 Thanks for everybody for being here today for what is a very special moment for our entire franchise I just want to put a little context Without going through all the numbers because you have them I'm sure many of you have your own stories, but some of you may not remember how we started at this point 2009 week two We're playing the Houston Texans late in the third quarter Craig Hendrick hits his 912th and final punt as a tight He's not able to go forward. It's kind of a crushing moment for our organization because he had been with us since 1998 and He was the best situational punter in the NFL so good at what he did. He was a weapon and we certainly Never took for granted what we had in Craig Hendrick I do want to say because he would want me to That there was one more punt in that game from Rob Barones It went for 40 yards with no return So his net is 40 yards and his gross is 40 yards. He'd be very pleased to have us note that today Took us a few weeks to find the full-time replacement For Craig Hendrick and we didn't know that it would work out the way that it did but worked out pretty marvelously the Denver Broncos Put Brett Kern on waivers and we claimed him the next day He got into town at midweek. He punted against Jacksonville the following Sunday Four pints three inside the 20 and we said, you know, this might just work And it went for over 200 games after that Where he became a three-time Pro Bowler the best situational punter in the NFL and he became a weapon but if you have a chance to see what this room looks like with former teammates with current Players and coaches with people who work in the building overall who just valued him I think you understand that to our organization Brett Kern is someone who meant a great deal more than just being the best situational punter in the NFL there's no way we could have found anybody better to replace Craig Hendrick and Ryan Stonehouse has a lot of work to do as he builds on his young career if he wants to fully Be someone who is referred to in the terms that Brett Kern is today It's an honor and a privilege to present you with one of the great Titans Brett Kern. I appreciate the introduction Mike That's I think Stonehouse will be just fine He's already smashing records and I'm I'm happy for him, and I hope that I Could the time that I was with him. I hope that I can give him what Craig gave to me so Without further ado, I've practiced this in front of a mirror In front of a TV screen. I have it timed should be about 13 minutes 48 seconds If I go under you're welcome. If I go over Braves you can't find me so I'll just start with first. I want to thank everybody for coming It's good to see a lot of old friends that I've had the privilege of getting to know over my 13 years here in this building. I Also want to recognize the many individuals who can't be here today that have helped contribute To my family and I on this 15 year journey For some I but for some I've been blessed to spend a lot of time through conversations sharing a meal Time on the practice field. The list could go on and on Others it might just be a friendly. Hello. Good. Bye Or thank you for making the fourth down scramble for breakfast Morgan. They still got that going still going good Whatever it is know that you've made an impact on my life and know that you've helped contribute to everything leading up to this day The main reason why I wanted to have this time together today Was to allow me to publicly thank those that have had a huge impact on my career For timing purposes on it. I'm unable to list all the individuals that I'd like to But please know if your name is not mentioned that I'm still extremely grateful for you Awards and accolades are nice to have Records are great even though they are meant to be broken But more importantly my hope is that I made an impact on every person that I've met over the years in a positive way Knowing how important my family is to me and my faith First I want to thank God over the years my wife Tiffany has sent a ton of Bible verses to me The one that I've always gravitated to with Psalms 40 verse 4 through 5 and it says this blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord Who does not look to the proud to turn to those aside to false gods? Many Lord my God are the wonders you have done the things you plan for us. None can compare with you. None can compare to you Where do I speak and tell of your deeds that they would be too many to declare I Believe that everything happens for a reason most of the time. I have no idea why but I know God does I put my trust in him and he's guided me through the mountaintops of this league And he's also guided me through the valleys of this league Never did a thing never did I think a day like today would happen But I can't ignore his guidance and his fingerprints to this whole process and for that. I'm extremely blessed and thankful To my parents. I can't thank you enough for the love and support over the years Thank you for Thank you for allowing me to kick footballs over the house and then to why progress to kicking over the power lines in our front yard Thank you for taking me to camps across the northeast or across the northeast which helped me get my name out When at a time there was no such thing as Twitter Instagram what are all that stuff? There was no way to promote yourself For understanding when I did not want to play soccer anymore and allow me to try football The unwavering support you have shown me has been a true grift and thank you I want to thank all the families and people that have diligent diligently prayed for my family And I throughout my career the Allens the locks The Kellys the Tassies the Collins Katie Cecil and so many more. I greatly appreciate your prayers and your faithful support I want to thank my agent Gil Scott Thank you for the many conversations over the years of talking me off the ledge of whether I was gonna get cut or not Thank you for getting me That deal that was done in a hotel room on a mirror over FaceTime. I Can't thank you enough for representing my family for myself and for my whole career Thank you to Anthony champ Kelly You were one of the only scouts that talked and interviewed me in between the hula bowl in the east west shrine game You got to know me and at a time when I was down and wondered if I could make it in the NFL You encouraged me you gave me hope and that meant everything to me Not only do I value you as a professional But you were one of my most loyal friends. Thank you It's a coach Shanahan Mike that is not Kyle Thank you for taking a chance on a skinny I would like to say athletic looking but probably not undrafted no combine invite punter out of the University of Toledo Thank you for sticking with me through the growing pains of my rookie year and giving me a chance to fulfill my dream of playing The NFL I couldn't have asked for a better first coach in the league Thank you to leg Dawson for calling me on the golf course to tell me that I was a Titan Despite being 200 through 4 thinking I could break the course record. It was one of the best phone calls I could have ever gotten Thank you to mr.. Bud Adams miss Amy and the Titans organization group I know in some organizations a player might never see the owner or the ownership group that much Miss Amy. I'm thankful that you have taken the time to not only invest in the infrastructure here, but I'm also But I'm also thankful for the time that you spend with the people in the building as well Anytime we would cross paths. It always came with a smile encouraging words and how was your family doing? Thank you to Mike Rinefeld Russ and Webster John Robinson Each one of you had the belief and trust in me to represent this organization the city and the fans With the confidence you had in me it allowed me to grow as a player in a person while I was here Over that time. I felt like I became the best I could be I owe that in part to your encouragement and your faith in me To coach Fisher coach munchek coach whiz and hunt coach malarkey coach rabble. Thank you Good to see you buck Thank you for believing in me and trusting Trusting in me to hopefully be what you thought was a weapon every Sunday Monday Thursday and a rare Saturday Each one of you had very high expectations and standards for me that pushed me to become the best I could be raves Braves thought and probably still thinks that every one of my puns should go out at the 5-yard line and never hit a touchback. I Knew that was impossible Yet, I still feel like I could do it because he had the confidence in me to do it Thank you for sticking with me through the highs and the lows of every season and allowing me to be your punter Thank you to coach Lowry Who took a just-cut nervous wreck metal basket case punner and through some time instill the confidence in me to become a consistent directional punter? You told me if I want to play a long time in this league that I need to punt it here here and definitely not here You told me to tie to find a type of punt that I could use at all times to be consistent and a weapon. Would you Mike? Would you call that punt? What's the pun the knuckleball? Yeah? Thank you to Nate Katzer who took what coach Lowry instilled and fine-tuned it The box that you set up with cones 10 yards apart on the sidelines and at the bottom of the numbers seemed crazy to me at the time This drill resulted in me trying to hit a 45 to 55 yard punt outside the numbers with bonus points for a ball going out of bounds yet I still I still understand the whole point system Bo's laughing you get it all that to say you challenged me to go 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 and being challenged like that took me to next level Thank you to Steve Hoffman for allowing me to take a break from the Nate Katzer box drill You helped me tremendously by giving me the confidence to just go hit my best punt You never had a stopwatch you never really wanted to see how far how far the ball went you just told me that if I hit My best punt I'd be the best in the league You kept things light and would tell jokes literally right before punt or field goal period One would think that this is probably not the best coaching tactic, but for me it helped Your sense of humor didn't stop at just a specialist After home games my kids would often get upset at you when you'd bring an empty pizza box up empty pizza box up and Joke as a joke in the parking lot thinking that they were getting a fresh slice of pizza you guys remember that yeah I'll always be grateful for our seasons together in being able to celebrate my first Pro Bowl with you To Craig Ackerman. I appreciate you and thank you for keeping the ball rolling Sometimes when you have a coaching change it can rattle you pretty hard The pressure to perform for someone new and to gain their trust can take a lot out of you mentally and physically You just let me be me. I appreciate that You allowed me to be a leader on the punt team you always encouraged me regardless of the punt outcome with that encouragement I felt like I could help contribute to this team winning Thank you to the equipment staff Joey boys back there Matt Joey Jerome, there's so many of you guys This took some time, but I did some rough math and I believe you caught roughly 35,000 puns You cut you cut pockets out of a hundred pairs of pants Joey you helped you helped find a very particular kicking sock and a long-sleeve shirt. I'm glad you're done with that task now The list could go on and on it sounds crazy and It made me not important maybe not that important to some But know that without your effort and you're carrying these little details allowed me to be at my best Those that know me well know how important my mental state is during the football season The guys in the back taking care of all my needs or as I like to think requests Yeah Allowed me to solely focus on just playing footballs Thank you to the operation staff Brent Chris Luke Nick Y'all just made coming to work fun. It's a great. It's it was great to have a place to go just hang out talk And take your mind off football Hopefully you are and will always be proud of my dissertation to miss Amy on every road trip hotel and why we stay there Love you guys thumbs up good There are a ton of Ton of staff members I could thank there's so many memories that I'm very thankful for like Nate Hanging out with my family night at the Pro Bowl right and rise together Donald where you at Donald there you are Thank you for taking all those pictures that will last a lifetime that will always ignite memories of those pictures Where's ties talky here? No, it's probably stretching somebody Talk thanks for stretching me who knows how many times and for always having a smile on your face Even when bow pops out of the cardboard box and scares the crap out of him in training camp I Could go on and on for a lot of you that are here today a ton of memories And I'm just extremely grateful for those memories over the years Mitch Thank you for always having your office door open to chat about life and God Thank you for pushing me spiritually and putting me in positions to help grow my faith even when I gave you the look I'd like to thank Craig Hendrick You were such a professional when I came on the scene here You took me under your wing and encouraged me along the way You were 17 year vet and didn't have to give me the time or day, but you were kind of me You answered all my questions. You gave me pointers that I used my entire career You never doubted me and in fact passed the torch on to me in such a humble way I will be forever grateful for your friendship and the way you mentored me Thank you to my teammates over the years Guys like Rob Baronis Kenny Amato who are always there for me when I first became a Titan pushing me the best I could be guys like Morgan Ben Taylor the king KB D morgue Luke Rack lumberjack Thank you guys for being great teammates over the years. I always value your opinion I enjoyed our conversations over the years that we played together. I'm thankful that football was just a tool that brought us together Ryan suck up Bo Brinkley tripod You guys are like family to me. I'm forever grateful for the memories we share on and off the field From a game-winning kick at the arrowhead on the arrowhead in zero-degree weather Like you meant maybe do like a how you announce that it may be later later. Okay Celebrating Ryan Your record of most consecutive kicks in a row under 50 yards Bo being able to help baptize you in silica gah, Alabama on the 17th whole farm links And yes, how could I forget? My golf video during training camp that will only remain on my phone. I Could list a lot more teammates and I will thank you too, but I know y'all want to go home for dinner tonight And the boys and I we got a tea time here quickly approaching I thank you to the fans. There are not many words that could just that can describe my thankfulness For the love and support through the years y'all have shown my family and I The number of fans that have told me they waited to get a drink or buy a snack until fourth down was over means the world to me Your compliments over the years Honestly fueled me to be the best I could be I didn't want to let any of you down Thank you for letting me represent you on the field and allowing this city to be our home Thank you to my sister Leanna my brother-in-law Chris for your love and support over the years even though no Chris deep down. You're still a Giants fan Derek and Tracy my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Thank you for your support as well through the years from going to games To helping with the kids rain or shine or just spending away game weekends with Tiff I'm grateful for you both. I wish you were able to come to more games Because most of the games you attended we won You all had an outstanding record To my in-laws Ron and Lynn your love and support goes beyond football Thank you for the times of staying at home to watch our girls or a sick child Thank you for your hearts of help and generosity over the last 15 years To my little kernels that aren't so little anymore All you know all you've known is daddy playing football You've literally grown up at the east on stadium or LP field Bryce the memories that we share together at times. I'll never forget never did I think you'd be old enough to help a training camp or that I'd be able to take you into a Pro Bowl locker room and just hang out in Ellen Quinn Thank you for Always encouraging me after games whether good or bad. I always look forward to your hugs after games It made the wins a little bit better and it made the losses not hurt so much Thank you for being so invested in how I did and for cheering me on I'm gonna miss you girls wearing your number six gear so proudly and trying to always make it on that jumbotron I Look forward and I look forward to being able to spend more time with all three of you and watching you as you continue to grow lastly To my wife Tiffany I'm just gonna have them Thank you for being my support my encourager and my one consistent through the ups and downs of the last 15 seasons We've come a long way together in this journey From chasing punts around at the freezing cold South Toledo golf dome after it had closed at 9 p.m Hoping and preparing for an NFL workout To be in the first one I hugged after a Super Bowl loss You've been with me every step of the way and I know you're rolling your eyes with this But I tell people this all the time That without you you're loving your support There's no way I'm playing in this league for 15 years. I love you and thank you who got through it so I Appreciate it every one of you in this room y'all are here for a reason And You all you've all contributed to Making this last 15 years really fun. So I appreciate it Take questions. All right When you talk about your appreciation for this town, you know a lot of times putters and kickers can be Overlooked by fans, but a lot of times here that the question was were you the best player on the team? And that's how much you were I mean I kind of I laughed You know just to think of a punter is you know being the best player on the team, but there's also a compliment just because I just wanted to be As consistent as I could be Just helping the team with field position I mean you don't get a lot of cracks sometimes during a game you could get two puns There were some years where it was more than two puns, right? But you want to make them the best that you can make them And so I just did my best and if that meant people thought I was the best on the team then Then great and if if not, then it didn't matter I was just going to keep doing my job and doing what I was supposed to do Superbowl lost, but they obviously didn't quite get there with the Titans, but that run in 2019 What do you remember about that getting the championship game and you know starting it off by blowing up the death star up in New England Yeah, that was that's That's definitely a moment I'll never forget, you know, you kind of have those moments along the way in your career of Certain puns, you know field goals made all that kind of stuff where you can celebrate but that punt was That's pretty special and then for the next play to be a pick and be done I mean he went, you know Tom obviously went and won a Superbowl with Ryan the next year So it all worked out, right? but yeah, I mean that run was that run was really really special and You know to get that far to come that close There's something about them chiefs, you know that year and obviously, you know this year and Philly finishing there But that is definitely Celebrating in the locker room afterwards, you know, having that mentality of I mean, they would really expect you to win Or to go up to New England and win and go to Baltimore and win. No offense Morgan But you know, it was that was a really special run I guess when you were released by Denver coming here, and could you ever dream it would have worked out like it did? I was honestly a little relieved at the time Just because it was it was tough. It was a tough situation there and at the time Bryce was Six weeks old and so to get cut at that time, you know to go home and have to tell your wife, you know I just got released Obviously Bryce being the age that he was that's pretty tough But yeah, I mean to get picked up off waivers pretty rare right for a specialist especially to get picked up Kind of in the middle of the season when I did And so I'm just extremely thankful For that opportunity because I never I never would have dreamed I never would imagine that that moment of Kind of frustration and anger. I had a lot of emotions when I got cut to be here And then to have the career that I was I was blessed to have here is It's pretty special really special I mean we got basketball games basketball games golf with Bryce A lot more walks with the wife. There's just a lot more to to catch up on and you know They've sacrificed a lot two over the years with you know from the training camps to you know all the road trips and Me try to separate the stress of football before I came home and and not to you know Put it on them or anything like that. So I'm just looking at more family time a little more travel time And then we'll just we'll just kind of see what what's next, but I'm excited for this new chapter Thankfully we did Disney three times and it was for free so we will we will probably pass on the Disney train Because they've been spoiled with how they did Disney and for me to do it like that way again I might have to come out of retirement and to pay for that trip. So I've been praying about it for a while Obviously, you know talked to my wife about it just kind of back and forth and I didn't want to really make a rash decision On whether to be done or not, but I felt Just my time in Philly Just being away from them. I mean those the four right there are the you know most important people to me And so to be away from them not being able to take them to school pick them up You know even just going out for coffee with my wife, right something that doesn't seem like much But you kind of take it for granted when you're in a totally different city and you can't do that stuff anymore So being away from them just kind of put into perspective of if I do want to play somewhere this year what it would look like You know and I also wanted to I had many conversations with Craig about You know your body, you know, sometimes you feel like you can still play But then what does that do into your body that you don't necessarily know and then you feel the repercussions? You know a couple years down the line. So There's a lot that went into it, but I knew You know when I came home from getting these braces on because my teeth are jacked up that You know, I knew that it was time to it was time to be done and Yeah, it was it was a pretty easy decision for me Yeah, I mean just to be a part of it with the guys You know to have those memories with guys forever, right when you come back here for Alumni or any type of events that you have you always have those stories of you know that that 2019 run or You know breaking that in 2017, you know breaking that playoff drought and Kind of the turnaround that we had because you know 14 and 15 were They were pretty rough and so to make that turnaround that quick Yeah, I mean It's just to be a part of it. Honestly, whatever role I had in it I just I'm just thankful to just be a part with those guys and have those memories forever It's on an Excel spreadsheet at home Just as far as all the guys that I've held for and you know, I just kind of jot notes down With how they like the ball held all those little details, I just kind of keep track of but yeah, I You know There's a lot. There's a lot and there's you know, obviously with Ryan being in the room and some other guys that I've held for but Yeah, it's The list is good. I've had a lot of good guys that I've been able to to hold for in between Rob Rob really taught me a lot You know holding is not just holding you just don't just catch it and put it down and hope for the best, right? So he taught me a lot and I felt like Going from him to you know when Ryan came in You know Ryan taught me stuff as well and you know those two guys are You know to have those guys for so long to be able to hold for them was Really special Well when the schedule came out I Would type in as many as I could so Whenever so what wouldn't schedule come out like May or whatever that is I would I would type in the first probably six road trips Back then and then just so they were in there I wouldn't forget about it and then when the season started I would type in all the All the cities that we played in and then you kind of I just kind of kept track of where we were playing and all that kind of stuff And then when we played at home, I usually checked on Wednesdays So worse worse There's been some dandies There's been some cold games that kids city game when it was zero was cold, but there was no wind Actually my first game when I was in Philly. We played at Chicago I feel like I probably should have waited a week because the next game was in Dallas But Chicago was I think that was the weekend that it was really really cold here But it was I mean it was zero with 30 mile an hour winds and You know some rain games and and all that stuff, but it's All those are memories to to have Taste of it last year, but what do you think fall is gonna be like for you without football? Are you gonna watch are you gonna a lot less stress? I know that would be nice, but yeah, I'll keep tabs on obviously all the titers are doing and just I saw big Jeff leaving the parking lot and Just keeping up with the guys that you know, I love and consider consider brothers just to see how they're doing I just saw you know, KB the other day and just chatting and checking up and You know following out, you know AJ up in Philly and Some of the guys I've just really enjoyed playing with and just seeing how they're doing so