Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said Monday that he plans to cede coaching duties to assistant head coach Terrell Williams for the team’s first preseason game.

Williams, also the defensive line coach, will begin his head coaching role on Friday as the Titans prepare to play the Bears. The game is Saturday afternoon in Chicago.

“I think this is a great opportunity for him and for us, everybody involved,” Vrabel said Monday.

Defensive assistant Clinton McMillan will handle defensive line duties for Williams in the game.

“We’ll have a lot of conversations between now and Friday, but just handling things with the roster and discussing those things with the assistant coaches and how we want to play the game and let him make those decisions in the game,” Vrabel said. “Well deserved.”

Vrabel will act as assistant coach to Williams.

Williams is in his sixth season with the Titans but first as assistant head coach. He’s entering his 12th season as a coach in the NFL, none as a head coach.

–Field Level Media

The No. 2 pick in this year’s NFL draft is getting first dibs on winning the starting quarterback job in Houston.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday that C.J. Stroud will get the start in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the host New England Patriots.

Stroud is locked in a battle with incumbent starter Davis Mills for the No. 1 job. The game will also mark Ryans’ first game as head coach of the Texans.

Ryans told NFL Network that Stroud would start but he didn’t say how many series the rookie will play before giving way to Mills.

Stroud, 21, finished third in the 2022 Heisman Trophy voting after passing for 3,688 yards with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions in 13 games for Ohio State.

He has embraced the training camp challenge with Mills, one of the more intriguing position battles in the league. Veteran Case Keenum is also on the team.

“I don’t want anything given to me. I want to earn everything,” Stroud told reporters last week. “Davis is a great quarterback, and so is Case. And honestly, we’re not focused on that. We’re just focused on getting better and better and better because at the end of the day, if you focus on trying to do something extra or do this here and there, that’s when you start confusing yourself and doing what’s out of the playbook and making mistakes.”

Mills, 24, went 3-10-1 as the starter in 2022, throwing for 3,118 yards with 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He’s 5-19-1 as the starter since being drafted in the third round in 2021.

–Field Level Media

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said Monday that quarterback Trevor Lawrence — and all the starters — will play a series or two in Saturday’s preseason opener at Dallas.

Lawrence, 23, is entering his third season and has 34 regular-season starts under his belt.

“I’m a big believer in the starters playing,” Pederson told NFL Network. “I really feel like they need to feel that energy that comes with starting a football game. I did it last year with the guys and I anticipate right now him getting maybe a series or two this weekend.”

Lawrence is 12-22 as a starter but went 9-8 in 2022, Pederson’s first year as coach. Lawrence led the Jags to the Divisional Round in the AFC playoffs, where they bowed out to eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City. He threw for 505 yards, five TDs and five INTs in the two playoff games.

He threw for 4,113 yards and 25 touchdowns against eight interceptions last season, earning his first Pro Bowl nod.

The Jaguars play at Detroit on Aug. 19 and host Miami on Aug. 26 in their final two exhibition games.

–Field Level Media

Houston Texans right tackle Tytus Howard will be sidelined “for a while” with a hand injury, coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday.

Howard, 27, signed a three-year, $56 million extension last month that reportedly included $36.5 million guaranteed.

He sustained the injury during a practice at training camp Saturday. ESPN reported he had surgery Monday to repair a broken hand.

The Texans open the preseason on Thursday night at New England.

Howard has started all 54 games he has played since the Texans selected him with the 23rd overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Alabama State.

The Texans’ backups at the tackle position include former New York Jets starter George Fant and 2022 sixth-round pick Austin Deculus.

–Field Level Media

Safety John Johnson III agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Los Angeles Rams after two seasons with the Cleveland Browns.

Johnson signed a $33.75 million deal with the Browns in 2021 and had 162 tackles with four interceptions in two seasons in Cleveland.

Terms of the deal with the Rams weren’t immediately available.

His base salary with Cleveland was scheduled to more than double from 2022 to ’23, from $4 million to $8.75 million, and he was released in February in a cost-cutting move.

A third-round pick of the Rams in 2017, Johnson had two of his three career 100-tackle seasons with Los Angeles.

Johnson started all 17 games in 2022 with 101 tackles, two forced fumbles and an interception.

–Field Level Media

The New York Giants are activating defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson from the physically unable to perform list, coach Brian Daboll said Monday.

Daboll also confirmed that right tackle Evan Neal remains in the concussion protocol but will travel to Detroit for this week’s joint practices with the Lions.

The Giants signed Robinson, 28, to a one-year deal in free agency in April that is reportedly worth up to $8 million.

Robinson spent the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams following four seasons with the Detroit Lions.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound lineman missed the last seven games in 2022 with a knee injury (torn meniscus). The 2016 second-round pick has 293 tackles, seven sacks, five forced fumbles and one interception (returned for a TD) in 93 games (61 starts).

Neal, 22, was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Alabama. He made 13 starts during his rookie year with the Giants.

The team said reserve OL Marcus McKethan was also activated from the PUP list.

New York plays its preseason opener at Detroit on Friday. The Giants open the regular season at home against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 10.

–Field Level Media

Free agent running back Kareem Hunt is scheduled to visit the Saints on Monday as questions arise around the team’s depth at the position.

Starter Alvin Kamara is suspended until Week 4 and Eno Benjamin will miss the entire season after rupturing his Achilles on Saturday.

Hunt, the primary backup to Nick Chubb with the Browns last season, is a former NFL rushing champion with the Kansas City Chiefs. He joined Cleveland in 2019 and served an eight-game suspension for domestic violence. Hunt had 123 carries for 468 yards and three touchdowns in 2022.

The Saints have other options at the ready, including newcomer Jamaal Williams and third-round pick Kendre Miller.

A third-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Hunt led the league with 1,327 yards and scored eight touchdowns as a rookie. He turned 28 on Sunday.

Kamara was suspended for his role in a fight in Las Vegas, which fell under the umbrella of the NFL off-field conduct policy.

Four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Anthony Barr also visited the Saints on Monday, ESPN reported.

Barr, 31, recorded 58 tackles, one sack and two fumble recoveries in 14 games (10 starts) with the Dallas Cowboys last season after playing his first eight seasons with Minnesota.

He has 553 career tackles, 18.5 sacks, nine fumble recoveries and five interceptions in 112 games (108 starts) since the Vikings drafted him with the ninth overall pick in 2014.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Eagles addressed the biggest question mark on their roster by signing veteran linebackers Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham to one-year deals, the team announced Sunday.

Last season’s NFC champions lost a few defensive starters to free agency, including linebackers T.J. Edwards to the Chicago Bears and Kyzir White to the Arizona Cardinals. Second-year Eagles player Nakobe Dean and sixth-year player Nicholas Morrow, a starter last season in Chicago, are expected to step in as the new starters.

Jack, 27, spent six seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2016-21) before playing in 2022 for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He started 13 of 15 games and recorded 104 tackles (61 solo).

For his career, the second-round pick out of UCLA in 2016 has 617 tackles (396 solo), 6.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss and three interceptions in 103 games (95 starts).

The Steelers released Jack in March and he had been an unrestricted free agent.

Cunningham, 28, played last season for the Tennessee Titans, and was limited to six games (all starts) because of an elbow injury. He made 24 tackles (15 solo). The Titans released him in February.

A second-round selection out of Vanderbilt by the Houston Texans in 2017, Cunningham played from 2017 to 2021 for the Texans. He led the NFL with 164 total tackles and 106 solo tackles in 2020.

The Texans waived him in December 2021 and the Titans claimed him the next day. He started last four games for Tennessee that season.

For his career, Cunningham has 620 tackles (392 solo) and 6.5 sacks in 82 games (76 starts).

In corresponding moves to make room on the 90-player roster, Philadelphia waived injured wide receiver Charleston Rambo and released linebacker Davion Taylor. The team also signed offensive lineman Josh Andrews, who has played for five different NFL teams, including the Eagles in 2015-16.

–Field Level Media

The Carolina Panthers signed outside linebacker and pass-rush specialist Justin Houston on Sunday.

The team did not reveal contract terms, but multiple reports said it was a one-year agreement.

Houston, 34, was seeking a new home after racking up 9.5 sacks in 14 games (one start) for the Baltimore Ravens last season.

Houston went to four straight Pro Bowls early in his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, who picked him in the third round of the 2011 draft.

In 12 NFL seasons with the Chiefs (2011-18), Indianapolis Colts (2019-20) and Ravens (2021-22), Houston has recorded 111.5 sacks, 506 tackles (404 solo), five interceptions, 19 forced fumbles and 14 fumble recoveries across 163 games (144 starts).

Houston reunites with Frank Reich, who was his head coach with the Colts in 2019 and 2020. Reich is entering his first season in charge of a rebuilding Panthers squad that will start No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young at quarterback.

Houston could play opposite edge rusher Brian Burns, who had 12.5 sacks last season and has made two straight Pro Bowls.

–Field Level Media

The Buffalo Bills activated defensive tackle Jordan Phillips off the physically unable to perform list on Sunday.

Phillips is returning after undergoing surgery in February on a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder.

He recorded 20 tackles — including three for loss — and 1.5 sack in 12 games (one start) last season.

Phillips, 30, has totaled 166 tackles, 21.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 106 career games (53 starts) over eight seasons with the Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals and Bills.

–Field Level Media