The Lull-The Lead Up to Training Camp

Written By Jack Loeb

The lull is upon us. The Titans finished up OTAs this week and will have to wait till July 24th to get their next bout of action at Training camp. The early offseason program has passed and there’s plenty to get into as the Titans finished their final OTA session.

This week in OTAs saw a lot of vets absent the final day of OTAs, for a complete list here’s a tweet by TD Davenport. There’s a few interesting names on this list and we’ll start with Burks. Although it’s been reported that Burks has had a good attitude, and also trying to find his place on the roster ,I’m surprised he missed the final day of OTAs. It’s peculiar that the former 1st round pick feels as if he can miss practice given that his spot is not secure. Burks is already guaranteed slated to be the WR4 (at best) while newcomer Jha’Quan Jackson looks to have more upside than Burks and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was re-signed to a one year deal during the Free Agency period — although, NWI too, is not guaranteed a spot on the team. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Treylon Burks may find himself either cut or traded by the team if he doesn’t offer the value that the Titans are needing from that position.

The same situation is playing out on the opposite side of the ball with Caleb Farley as he also skipped the final day of OTAs. He too, is buried by a plethora of depth. Farley will have to supplant either one of: L’Jarius Sneed (no), Chidobe Awuzie (no), Roger McCreary (no), Jarvis Brownlee Jr (probably not), Gabe Jeudy-Lally (don’t think so), or Tre Avery (maybe). That only leaves so much room on the depth chart. Those are six players that I feel much more comfortable with than Farley at the position. With the surprise ascension of former Vol Jeudy-Lally Farley may see himself as the odd man out come cut day. Farley has dealt with an incredibly unfortunate start to his career with a multitude of injuries and the death of his father. However, there comes a time that each football player must come to terms with their own football mortality.

Both Farley and Burks will need to continue working this offseason and into training camp if they want to make the team. Fortunately, for the Titans, that’s a good problem to have when you no longer need to rely on middling players who are rarely available due to injury.

Keeping in the bad news T’Vondre Sweat missed almost all of OTA’s and mini-camp due to some sort of injury that has yet to be disclosed. It’s unfortunate that Titans fans will have to wait to see what Sweat can do come Training camp. The issue that will inevitably arise will be that he’s not yet in practice shape and he’s already behind the eight-ball as he’s missed much of the on-field drills from OTAs and Mini-camp. This won’t help assuage Sweat’s detractors and rightfully so. When a guy is taken as high as 38th overall and he was seen to have several off the field concerns this only fuels those issues. Sweat will need to come in to training camp in shape and ready to roll come July 24th or inevitably fans will be perturbed with “Panda” flashbacks.

Enough of the bad news…the Titans overall have had a very successful offseason program thus far. To begin, the most important player to this team in 2024 is Will Levis. By all accounts Levis is considerably better than he was last year and that’s a great start. Levis consistently did enough, given what he had, to show Titans fans that he wasn’t the issue last year when he played. Levis will enjoy the spoils of riches this season as he will have the opportunity to throw to the best wide receiver corps that has ever existed in Oilers/Titans history. In addition, he seems to be developing a good rapport with Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, and recently added Tyler Boyd — Ridley is banking on a big season as he is the bonafide WR1 in a pass happy offense.

Speaking of Ridley, it appears from near unanimous reports that he was the best player on the field during the offseason programs. He’s consistently been quick in and out of his cuts and he looks like a legit number 1 receiver that the Titans haven’t had since he who should not be named (AJ Brown). Ridley is going to do wonders for this offense and being lined up across from Hopkins and Tyler Boyd is only going to accentuate how lethal this wide receiver corps is come September.

Another boon to the offense will come in the improvement from the offensive line. The Titans added plenty of talent this offseason to the offensive line and coaching staff, and so far its playing out well. JC Latham was a crucial addition to the OL room. Latham has consistently shown improvement this offseason and is developing a good rapport with Skoronski. Coach Bill Callahan has had nothing but effusive praise for the Titans first round pick. Since Latham came to Nashville any chance when asked about him Coach Bill Callahan has sang nothing but his praises. It’s great to hear that Latham is developing well and learning under one of the best offensive line coaches in the game. The Titans will need the upgrade at left tackle which Latham gives them if they are to have any chance of success in 2024.

As Training camp approaches the Titans have a few questions that they’ll need to resolve:

  1. Who’s playing RG and RT? I wrote an article last week highlighting this very subject from Mini-camp. It appears that Saahdiq Charles may be the starting RG as Training camp opens. He’s been running with the ones the entire offseason program. Dillion Radunz and previous 2023 starter Daniel Brunskill will compete for the position. I don’t foresee either of them supplanting Charles based on reports. Not only that but the Titans just recently signed former Brown Gareon Christian who started 9 games with Coach Bill Callahan last year. It’ll be interesting to see how Christian fits into the rotation as the crowded guard room continues to grow.

    Meanwhile, Nicholas Petit-Frere has been missing from on the field reps as he’s still working his way back from his shoulder injury. Coach Callahan mentioned that , “He’s been outstanding in the film room…” and when asked if he’s “Behind the gun at all…” by Kayla Anderson Callahan responded “I wouldn’t say so.” As of this moment John Ojukwu has taken the most reps as NPF and Jaelyn Duncan have been dealing with injuries. As Training camp approaches if NPF and Duncan aren’t healthy enough Ojukwu could be the starter come a few preseason games or start the season at RT if the Titans don’t add another body to the room.

  2. Who will start at Free Safety? One of the recent safety signings this past week was Marcus Maye signing with the Miami Dolphins. Indirectly this affects the Titans as they are still in the market for another starting safety. Safety Justin Simmons was the Titans initial target in Free Agency. However, things fell apart financially and the Titans have been quiet on that front since March. Marcus Maye was brought in originally for a Titans visit on March 14th. So there was interest there between the two, perhaps the holdup with the contract was once again financial. Now that Maye is off the market expect things to heat up in the leadup, or during training camp for remaining free agents Justin Simmons and Quandre Diggs. Justin Simmons should be the favorite to be added to the Titans seeing as he was their initial target. We’ll have to see if there’s any movement in the coming weeks in the free agent safety market.

  3. Will the both L’Jarius Sneed and T’Vondre Sweat be healthy to participate in Training camp? Sneed hasn’t participated on the field in meaningful snaps in quite sometime. He’s currently on a “load management” and he should get back to work soon. The Titans will need the former pro-bowler to be at his best to start the season. I have no doubt that his heart is in the right place but their were many execs and sources that were worried about Sneed’s knee and thus stayed away from making a deal with Kansas City for the superstar corner.

    Sweat is going to need and probably take all the practice reps he can get going into training camp due to depth. The Titans are quite thin at the DL position and if Sweat is going to play nose tackle he’ll need to get into the fray soon. Titans fans want to see another dominant defensive lineman paired up with Jeffrey Simmons. Especially since it came at the expense of the 38th overall pick in the draft. Sweat has to find a way to get healthy in the next month+ so the Titans can hope to affect pressure on the QB this season.

These are the most important questions that Titans fans will have linger over the long lull of the offseason. This part of the offseason is always the most difficult to navigate for fans craving for an NFL fix. The good news is that the Titans are going to look completely different with Coach Callahan this upcoming season. This should be a fun year to watch Titans football for fans as the Titans look to finally break into the 21st century offensively and defensively.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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