Tennessee Titans LB Arden Key facing 6-game suspension by NFL for PED violation | Reports
Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Arden Key is facing a six-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs, according to multiple reports Tuesday.
Key, 28, is in the second year of a three-year deal signed in spring 2023 with the Titans. In his first year in Tennessee, he had six sacks (third-most on the team) and four tackles for a loss in 17 games with nine starts.
Key practiced on Tuesday, the start of the second week of training camp, but did not speak to the media afterward.
The former 2018 third-round pick by the Raiders has become a solid complementary pass rusher, totaling 17 sacks in the past three seasons with the 49ers, Jaguars and Titans. Key was expected to have a similar role in 2024 after the Titans made no major additions on the edge.
Key will miss the first six games of the 2024 regular season — at Chicago, vs. the New York Jets, vs. Green Bay, at Miami, vs. Indianapolis and at Buffalo. That opening stretch includes a handful of prolific quarterbacks, including Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love, and young mobile passers including Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson.
WILL LEVIS ON TUESDAY: Will Levis stats: Every pass Tennessee Titans quarterback threw at Tuesday practice
Tennessee has little in proven depth on the edge behind Key and top pass-rusher Harold Landry, and the team has less than six weeks to build that depth before the Week 1 trip to the Bears on Sept. 8.
Rashad Weaver did not record a sack in 15 games last season after having his defensive snap count cut severely from 2022. Shane Ray hasn't played in the NFL since 2018. There are no other EDGE players on the roster who have recorded a sack in the NFL.
"It's not something that you wanted to hear," Titans coach Brian Callahan said after Tuesday's practice. "But we don't really have a choice. We have to go play football with who we have, and if we find someone else we will and if we can't then we have to play with who we have."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans' Arden Key facing 6-game NFL suspension for PEDs
