Here’s one we weren’t going to mention, since it’s meaningless. But since plenty of you think that there’s something potentially ominous or nefarious about the development, it makes sense to address it.
Briefly.
The Titans placed running back Chris Johnson on the reserve/did not report list on Monday, roughly a month after he did not report for training camp. The move coincides with the team’s effort to trim the roster to 80 players.
By sliding Johnson to the “reserve” designation, he doesn’t claim a spot.
The fact that they hadn’t put Johnson on the list previously means only that the Titans chose not to take advantage of the decision to allow teams to bring 90 players to camp, due to the lockout. (Several teams didn’t have the full allotment of 90 players.)
Johnson will remain on the reserve/did not report list until he (duh) reports. That way, the Titans can have 80 players for the preseason finale -- and 53 for the first week of the regular season, if Johnson doesn’t show up by then.
Barring a major development, he likely won’t be showing up by then.
UPDATE (9:48 a.m. ET): Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reports that the two sides will talk again today. “Don’t expect much,” Coles tweets, “but talking is better than not.” (Actually, not talking is better than talking if the talking consists of an exchange of insults and/profanity.)