Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Carnell Tate NEXT STEPS at Tennessee Titans OTAs & Biggest Position Battles To Watch Going Forward

Episode Date: June 7, 2026

The Tennessee Titans will hit the field again next week for some organized team activities and all eyes will remain on Carnell Tate, who has been the standout story so far of offseason practices. Tate needs to keep progressing though and hearing him have success in multiple ways is the best outcome possible. Also, it would be nice to hear Cam Ward had a sharper week as he learns more about the playbook. Staying on offense, watching the position battles on the offensive line will be key, even in an unpadded environment. Also, depth battles at running back and wide receiver will continue to garner interest. Finally, on defense, Femi Oladejo needs to return and seeing the young linebackers continue to flash will be paramount.   LOCKED ON TITANS EVERYDAY CLUB: https://lockedontitans.supercast.com/   Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans   TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop...   Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans   Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod   Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnTitans   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now. Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cornell Tate has been the standout of Tennessee Titans all season practice so far. But now I need to see more. I'll tell you what I want to see out of Cornell Tate this week at practice on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast.

I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans, Fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The biggest stage in the world of soccer is here. Let there be goals on Fandle. Visit fandle.com to get started. On today's show, we are going to talk about Tennessee Titans practice coming up this week. The Titans are going to have an open practice on Monday, on Tuesday, and on Thursday. We're going to be breaking it down all week,

but we need to talk about what we want to see going forward. I'm going to talk about some of the actions. absences on defense that I hope aren't the same this week. We're going to talk about some of the depth battles on the offensive side of the ball, but we got to start with Carnell Tate because I know that he has been the standout of Tennessee Titans OTAs so far, but I still want to see more from Carnell Tate and Cam Ward together this week. And again, that's exactly where we start. So Carnell Tate's been incredible so far, right?

Everybody's buzzing about him, all the media, all the reports, the observations, anything you read, anything you see, the highlights, the Titans social team is posted online. Whatever it is, if you're watching Tennessee Titans content, looking, reading anything, you're hearing about Cornell tape. He's been making one-handed catches, jumping over cornerbacks, just looking like a true alpha wide receiver for the Titans,

which is the greatest news that we could ever get as Titans fans. I continue to remind folks, a good start for a first-round pick for the Titans has simply not been the case for quite some time. So seeing Carnal Tate not only have a good start, but go over expectations, even if it's just OTAs at the end of May, it's got to give you the warm and fuzzies as a Titans fan.

But that doesn't mean that I'm satisfied. That doesn't mean that we've seen all we need to see. There are things from Cornell Tate that I want to see more of this week, and that is kind of intertwined with Cam Ward, of course, but I want more diversity. out of Carnell Tate's production in practice. Now, most of what we've seen from Carnell Tate so far has been, you know, jump balls.

He's jumping over top of a cornerback, making a one-handed catch. It's all been on the outside. Now, there was a deep post-drought that was reported that he caught in practice. I'm not saying that it's only fade balls on the outside, but it seems like the majority of the highlights that get brought up and that we've seen

have been, you know, the one-handed catch on the sideline was just an outside isolation situation. Same thing with the two-hand or over Micah Robinson. Outside isolated situation. What I am curious about with Carnell Tate and his development, can he be that bona fide number one guy on the short, on the intermediate? Can he catch a quick slant on third and four? Take a hit over the middle, keep the ball on his hands,

maybe get a couple of extra yards and pick up the first down. I know that he can win down the field. I know that he can win in isolated situations on the outside. but for Cornell Tate to take his game to a new level in the NFL, he's got to be more productive, more efficient, more effective, in the short-to-intermediate areas over the middle of the field, not just those isolated things. Now, I'm not sitting here telling you that he cannot do those things,

that he's not good at those things. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying at Ohio State, and smartly, he was used more vertically, and Jeremiah Smith was more of the underneath guy. He's a bigger-bodied guy that more to his skill set, better yards after catch skill set from Jeremiah Smith. I mean, Jeremiah Smith is one of the most elite prospects.

We've seen an NFL history at this point. I mean, up there with Julio and Megatron in terms of wide receiver prospects coming out of the draft. So it would make sense Ohio State would do that. So it's not that Cornell Tate cannot do those things effectively. It's just that we haven't seen enough of it. and there are some examples of him maybe not being so good at some of those things. So I want to see him really good on slants.

Let's get a couple of quick slants to move the chains. A couple of deep in-routes over the middle of the field. I just want to hear more about Carnotate in the middle of the field at different areas of depth rather than just outside isolated. He did the thing again. He did the thing that we know he can do well. And it's great to always have that in the back pocket. and that will make no mistake about it.

That will always be the basis of Carnell Tate's production is being that outside guy winning those isolated situations using his body control, his length, his hands, all of that. But if he can be more effective than he was in college, with more opportunities, of course, on the short-to-intermediate route, more diversity in how he wins, that will be critical for the Titan.

So I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that it's not there. I'm just saying it's what I want to see going forward. Now, part of that is Cam Ward. Because Cam Ward has to be involved in making those things happen as well, right? And for Cam, I want to see a cleaner week of practice. And out of these three practices, remember, it's going to be three open practices, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I want to see Cam Ward have a dominant practice.

I want one of those practices. to be, Cam Ward was on fire today, he was unstoppable. The defense couldn't do anything about it. He was just cooking. Because to me, that would show he's getting more comfortable with his new weapons. Remember, Chim, I.O., Calvin have not been out there full participants at any point in time so far that we've been aware of. Maybe in one of the closed practices, those guys have been out there.

But D.K. had a limited participation in the last open OTA. Ridley and I.O. did individual drills and then didn't. Which means that it's been mostly Wondale Robinson and Cornell tape. So at this stage, it's been nearly three weeks since OTA started, that would show Cam is now on the same page more with his new weapons. They're understanding route depth, route concept, where to sit down, where the holes in the zone are, where I'm going to be, the timing of each route. I hit, I plant, I turn the balls right there.

Wondell Robinson was literally just saying on the K Adams podcast that the one thing that he loves about Cam Ward, and he said he's the best quarterback that he's played with in this regard, the ball is on you. Cam is getting the ball on you immediately. So when you turn your head, you better be ready to catch the ball. Those sorts of timing things should be accelerating. They should be improving.

there should be progress made in all of Cam's understanding of the playbook, understanding of why they're attacking the defense in certain ways, where the holes in each of these coverages is going to be based on the play that they're calling. Cam should feel much more comfortable, much more locked in, and I want to hear about it. I want to see Cam just light up the defense one day. Unstoppable. First team offense. Score a touchdown, team periods, red zone, two minute.

I just want to see Cam Cook one of these days. He's been up and down so far. Hasn't been bad. But again, like I said, a good football team, a good culture, a good program, the defense and offense should go back and forth consistently. Nobody should win nonstop all the time

because that means one side of the ball is just not good enough then. So I'm not telling you that Cam has been bad or anything like that. Cam's been fine. It's been pretty good. hasn't been perfect though. I want to hear one of these practices. I want Cam to just go nuts.

That would make me feel better. Okay, that would make me feel good. So that's what I'm looking for. So between Cardinal Tate, Cam Ward, that's what I'm watching for, that connection, obviously the most important thing. But what about position battles on offense, on defense, so much to discuss, so much to watch for this week.

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But with that in mind, make sure from the opening whistle to the final kick. Let there be goals on Fandle, visit fandle.com to get started. Let's continue today's edition of the Locked-on Titans podcast, getting ready for another week of Tennessee Titans OTAs. And again, the Titans did us a solid, man. They did us a big time favor by opening up the two first OTAs of the week to the media. Thank you so much, Titans. We appreciate it.

Gratefully, can't wait to hear about practice tomorrow. Break it all down with you guys. Remember, I'm going to be here with you all week long, breaking down each and every practice. We'll take a reset on Wednesday show as we get ready for Thursday. Hype that they did this. But before we dive into the position battles

that I'm watching on offense, do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans. Your first listen each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get, subscribe, stay subscribe. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day,

shout out to my everydayers out there. Monday through Friday, couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't in every day or you need to be one again, breaking down OTAs all week long, you weren't going to want to miss a single detail from Titans practice. Make sure that you stay locked in to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world.

Locked on Titans. But on offense, obviously we will all still be paying attention to the offensive line. I do believe that Austin Schlotman Will Schlotman, I mean, I listen to him pronouncing a couple of times and I'm still back and forth. But anyways, moving right along. Shlopman, I think, will be the starting center.

I feel pretty convinced of that at this time, that he will remain the starting center. Maybe Kugin can take it away from him. You know, it's funny, one of my favorite follows on Twitter, Nate Tice, I believe he works for Yahoo. He's the son of Mike Tice, which if you're of a certain age, you remember was a head coach in the NFL,

offensive line coach for the Vikings. He was a head coach. I think he might have been a head coach somewhere, It's his son. Great media follow. Incredibly intelligent, offensive line personality. Nate Tice is great. But he was talking about the Titans and he said, went to pull up the Titans to preview them or whatever

and saw who they were starting at center. Which he's saying it in a negative context. Like, ooh. But in my opinion, the right guard spot is much worse. I can live with Austin Slotman starting at center. I can live. I'm not happy about it. it, but I can live with that. Again, if Kevin Zeitler was just back,

Zeitler at right guard, schlopeman at center, the offensive line is in a fine spot. Schlotman might be just as good as Lloyd Cushingberry was last year. He's basically Brian Dable's Corey Levin and everybody was screaming for Corey Levin to be the starting center at one point in time during this all season and at the end of last season. So the Titans basically got a Corey Levin level player to start at center, which everybody, If it was Corey Levin, people would feel a lot better about it than if it was Austin Shlopman. So to me, I'm just kind of like, that's fun. It's the right guard spot that is the real concern.

Cordell Volson is not a good play. Let's just call it what it is. He got experience, but like I joked about on the Titan Squad Show with Brad Hopkins and Julianne Son earlier this week, bad experience is not good experience. Having experience is great, but if it's all bad experience, because you weren't a good player, It's like Austin Declis.

Austin Declis has a ton of experience in the NFL. But it's bad. He wasn't good when he had that experience. So I feel similarly about Cordell Volson, and I'm certainly hoping that maybe this week, a Fernando Carmona, a Jackson Slater, somebody else can get some first-team opportunities. Now, there are no pads on in these OTAs.

So how much does the offensive line stuff really matter? They're really just working on technique. and understanding and all that. But still, for chemistry reasons, if the starting right guard is eventually someone else, better to work them in now so that when we get to training camp, you're not working them in and saying,

oh, Volson really ain't good enough. Let's try somebody else. Let's grease the skids on that a little bit is what I want to see. So I think Schlaught is locked in at center, but right guard is really the spot where I'm like, ooh, I'm worried. running back Singleton

versus Chestnut versus Carter that's a battle who's going to be versus Mullings I'll throw Calell Mullings in there is he I don't think Calhall Mullings is making the team he is done

all right but Singleton Chestnut Carter I think that are the Titans going to keep four running backs Singleton going to be the true number three eventually Singleton my battle with Spears but I'm looking at that right now

who gets those opportunities with Singleton being back fully healthy and participating in practice. At quarterback, is Mitch Trubisky going to show up? He's been gone for weeks. I mean, I don't think they need Mitch Trubisky there. I would much rather those reps go to Levis and Hooker and Cam. I think the Titans might be telling Mitch Trubisky, you don't need to come in. It's all right, dude. Take your time, go on vacation or something.

We don't even want to give you reps right now. We know who you are. You're a veteran. You know who you are. We want to get Levis and Hooker going. So will he be back, though? Can Will Levis rebound? Remember, the last practice that we heard about,

Levis was not good. Two interceptions, two bad underthrows on deep balls, not a great practice for Will Levis. Look, I don't think Will Levis is going to be on this team all year, but we should all be invested in Will Levis playing better football because that's the only route that leads to him getting traded is for him to play better.

and these reports of him being terrible in practice isn't going to help. So for the sake of the Titans, let's hope that Will Levis rebounds this week and plays better football. And having three practices open and seeing what he does all week long can be more impactful than one practice two weeks ago. So let's hope. Let's hope. At Tide-in, something that I found interesting,

It wasn't interesting enough for me to put it in the assistant coach episode from last week. But Luke Stocker, the Titans tight end coach, did mention Kylin Granson as somebody who's been impressive early on. Now, Granson has been somewhat of a, Granson has been somewhat of a forgotten figure. He was a depth signing. The Titans brought in. Canick, who's more exciting because he's a draft pick.

You know, like, Granson hasn't been somebody that I've talked about a lot. I can just admit it. But he's an athletic guy, pretty good on special teams. Canick is really fighting with him for a role. So maybe I'm just more excited about Canick because he is a rookie.

And he was drafted and, you know, he could be Kyle Uschek. And Kylin Granson's been in the NFL for a while. It's not really much exciting about him. But if Granson is showing out in practice, he's a veteran, they brought him in early in or early on in the process and free agency, which means they clearly had an idea of what they wanted to do with him.

Kyle and Grantson could be somebody who we need to give more attention to or at least acknowledge as a part of this team more. You know what I'm saying? Not discussed enough. And then finally, wide receiver. Will Chim D.K. Will E.O.M. Will Calvin Ridley

be back out as full participants? Remember, like I told you earlier in the show, D.K. had limited participation in team drills in the last open practice. I.O. and Ridley did warm-ups and individual drills, and then nothing else. Hopefully that means that I.O. and Ridley are progressing. There has been a full week since that. practice where the Titans didn't have OTAs last week and now they're back this week.

So hopefully that amount of time and then slowly progressing from the weeks before that, hopefully that leads to all of them being out on the field. And again, that would give us our best chance of Cam Ward having a fantastic practice. If he has all of his weapons, full complement out there, working together, gain in chemistry, being in the spots that they are supposed to be in. If we could get a true, Ridley on the outside, Wondale on the slot,

Cornell Tate at the X. If we could get a true practice of that, it would make me feel a lot better. I would be a lot happier with that. You know what I mean? Like that is, that's something that would be great. And we want Cam

in this offense. Again, I know that he played with Ridley, I own, DK, last year, label offense. So them understanding route depth, where to cut it off. And I.O. and D.K. are not great route runners right now. They're not. So being able to run the routes properly in this new system

is something that they need to get a move on on. You know what I mean? Like that process needs to begin soon. And we don't know if they've been out there for closed practices. Like I was talking about earlier, we can't know that for certain. Have they actually been involved? But seeing them out there are these open practices. and tracking it throughout the week,

that will confirm that they've been out there at least and gotten started on that process. Especially DK. and I have. Second year wide receivers, they're basically rookies in this system. So they need to get out there, be full participants, get going,

gain that chemistry with CAM in this new offense. I'm also looking at the depth battle at the end of the wide receiver depth chart. KJ. Osborne, Bryce Oliver. Xavier Rostrepo, Tyrone Montgomery, Hank Beattie, Mason Kinsey. Like, it's a battle back there. Will the Titans keep six?

Because the top five's locked in. Tate, Wondale, Ridley, D.K. and I.O. We know that. Will they keep seven? Will they just keep six? Who will six and seven be? Is Osborne six? Oliver is seven?

Is Oliver six because of the special teams with Osborne seven? Could that cut them out? Can X? Can Monty take a spot away from those guys? that's one of the most exciting position battles, depth battles on this roster that we could possibly watch. So very hype for that. But now we need to talk about attendance on the defensive side of the ball because that's really what my main focus is there.

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when you sign up at square.com slash go slash locked on NFL. That's SQU-A-R-e dot com slash go slash locked on NFL. Get started with Square and build a setup that works the way you do. And let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Cornell Tate, Cam Ward taking their next steps together in the offense. We talked about the depth battles on the offensive side of the ball that I'm going to be paying attention to. Now we need to talk about defense because, again, a lot of my concerns are not concerns. That's a negative connotation.

A lot of the things I'm interested in on defense are mostly attendance-based. Now, before we get into that, do want to think. Thank you again for making Locked on Titans, your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day.

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Are they going to be back? They don't necessarily need to be. And again, the trenches are not the most important thing right now. But at the end of the day, it's still better to have them around. And Jeff's leadership is honestly the thing that, I want him around for, even if he's not participating in practice, just to know that Big Jeff is in the building, he's on the sidelines, barking, hyping up his teammates, being involved.

Like, his presence will be felt by everyone on the team. He is the leader of the team. Cam Ward is the leader. He's the quarterback. But Jeff is an all-pro in the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL. Like, everybody on either side of the ball is going to respect what he has to say, him being there. It's going to mean something. So I just want to see Jeff there.

It's not, they're voluntary. And Jeff, out of every, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago, Jeff and John Franklin Myers and Tony Pollard are the only three guys on the team who I could say, all right, it's cool if you're not there. But with it being a new coaching staff, the culture being so important,

it would be nice to see Jeff, JFM there. As the biggest free agent signing, the best player on the team, the most dominant position group on the team. The trenches are not super important in these OTAs, like Robert Salas said last week or two weeks ago. It's basically a glorified seven-on-seven because we can't really do much trench work with the rules and no pads and all that. But it's about presence. So keep that in mind.

Jackie Marshall. I noticed that in the Aaron White Cotton miced-up video, which was incredible, a lot of hype for Jackie Marshall in there. Good job, Jackie. There you go, Jackie. where to fire off. Like, so good to see Jackie Marshall, the rookie who I have been the most down on

out of the draft class. Good to see him making an impression. Want to see the young linebackers continue to make plays. Anthony Hill, Cedric Gray, James Williams, even the undrafted guys, like Shad Banks, for example,

keep making plays young linebackers. Because not only does that have me excited about the linebackers themselves, but it lets me know that what Robert Sala and Gus Braves, are teaching, they do really have voodoo magic on linebackers. That's really what they have. It would confirm that for me if all the young linebackers are making plays, especially when Robert Salah's type of

linebacker is a downhill aggressive run stuffing lineback. So if those young linebackers who are aggressive downhill attackers are flashing and coverage-based stuff, that's a great sign. That's an absolute great sign. there. So young linebackers keep making plays. At the edge. Of course I want to see Keldrick Fult continue to do well, progress, work on his technique, but Femmy needs to be back out there. I've talked about it so much. I'm worried about Femmy. He can't afford to miss this much development time. If he is not out there this week, if Femmy is not out on the

practice field this week, that means it's four weeks in a row. He has not participated in practice. That's a real injury. If you've been out for a month, that's a real injury. That's not a day-to-day, little bump and bruise. We're being cautious. You've been out of practice for a month in a critical development time period for you. That's a disaster for Femmy. It's an outright disaster is what it is. So he needs to be back out there. At cornerback, will Alante Taylor and Cordell Flot be out there? Look, I'm excited about Cornell, Tate's been dominating. I'm not poo-pooing it.

We should be excited about Cornell Tate and what he's done in practice. But Cordell Flott and Alante Taylor have not been out there. It's been Michael Robinson that he's been beating the crap out of. So will Cordell Flot, Alante Taylor, be back to test Cornell Tate a little bit more? That's what I want to see. Josh Williams, Marcus Harris. Will they continue to make plays? Well, they can tell you to step forward, especially Harris in the slot,

and then just more Kevin Winston. I want to hear more about Kevin Winston making plays, PbUs, interceptions, just make some plays, Winston. That's what I want to see. But with that being said, again, attendance on defense, position battles on offense, Carnal Tate, Cam Ward, taking next steps together.

So incredibly excited for this week. Cannot wait. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, And this was Locked on Titans.