A day after putting an end to the season of one high draft pick, the Titans opened the door for another to return this year.
The Titans on Wednesday placed edge rusher Femi Oladejo, wide receiver Bryce Oliver and edge rusher Ali Gaye on the team’s designated to return to practice list.
The move opens a three-week window for each of the players to return to practice, but all three will remain on injured reserve until being activated to the 53-man roster.
Oladejo (fibula), Oliver (knee) and Gaye (knee) were listed as limited participants in Wednesday’s practice.
The Titans will be especially pleased if Oladejo, a second-round pick (No. 52 overall) in April’s NFL Draft, gets more game snaps before the end of the year. He played in the Titans’ first six contests, starting four and totaling 13 tackles, two tackles for loss and seven quarterback pressures in 241 defensive snaps.
His return would offset some of the disappointment of losing second-round pick Kevin Winston Jr., as the young safety was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a hamstring injury.
Oliver’s return would give the Titans a boost on special teams, where he played 47 snaps in two games before getting sidelined with the knee injury. He’s also trying to make an impact at wide receiver, where Oliver has seven catches in 12 games over two seasons.
Gaye could bolster the Titans’ depth at edge rusher, after totaling one tackle in the two games — at Indianapolis and home against New England — he took part in this year before suffering his injury.
“It’s the next step in the process of getting back out on the field,” Titans interim coach Mike McCoy said of the designations for Oladejo, Oliver and Gaye.
“We’ll take it one day at a time with the guys. They haven’t been in a team setting. They’ve been working their tails off with the staff. But it’s just a matter of now going out there and gradually working them back in because … it’s different injuries, different things we’re working on.”