Salary cap will impact final roster decisions

But the cap is still close enough to affect their final roster decisions.

“We are in a situation where there’s a chance several decisions that we make may be directly related to the cap room that we have left,” coach Jeff Fisher said Friday.

That may result in the Titans keeping younger players over veterans in some positions, despite releasing six players in February in a move that slashed at least $25 million off their salary cap. They also traded away defensive end Carlos Hall in April and released safety Lance Schulters in June.

But they signed veteran defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch in April and gave running back Travis Henry a new deal after trading for him in July. Fisher said they may trade a player and will scan the waiver wire closely in the next couple days.

“We don’t have unlimited freedom to go ahead and make roster moves right now …,” Fisher said. “We’re going to give ourselves a chance to have a practice squad and contingency fund and replace a player or two down the road.”

The Titans waived nine players Friday to drop their roster to 65 a day before the final cutdown to the NFL-mandated 53.

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PACMAN’S STRUGGLES:@ Coach Jeff Fisher floated the possibility that top draft pick Adam “Pacman” Jones might not be active for the season opener Sept. 11 at Pittsburgh. Jones started at right cornerback Thursday night in the 21-17 exhibition loss to Green Bay but didn’t record a defensive stat.

He only made the stat sheet by recovering a fumble — his own after a muffed punt in the first quarter. But Fisher turned the punt returner job over to veteran Troy Edwards, who will have that job in the opener.

Fisher said Jones will have to play special teams to be active and will try him at kickoff returner where rookie Courtney Roby has averaged 21.5 yards with a long of 35 on returns.

“All this, the missed tackles, the technique issues we had in the ballgame and the poor decisions as a returner, all are directly related to him not being here in camp,” Fisher said.

Fisher said Jones needs to make the right decisions catching punts and is confident the improvement on defense will come with time.

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NO REST FOR KICKER:@ The Titans aren’t ready to hand the kicker job to Rob Bironas just yet with final roster cuts Saturday perhaps freeing up someone they’d like to consider. But Bironas helped his cause Thursday night with touchbacks on his first three kickoffs, and each was deeper than the previous.

The third even backed up the Packers returner up to the base of the goal post at the back of the end zone.

“The smiles on the guys’ faces that were covering is hard to describe,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “That’s fun. They deserve to be able to cover a kick every so often and run into the end zone and definitely a touchback.”

Fisher said there are no plans to place a call to Gary Anderson, the NFL’s all-time leading scorer who helped the Titans out the past two seasons on an emergency call to fill in for Joe Nedney. The Titans are determined not to use punter Craig Hentrich on kickoffs to preserve him for punting.

“If nothing works out here over the next couple days, we’ll go with Rob. We have confidence in Rob. He’s kicking the ball well, and … Rob had one of the better camps in recent competitive situations that we’ve been aware of,” Fisher said.

Bironas missed a 48-yarder wide left, but Fisher said Bironas hit it well.

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NOT GOOD NEWS:@ The Indianapolis Colts picked up defensive tackle Corey Simon to boost their defense after the Philadelphia Eagles withdrew their franchise tag and signed him to a multi-year contract.

So what’s Titans coach Jeff Fisher think of the move by his AFC South rival?

“`That was a good thing for them, not a good thing for us. He’s a good player,” Fisher said.