Tim Shaw, Steve Gleason named honorary captains for Titans-Saints
Former Saints safety Steve Gleason will serve as their honorary captain. Gleason was diagnosed with ALS after eight seasons with the Saints.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel and Saints coach Dennis Allen both agreed to have Shaw and Gleason serve as honorary captains Sunday. This will be the first time Shaw travels with the team.
“We’re excited to have Tim be our honorary captain,” Vrabel said. “Obviously Steve Gleason and what he means to the Saints, we’re hopefully bringing awareness to an awful disease that has taken two warriors and put them in a chair. But they’re fighting their own fight and spreading the word.”
Shaw played 48 games for the Titans from 2010 to 2012. He served as Tennessee’s special teams captain in 2011 and 2012. Shaw had 25 special teams tackles in three seasons with the Titans.
He was named a “Titan for Life” in 2016. Shaw regularly attends Titans practices and has a locker at the team’s facility.
Gleason was responsible for one of the most dramatic and memorable moments in Saints history on Sept. 6, 2005, when he blocked a punt by Atlanta Falcons punter Michael Koenen early in the first quarter of a game at the Superdome. Curtis Deloatch recovered the ball in the Falcons’ end zone for a touchdown. It was the first score in the Saints’ first game in New Orleans in nearly 21 months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and the team.
Shaw will represent the Titans at the coin toss along with 2023 team captains in quarterback Ryan Tannehill, running back Derrick Henry, center Aaron Brewer, safety Kevin Byard, defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, and long snapper Morgan Cox.
The Saints’ captains — quarterback Derek Carr, linebacker Demario Davis, defensive end Cameron Jordan, defensive back J.T. Gray, safety Tyrann Mathieu, center Erik McCoy and long snapper Zach Wood — will stand alongside Gleason for the coin toss.