The Tennessee Titans are rolling into the season with a new linebacker corps led by Ernest Jones and Kenneth Murray.

The former was just acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Rams while the latter signed a two-year, $15.5 million deal in free agency this spring. Bleacher Report writer Ryan Fowler believes Murray is the second-most overpaid linebacker in the league behind Jordyn Brooks of the Miami Dolphins.

“Tennessee didn’t break the bank to sign Kenneth Murray, but his $7.8 million annually ranks 15th among all NFL inside ‘backers,” Fowler said. “Like Brooks, the 25-year-old is an athletic mover with the twitch and instincts to fly from sideline to sideline against the run, but his issues arise in coverage. Slated to start alongside new addition Ernest Jones IV for the Titans, Murray’s knack for finding comfortability in space will raise his performance ceiling and quantify his monetary commitment.”

Murray was asked to fill in the role that Azeez Al-Shaair vacated as he signed with the Houston Texans over the offseason. However, having Jones alongside him should help him tremendously. Jones’ presence in the defense also negates some of Murray’s value, which means he won’t be relied on as much as he was expected to be in training camp.

Murray is hoping this new fresh start in Tennessee can revitalize his career and match the value that he came into the league with as a first-round pick out of Oklahoma.

Murray has the potential to be a top 15 linebacker in the NFL, and while he isn’t likely to get to that rank with Jones next to him on the Titans, he can try to do as much as he can to make Tennessee’s investment worthwhile.

Murray will have a chance to prove that when the Titans face the Chicago Bears in the season opener on Sunday, Sept. 8.

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Tennessee’s population is expected to reach nearly 8 million in less than two decades. According to the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee is expected to be home to 7.94 million residents by 2040 — that’s a 13% increase from the 2022 population of 7.05 million, for which data is most recently available.

Between 2020 and 2030, Tennessee is projected to experience an annual population growth rate of 0.82%, an increase of approximately 600,000 people. According to the data, that’s 35,000 more people than were added between 2010 and 2020. A period of steady but smaller population gains will follow and is expected to continue through 2070, when the population is expected to reach 9,250,000.

“At the state level, the amount of population growth during the 2020s will feel similar to the gains we saw last decade,” said Matt Harris, Boyd Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and co-author of the findings. “But as the baby boom generation reaches the later stages of life, a rising number of deaths will begin to slow Tennessee’s population increases.”

Per university research, older adults are expected to experience the highest population increase of all the age groups. The Volunteer State is also expected to grow more racially and ethnically diverse.

Here’s how else Tennessee is expected to grow at both the local and state level.

Which Tennessee cities grew the most? See how population shifted according to the U.S. Census

A growing population of older adults

By 2040, almost 20% of the state’s population is expected to be aged 65 and older. According to research, that’s a 17% increase and a growth of 306,000 people from 2022. By 2040, people between 65-74 (815,120) will be the dominant age group among older adults, following behind will be people between 75-84 (506,795) and finally people 85 and over (204,895).

According to Harris, a growing population of older adults will not only affect the health care system, but will also increase the need for more housing, transportation and other types of personal care throughout the decades.

Age groups younger than 65 are also expected to grow, however, those populations will grow at a much smaller rate. For example, populations between 25-52 are expected to grow by 11%, while populations under 20 are expected to grow just by 2%.

A more racially and ethnically diverse Tennessee

More than half of the state’s projected population growth can be attributed to Hispanics, Black or African Americans or people who are of other races or more than one race.

The largest increase will be among Hispanics, who will see an increase from approximately 450,000 in 2022to 754,000 over the next 20 years — a 6.4% increase. By 2040, the Hispanic population is expected to make up 10% of Tennessee residents. Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native American populations will see a similar increase, growing from 307,00 to 470,000 by 2040.

While populations of Black and white Tennesseans are expected to grow as well, the share of the state’s population that is white or Black will decrease. The Black population will decrease from 16.4% to 15.4% and the white population will decrease from 73% to 69% by 2040.

How will the Nashville area population change compared to other Tennessee cities?

The Nashville Metro Statistical Area, which includes Davidson, Murfreesboro and Franklin, is projected to see a 28% growth rate in 2040, bringing the total population to 2,642,779.

The Knoxville area will experience an 11% increase in 2040 bringing its total population to 1,038,122. The Chattanooga area is projected to experience a 13% increase in 2040, bringing the total population 474,768. On the other hand, the Memphis area is projected to experience a 3.4% decrease in population, lowering its 2040 population to 986, 741.

Methodology

The Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research developed its population estimates using a cohort component model. Projections were conducted at the county level for each combination of race, sex and age, using internal data well as from the United States Census Bureau and the Tennessee Department of Health.

In order to determine individual areas’ population by race, sex and age for each year, information about birth rates, deathr rates and net migration was factored.

To learn more about the methodology, visit tnsdc.utk.edu.

Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana

Ernest Jones IV got off the Los Angeles Rams team plane on Saturday with no idea of what was about to happen.

“I’m just going to be completely honest: I was shocked. We got off the flight from Houston and then I got told that I would be traded,” Jones said Wednesday. “No bad blood. There wasn’t even any contract talks. We never even talked numbers. It was just ‘All right, y’all aren’t extending me, I’ll play this year out.’ I was under the impression I was going to finish this year in L.A. and then I’d move on. But you know, it happened earlier.”

What happened earlier was the Tennessee Titans traded a fifth-round pick in exchange for Jones and a sixth-round pick, adding depth to an inside linebacker room that sorely needed it. Just three days after being informed he’d be traded, Jones landed in Nashville — at 8:42 p.m., as he remembers it — and about 18 hours later he was practicing as a member of the Titans.

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In Jones, the Titans add a player who can stuff against the run and create havoc as a blitzer. His 145 tackles were the 11th-most in the NFL last season, and his 37 quarterback pressures were the most recorded by any inside linebacker. He joins a revamped room that also features former first-round pick Kenneth Murray Jr., who the Titans signed in March, and draft picks Cedric Gray and James Williams, as well as returning starter Jack Gibbens.

Murray’s starting job appears to be safe after the Jones acquisition. Gibbens’ job may not be.

“Ernest has to come in and earn the spot,” Titans general manager Ran Carthon said. “He hasn’t been here. It’s up for (Jones and Gibbens) to figure it out.”

Jones was a full participant in Titans practice Wednesday. He says he worked in all the individual drills and got a few reps in team activities, but that was his first exposure to the Titans’ system. He didn’t have a chance to study the team playbook before practice, and says the Titans are trying to “feed (him) in slow” as opposed to pushing him with too much too quickly. This approach tracks with the way the Titans handled safety Quandre Diggs’ acclimation process after signing him in early August, waiting a couple weeks before installing him in the starting lineup.

Jones didn’t practice much for the Rams this offseason, but he says that had less to do with any pain or discomfort he’s feeling due to a lingering knee issue and more to do with the Rams managing his health. “When they told me not to practice,” Jones said, “I didn’t practice. That was that.”

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Now the priority for the Titans is getting Jones, and the linebacker room at-large, ready for Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. Gray is heading to injured reserve with a designation to return because of a recurring nerve injury that’s limited him in camp. Garret Wallow and Chance Campbell, the Titans’ No. 2 options at the start of training camp, are both on season-ending injured reserve. Backups Luke Gifford and Otis Reese IV are both recovering from time spent in the concussion protocol.

Jones is both the last piece in an offseason-long rebuild of the Titans defense that’s also included adding Diggs, Murray, cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie and defensive linemen Sebastian Joseph-Day and T’Vondre Sweat as potential starters and an added question mark for a defense trying to figure out what it’ll look like when the season begins on Sept. 8.

None of this was in the plans for Jones, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t in good spirits.

“If you look from top to bottom, there’s some really good ballplayers on that side of the football,” Jones said. “I’m really excited about what we can do when we go out there and put it all on tape. That gets me excited coming into this building.”

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.