest team.

So, not only have the Jaguars been the least-injured team, they’ve been the least-injured team by a wide margin.

In terms of IR, the Jags have placed an NFL-low seven players on the list all season, and the six they currently have on there is tied for the second-fewest in the NFL.

The Titans have a major injury problem on their hands that has been ongoing for two seasons now. No matter what you want to chalk it up to, figuring this out has to be one of the top priorities this offseason.