The Tennessee Titans reportedly signed linebacker and special teams player Nick Dzubnar to a one-year deal on Monday night.
The most common response to this signing is, “who?”
Well, we’re here to give you a bit more background on the newest Titan. Here are four things to know.
1. How to say his name
Because the spelling of his name will undoubtedly cause some kind of confusion, according to Pro Football Reference, it’s pronounced “duh-ZOOB-nar.”
The 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker went undrafted out of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and was born in Anaheim, California.
2. College career
As we already mentioned, Dzubnar played his college ball at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and was the program’s leading tackler in 2012 and 2013. He finished with 414 total tackles and five sacks in his career there.
In 2012, Dzubnar was a starter at Sam linebacker, but later moved on to playing middle linebacker. In 2014, he was named to the 2014 All-Big Sky Conference Preseason Team. That season he finished with a career-high in total tackles (167), sacks (three) and interceptions (two).
3. A special teams ace
During his five seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, Dzubnar was predominantly a special teams player. In fact, he’s only played a career total of 65 defensive snaps.
In 2019, Dzubnar played a career-high 332 special teams snaps, totaling eight tackles, the second-most among special teams players. He didn’t play a single snap on defense, though.
4. A Daren Bates or Wesley Woodyard replacement?
The 28-year-old linebacker plays the same position as Daren Bates and Wesley Woodyard on defense and is also a special teams contributor.
It is quite possible that Bates or Woodyard, both of whom are an unrestricted free agents this offseason, might be moving on and are going to be replaced by Dzubnar, although that hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Bates has been a key contributor on special teams during his career with the Titans, while Woodyard has been a staple on the defense and special teams, and has been a leader for years now. Neither player would be easy to replace.
