Johnson high on Sylvester Croom

When the Titans parted ways with running backs coach Jim Skipper following the 2012 season, Chris Johnson went public with his hopes that the team would find a way to bring back Earnest Byner for the position.

Byner had served as the Titans’ running back coach in 2008 and 2009, a stretch that included Johnson’s 2,006-yard season.

The Titans didn’t bring back Byner, who was and still is Tampa Bay’s running backs coach. But the fact that Johnson is comparing new Titans running back Sylvester Croom to Byner is probably a pretty good sign.

“He’s a pretty good coach,” Johnson said of Croom on Tuesday. “I can tell he has a lot of input in the running game, like some of the same things Earnest Byner had when he was here. So it seems like everything is going well.

“He’s changed a couple of minor things, so you can tell what type of coach he was and some of the guys he’s had before he got here. He’s a pretty good coach.”

What tweaks in particular has he made to Johnson’s game?

“Basically (changing) a couple of my steps during running plays and a couple routes I got coming out of the backfield,” Johnson said. “That’s a little minor change that I can tell is already helping me out.”

The Titans want to utilize Johnson more as a pass receiver this year, one year after he caught a career-low 36 passes. Johnson has twice before caught at least 50 passes in a season – in 2009 and 2011.

“In his first couple of years, he had some big numbers for us coming out of the backfield,” Titans coach Mike Munchak said of Johnson. “We need to get back to that and the fact that he is a weapon not just when we hand him the ball, but when we throw him the ball. We have to get more out of that phase of the offense.”

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Posted In: Team News

Source: Titans Insider