A trip to the mountainsin Tennessee with some friends on UTVs on Labor Day weekend turned into a trip to concussion protocol for Titans linebacker Cedric Gray, who returned to the field on Sept. 20 for his team's 24-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Nissan Stadium.
Gray, who made four tackles, talked publicly for the first time after the game, explaining that he and his buddies were looking "to see some mountain views" when the UTV he was driving "got met with some oncoming traffic."
"We were trying to basically squeeze by each other," Gray said. "It was a tight space, the back wheel of my car kind of went off to the side, basically tilted and went tumbling down a little bit.
"It was a pretty
freak accident. I'm blessed to still be alive, blessed to still be able to play this game.
Gray said that being able to walk away from the accident with just a concussion "is a blessing."
"I'm just happy to be here," he said.
Gray cleared concussion protocol on Sept. 19. He had been questionable to play against the Eagles. He missed the season opener against the New York Jets on Sept. 13 while he was in protocol.
How valuable is Cedric Gray to the Titans?
In a word, very.
He led the Titans in tackles last season with 160 total tackles, which also was good enough for fifth in the NFL.
He had four total tackles against the Eagles with a tackle for loss.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Titans LB Cedric Gray relives 'freak' UTV accident after first NFL game of 2026 season
