What’s New From Week 2 of OTAs

Written By Jack Loeb

The Tennessee Titans just wrapped up their second week of OTAs. There’s plenty to get into regarding many of the new and old Titans players as they completed their 3 day week of work in preparation for mini-camp and eventually training camp later this summer. However, before they can get into those later practices they still have one more week of OTAs left starting next week.

To leadoff, the biggest news has been how many of those in the WR corps have come to the defense of second year wide receiver Treylon Burks who many believe (including myself) that he may be in danger of losing his spot on the team. Calvin Ridley had a full throated response arguing that Treylon Burks “is a freak…a stud…he’s like Julio [Jones], A.J. Brown, he’s like T.O. [Terrell Owens].” In the few weeks that Calvin Ridley has been a part of the Titans’ organization in person he has a rave review of Treylon Burks. The first week of OTA’s also saw DeAndre Hopkins praising the much maligned Burks as “One of the most athletic people I’ve ever played with.” This should come to no surprise that the Titans WR corps is coming to the defense of a teammate and honestly, they should. The recent praise from stud wide receivers Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins has Treylon Burks feeling confident as he’s heading to a crucial year three. After the 2024 season the Titans will have a big decision to make regarding his 5th year option. If Burks does perform well or adequately I don’t expect the Titans to exercise his option year which would be somewhere around $22m. Burks is currently the 4th WR on the depth chart and he won’t get the targets needed to disprove the previous 2 years of play. Burks has also shown an inability to stay on the field only playing in 20 games out of 34 in the past two years. This past season was severely disappointing for Burks. He only accumulated 221 receiving yards on 16 catches. Burks is in desparate need of a breakout season. If Burks can find his way onto the field it’ll have to be over DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, and Tyler Boyd — which would be a difficult task.

Will Levis is still looking solid in OTAs as he continues to prove that he belongs in the NFL. He’s consistently shown his quick release and ability to hit wide receivers in camp. There’s also a few things that Callahan has been working on with Levis such as keeping his elbow up as he releases the ball for better accuracy. It’s good to see early dividends playing out in real time for Callahan’s tutelage of Levis in route to making him a franchise quarterback. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated has a great write-up on Levis and Callahan’s relationship and what drew Callahan to believe in Levis as a franchise QB. In the article it mentions several plays that made Callahan believe that Levis has the talent that very few quarterbacks in the NFL have. It also discuses how Levis believes that he now has the right situation to be successful, here’s an excerpt from Breer’s article,“It’s the first time in my career where I’ve felt comfortable going to a coach and suggesting something, because I feel like I’m comfortable enough with the offense to where I know the machinations of it.”

Those are strong words from Levis which illuminates much as the 2nd year QB will look to build on his rookie campaign with Coach Callahan. It also leans into an ongoing narrative that we’ll get into shortly.

One of the more interesting storylines that is playing out at Titans OTAs is how different the new regime is from the past. Both Chig Okonkwo and Arden Key have voiced how positive the environment and attention to detail driven Brian Callahan and his staff has been versus the previous staff, respectively. Vrabel wasn’t a bad head coach. He seemed to get the most out of his defense with rotational players after multiple league setting injuries. It’s interesting to hear Arden Key speak negatively about the staff after his first year in Tennessee. Certainly, it appears that it was time to move on from Vrabel. While the rest of the NFL media was up-in-arms about how great of a head coach Vrabel was and some of them assured that he was going to land someplace as a HC soon. The writing was on the wall for the Titans that Vrabel had maxxed himself out and thus, Brian Callahan was quickly added as the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Early impressions are that the Titans made the right move, especially after Vrabel failed to land a head coaching job this offseason and instead is now a consultant with the Cleveland Browns.

The Titans defense has probably improved the most. It’s great to note that Caleb Farley has been getting reps on the field and is starting to make his way back from perhaps the worst set of circumstances a young NFL player could be faced with. After multiple injuries and the loss of his father, Farley is looking to bounce back. The Titans declined his 5th year option to no one’s surprise after only playing in 12 games in 3 years. By all accounts Farley is moving well at practice and hopefully has put his issues behind him. He’ll be fighting hard for play time — which might not be a bad thing — with Awuzie, Sneed, and McCreary in front of him. It’ll be interesting to see where Dennard Wilson sees is the best fit for Farley to work his way back if it’ll either be on the outside where he’s consistently had trouble or maybe trying him on the inside at slot. However, the Titans recently drafted Jarvis Brownlee Jr. who will more than likely be battling with Farley and other vets throughout training camp for reps and preseason playtime. The Titans will probably only keep 6 cornerbacks which will put Tre Avery and Caleb Farley on the bubble.


This week DeAndre Hopkins was added to the no-show list of voluntary OTAs after spending the previous week present. L’Jarius Sneed, T’Vondre Sweat, Harold Landry, Jeffrey Simmons, and more were absent from OTAs this past week per Turron Davenport. Currently, T’Vondre Sweat is the only Titan to be unsigned at the moment. This hopefully isn’t an issue that will last through mini-camp. It’s possible that the holdup could be the contract language regarding his weight and the money attached to it. Regardless, it’s best for him, and/or his agent, not to get too caught up in the minutia for a player that the Titans took a chance on at 38 overall.

What’s Next

The Titan will complete their Mandatory Mini-Camp from June 4-6. Expect the Titans who have been absent from OTAs to make an appearance at mandatory Mini-Camp this week as Brian Callahan and his staff look to build a competitive football team for the fall.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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