Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans First Practice Recap: Highlights From Day One, Standout Players & A Roster Move

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

On today's show Tyler recaps EVERYTHING that happened on day one of Titans Training Camp practice!First, we discuss all of the highlights and standout players from Wednesday's practice.Next, we continue breaking down practice by looking at the limited veterans and the offseason award winners.Lastly, the Titans made another signing while placing a player on COVID/Reserve. Also, Titans GM Jon Robinson and QB Ryan Tannehill made COVID-related statements.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, this Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday. Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news, so make sure

you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, wherever you get your podcast. It is time to tighten up. The Tennessee Titans' first full team practice took place on Wednesday, and we are breaking it all down on today's Locked On Titans Podcast. We are going to talk about all of the players that stood out and there are a couple of guys who really stood out on day one and I'm excited to tell you exactly who those guys are

and what they were doing out on the field. And then we're just going to keep going. We're going to dive a little bit deeper from the highlights of the day into some of the other tidbits that you guys need to know. Talk about some of the players that are returning from injury. There were a few veterans who were limited on purpose by the coaching staff. So we'll talk about that thought process as well. Also, Mike Vrabel announced the offseason award winners for the Titans from this offseason. So we're going to talk about who got those awards and those accolades from Coach as well. And then finally, the Titans made another roster move on Wednesday. I'll tell you what that was. And we got some really, really interesting comments from Titans General Manager

John Robinson and Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. So what an incredible day from the Tennessee Titans. Twitter was abuzz with all the different practice videos and all the conversation. I'm going to give you everything you need to know about the day one Tennessee Titans training camp practice on this Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it! Titans fans, I gotta be honest with you guys, this is one of those episodes where my excitement and my exuberance for this football team is just gonna radiate through your speakers. And quite frankly, I am sorry that I'm not sorry.

I'm so excited to break down everything that took place in the first full-team Tennessee Titans practice of the 2021 season. Now before we get into the big highlights from day one, just want to remind you guys, I'm going to be putting out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast. There is not another Titans content creator

that can say that. Make sure that you never miss an episode, whether it's training camp, preseason, regular season, playoffs, heck, all year round by subscribing to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you choose to stream. Follow me on social media as well, on Twitter, at TicTacTitans, on Facebook, at Locked on Titans pod, and keep your eye out for the coming Locked on Titans YouTube page.

But let's dive into these highlights. Number one, the biggest highlight of the day answers one of my training camp superlative questions. And quite frankly, my pick Elijah Molden looks like he might end up second because number one is going to go to a rookie wide receiver. Now, if I told you the biggest highlight of day one was a rookie, you wouldn't have guessed this player. If I told you it was a wide receiver, you definitely wouldn't have guessed this player. But it looks like the 2021 Titans Training Camp Sweetheart

Award goes to Racy McMath, the seventh round wide receiver out of LSU. Now, McMath has a big body, about six foot two. He is very fast. And that's what we knew. We knew that he was a big body, had good speed, and we knew he would be a special teams ace. But what we didn't really know was how good of an actual wide receiver he could be. And that's why he dropped to the seventh round in the draft. Quite frankly, at LSU, he sat behind guys who were just more talented than him at the wide receiver position, and he never got the opportunity to show what he can do.

So maybe the Titans have stumbled upon something because Ray C. McMath was making a ton of plays in the one-on-one period down by the red zone, leaping over top of defensive backs to make catches. Did pretty good in seven-on-seven and team as well. And Mike Vrabel even talked about after practice, talked about the kind of guy that Racy McMathis said that he was fun to coach, big guy, good speed. And Racy McMath would do one-on-one drills at the wide receiver position

and then go over and make tackles while working on special teams. I mean, that's the kind of player that a coach is going to love. And he has kind of become the early favorite for the Titans Training Camp Sweetheart Award. And it looks like right now, all the skill sets that he has on special teams, maybe on offense as well in the way that Mike Vrabel's talking about him. It looks like Rayce McMath is on a fast track to a roster spot. The next big highlight though is a wide receiver you guys know very well and that is A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown, not only was he

back in training camp fully healthy, but he was not wearing a brace or any protective equipment on his knees. And he looked insane. He put the work on Jackrabbit Jenkins and one-on-ones. Now, one-on-ones are set up for the wide receiver to win. Team defense is what you're going to need. But it's hard not to see A.J. Brown looking so explosive. It was just obvious that he's a different animal out there than the rest of the players. He is just a bona fide star and he showed that on day one. Incredibly impressive. The next guy that I want to mention really popped out there on the field and it was defensive lineman

Tyre Tartt. So Tyre Tartt got a lot of praise from Mike Vrabel in his press conference after practice. He talked about how Tyeir Tart came to defensive line coach Terrell Williams, came to Mike Vrabel himself, and wanted to know after last season what he needed to do to get better specifically. And he's remade his body. He's stronger. He's more explosive. And Mike Vrabel really credited him for that work in the offseason. And he made a bunch of plays out there today in team period, blowing up run plays to the left, to the right. He's truly a gap penetrator with a lot of explosion. It's similar to how Jarrell Casey played football, quite frankly. I'm not comparing him to Jarrell Casey and putting him on that pedestal, but just trying to give you a visualization of what he is best at as a player. And quite frankly,

I'll talk a little bit more about it later, but the Titans need Tyre Tart to be a much improved player this year, coming off a up and down season as an undrafted free agent last year. Outside of that, the safety tandem for the Titans defense, Kevin Byard, Amani Hooker. Amani Hooker had a pick six on Ryan Tannehill and seven on seven. Kevin Byard made multiple plays, breaking up passes over the middle of the field. The Titans safeties were everywhere. And the reality here is for the Titans defense to take a step, they're going to need improved secondary play. And we put a big focus on the cornerback position, but there's a reason that the Titans moved away from Kenny Vaccaro

not only in the all-season, but during the season last year, and put Imani Hooker out there, and also, Kevin Byer just has to improve his play regardless of what's going on around him, and both of those guys really showed out on day one, and the Titans are going to need that improvement in a big way going forward. The last guy, I snuck him in here at the end. My personal training camp sweetheart is Elijah Molden. The cornerback out of Washington got praise from Mike Rabel after practice for his intelligence. He's going to be competing at that slot cornerback spot. I just have a lot of faith in the guy as an athlete,

in the guy as a thinker of the game. He was one of the smartest players in the Pac-12 last year, truly understands route concepts, understands coverages, and being praised for your intelligence by the head coach on the first practice of training camp, to me, that's an easy sign that this player should be praised for his IQ coming out of college, and it sounds like a guy who has a good grasp of the Titans playbook, at least early on.

I think knowing your playbook, knowing your assignments, those are things that are going to get you credited for your intelligence from your head coach on day one. So that's how I'm seeing things. Elijah Molden, maybe not as much hype as Racy McMath on day one. So that's how I'm seeing things. Elijah Molden, maybe not as much hype as Racy McMath on day one, but I think he should be listed in the training camp highlights. Now we are going to get into just more breakdown, more analysis of what took place in the first Titans practice of the year. But first I do want to tell you guys about rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is an online business that's been serving auto parts customers for over 20 years. You go to rockauto.com, check out their online catalog. It's really easy to navigate, really easy to use. You can see all the different brands,

specifications that they have available, and a few easy clicks gets whatever you need delivered directly to your door. Think about the other way to do this, the traditional way to do this. Go to a chain auto parts store. You wait in line. You're next to dudes who smell bad. You come to the front counter. You say, I need this.

They say, what kind of engine? What kind of mileage? What kind of vehicle? Asking you all these different questions. It's like, I should have just done this myself if you don't know anything then you figure out what part you need they don't have it in stock they got to order it from a warehouse you're gonna have to come back see the smelly dude again pick up your item and the whole time the smelly guy is getting half the price on his item because he's a professional mechanic and you're a do-it-yourselfer. Why? Just why? Why? Never do that again. Go to rockauto.com right now. See all the parts available

for your car, truck, and maintenance on your vehicle is even more important in the heat of the summer. When you get what you need from rockauto.com, write locked on in the how did you hear about us box. It's tucked right underneath where you're going to put your shipping information. So they know that I sent you. Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All of the parts your car will ever need. RockAuto.com

We have a lot more Tennessee Titans practice to talk about, so let's dive right in. I want to get into some of the players that are coming off injury, and I guess some of the ways that Mike Vrabel is managing things. We broke down Mike Vrabel's training camp opening press conference yesterday, and he talked about making adjustments to the plan, everybody having their own individual plan. Certain veterans don't need as many reps or as much time as the young guys do. It wouldn't even make sense for Taylor LeJuan to get as many reps as Dylan Radins. Nothing about that makes sense, and we saw Mike V Rabel put that into practice today. So, Taylor LeJuan was back out on the field. Of course, he wasn't on PUP to start training camp, and even better news, like A.J. Brown, no knee brace present. That is big, not only for the health of the knee, but for Taylor LeJuan's confidence, feeling like that's not a part of his situation anymore.

Also, Jayon Brown, though, coming off a severe elbow injury that ended his season. Jayon Brown was in like a Rob Gronkowski-typed big arm brace, and that's okay. I'm okay, not as worried about it with it being an arm. You never want to see the legs are obviously in sports you kind of need your legs I know that every limb has its own importance but just saying I'm more okay with it being a brace on an arm than I would be as worried if it was a brace on the knee so that's the three main players that I wanted to mention to you here now I will say that guys like Julio Jones,

Taylor LeJuan, Derrick Henry were all limited during the day. They didn't do a lot of reps. They didn't participate a lot in team period. We saw Julio Jones come in during seven on seven and catch a touchdown pass, but outside of that, those guys were incredibly limited. I don't think that it's health or injury in every case. Obviously, Taylor is coming back, but Julio and Derrick Henry are longtime veterans. Derrick Henry doesn't need to get every rep, especially with the amount of carries he's gotten in the last few years. It just wouldn't make any sense. Julio's a guy you can count on, barely needs to practice at this point in his career. So I think Mike Rabel's being very smart there. Josh Reynolds was limited earlier in the offseason during certain times.

He was fully healthy out there, looked spry, did a good job. Going to mention him a little bit later in more of a negative context, but not about him as a player. Ultimately, we're going to move into some non-injury related items here that I want to talk about with you guys, and it's just more analysis from practice. And number one, speaking of Josh Reynolds, going to use him to segue into Christian Fulton. And Christian Fulton was out there as the starting cornerback opposite of Jackrabbit Jenkins, but he did struggle. Most reports indicate that he had a rough day.

Specifically, you saw a few practice videos of Josh Reynolds really giving him the business and goal line in 7-on-7. So hopefully Fulton can improve. He got a lot of praise from Mike Rabel in the offseason. Hopefully that gets his confidence going. He gets a little bit more comfortable out there going against these veterans. He is essentially a rookie, quite frankly. So got to give him some time, but worth noting he did struggle early on.

Also, Corey Blossom game, the Titans fullback, looks huge. Like, he just looks absolutely huge. Mike Miracles, Mike Herndon from Broadway Sports, estimated that he thought he had gained about 25 pounds of muscle from seeing it on site. The videos would indicate that as well. He just looks monstrous, and it makes sense because the reality here is the Titans aren't going to throw

Kari Blossom game the ball a lot. You remember playing Madden, and they have these different roles or different types for players now. Fullbacks always have utility, which is like a do-it-all Kyle, just neck type fullback who catches the ball, can run the ball a little bit, blocks. And then they have blocking fullbacks. Well, Kari Blossom Game had the body of a utility fullback.

He needs to transfer into the body of a run-blocking fullback. And it looks like that is exactly what he has done. Now, the next thing that I want to update here for you is the punt returners. That's a role that I talked about when we did our training camp preview and I talked about punt return and how that was a role that's going to be up for grabs and based on the reports from practice we know there are three guys who are primarily fighting for that position and I have a feeling that whoever ends up winning that battle will ultimately get a roster spot as a wide receiver. You had Cam Batson, Chester Rogers, and Mason Kinsey, all three wide receivers.

All of those guys are smaller guys. There are three of the smallest, the three smallest wide receivers the Titans have on the roster right now, so I just have a feeling whoever wins that battle probably is fast-tracked to the sixth and final wide receiver spot, or maybe the seventh wide receiver spot. Will be interesting to see how they divvy out the roster numbers. But outside of that, the other competition that we are paying close attention to is the kicker competition. And we saw Blake Heibel and Tucker McCann go at it today

and it looks like on day one Tucker McCann was the winner now McCann hit all five of his field goals Blake Heibel hit all four of his field goals but one of Heibel's kicks did hit off the upright like Sam Sloman in week 17 and went in And most reports indicated that Tucker McCann's kicks were just more powerful. They had a better trajectory to them, had more strength. It just seemed like Tucker McCann had a better ball going through the uprights, even though both guys made all of their kicks. So Tucker McCann is the winner on day one. And remember, McCann has the ability to punt a little too.

So that added versatility would probably give him a quote unquote leg up in the kicker competition. No? No? All right. All right. I'm sorry. I'll see myself out. But let's continue.

The last couple of things I want to mention here. One more individual piece. Breon Borders, who is set right now to be about the Titans' third to fifth cornerback, somewhere in between there, had a pretty good day out there. I said in my 53-man roster projections, my training camp previews, I really like Breon Borders as a depth piece. Played pretty well as a starter at times for the Titans last year. So having him as your fourth or fifth cornerback, I think that's an ideal situation for the Titans. Lastly, Mike Vrabel declared the off-season award winners

for the Tennessee Titans. He picked four guys, and those are Tyre Tartt. We talked about him at the top of the show. Makes sense that he was an off-season winner, and then he popped on day one. I'm sorry that I keep making that joke, guys. I can't help it. I'm going back to the well playing the hits then this is the most important one to me though Larell Murchison the rookie from 2020 the fifth round pick coming in in his second year

really struggled at times last year but Mike Vrabel really credited his ability to change his body, worked really hard during the offseason, obviously an offseason winner, and shout out to my guy Pablo. We had a discussion earlier today about a concern that he had with the Titans' run defense. When you lose a guy like Daquan Jones, you're counting on Tyer Tartt, you're counting on Murchison. The Titans have undersized linebackers generally. Amani Hooker is not a great tackler, especially if you base it on last year. Kevin Byard had his own struggles at times last year, although I'm more confident in him.

All of that together, there's some worry about the Titans' run defense. Tyre Tartt and Larell Murchison improving and being winners of the offseason per the coach. I think that's really important for the Titans. Anthony Ferkser was another name mentioned. And then Nick Westbrook-Akina as well. So those are all four of the guys who got the offseason award winners for their work from last season until now. But next, we are going to talk a little bit about some comments that were made during practice.

One from Titans General Manager John Robinson updating us on the vaccination percentage of the team. Another from Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill that I'm sure some will deem controversial. The Titans also made a roster move that we will break down. So a ton still to talk about on this Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Before we get into it, do want to remind you guys that with football season right around the corner, the fastest way and easiest way to bet on all of the NFL action is betonline.ag.

But not only NFL football, baseball is in full swing right now if you want to dip your toes in early on. Also, college football is going to be here very, very shortly. And there are some good combat sports action throughout the summer still remaining. So make sure that you don't sit on the sidelines anymore. This is your chance to get into the game. Head over to betonline.ag. You can use your laptop or your mobile device.

Sign up for free, and when you make your deposit, make sure you use promo code locked on you'll get a 50 welcome bonus once again head to betonline.ag and use that promo code locked on bet online your online sportsbook experts I cannot tell you guys how awesome it has been to actually break down Titans football. I mean, talking about a real practice. Not just talking about everything that could happen in the season, breaking down the offseason. Real football out on the field. Just such a joy to talk real football with you guys.

We went over the biggest highlights from day one of practice for the Titans training camp. We talked about all the additional tidbits, injuries, all-season winners, everything that I thought was important, I packaged in there for you guys. But now, we're going to talk about some of the other things that happened surrounding the Titans day one of practice that didn't take place on the field. The Titans made a roster transaction, and we got some interesting comments from Titans GM John Robinson and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Before we get into those, do just want to remind you guys about the Locked on Bets podcast.

Betting on the Tennessee Titans doesn't have to be a guessing game when you listen to the Locked on Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. You get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favored picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Make sure that you follow the Locked on Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get your podcast. And first, I'm going to talk about the Titans roster transaction here. They signed cornerback Breon Boddy Calhoun. cornerback Breon Body Calhoun.

And the reason that they did that is because they put cornerback Chris Jones on the COVID reserve list. Chris Jones was fighting just for a training camp invite at the loaded secondary spots. And it's going to be tough for him to hang on to that roster spot now, even when he comes off of the COVID list. But enter Breon Body Calhoun, another cornerback, 5'9", so he is a smaller guy, only played in one game in 2020.

He came into the NFL in 2016. He played quite a bit his first three years in the league, played 14 games his rookie year, 13 his second year, 16 his third year. But after that, things really fell off for him. He played in only three games in 2019, only played in one game with the 49ers last year. Here's the thing about Body Calhoun. He's not going to be coming in trying to get cornerback snaps.

I just don't see that as a realistic possibility. But the Titans have a little bit of a battle going on at the slot position, so maybe he just adds a body there. But more importantly, he's played a good amount of special teams. Those first three years he was in the league, he played 178 special team snaps, then 152 special team snaps, then 250 special team snaps. Then 250 special team snaps.

So he's definitely a guy who's willing to compete on special teams, and that's what the Titans need right now. Consider him a long shot to have any chance to make this roster, but hopefully he competes hard and helps the Titans improve as a team. Now, as I have been doing lately when this topic comes up, we're going to have a little bit of vaccine talk. We got comments from Titans general manager, John Robinson about the Titans vaccination rate. We also got comments from Titans quarterback, Ryan Tannehill that I thought were very interesting. I think some would deem controversial, but I really don't at this moment in time. So,

if any of that conversation bothers you to the point it'll ruin your enjoyment of the show, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you and I'll be back to break down the next day of Titans practice with you guys on Friday. But if you are interesting in hearing what these people had to say about the situation, then I'm going to play that audio for you now. John Robinson talks about how many players on the Tennessee Titans are vaccinated. And we want to be an example for our community, for our state to encourage the vaccination. We're at 90% vaccinated. That's where we're at. So there you have it. The Titans are at 90% vaccination for the team. I think that's a very good number. So there you have it. The Titans are at 90% vaccination for the team. I think that's a very good number,

and obviously that refers to the total 90-man roster. There may be a few unvaccinated players who really won't make the Titans' 53-man roster, which will elevate that number once it happens. But, of course, I guess it could go the other way because we do know about at least two Tennessee Titans who aren't done with the process of being vaccinated and that's Christian Fulton at cornerback and then Ryan Tannehill at quarterback

who both were wearing masks during portions of practice now as I noted on Twitter when that information was put out that could just mean that they are in the process of doing the vaccination one shot and then a second one, their shots scheduled, things like that. So you never want to rush to judgment and say whether or not, and that actually proved to be right later on in the day when Ryan Tannehill broke down his situation. Ryan Tannehill had some pretty candid comments about the vaccine and how he feels about what the NFL protocols have done and have accomplished.

And I'm just going to let him say his piece. Obviously, I agree with some of the things that John Robinson said there about setting an example for the community and things like that. But I also see Ryan Tannehill's point of view here, talking about how the NFL has kind of forced his hand in this way and what he would have done. So I'll just let Ryan Tannehill speak for himself. Yeah, it's a high number.

You look around and almost everybody's either been vaccinated or in process. I'm currently in process right now. So that's what it's asking. Yeah, I think the NFL has kind of made it clear what they want to happen. And, you know, fall in line, they're going to try to take your has kind of made it clear what they want to happen. And if you don't fall in line, they're gonna try to take your life kind of miserable with all the protocols. So, interesting the trend is that most guys are getting vaccinated. I think it's a personal decision for everyone.

Everyone has to make the best decision for them and their families. That's kind of our mindset in this building. But they're trying to force your hand and they ultimately have forced a lot of hands by the protocols. Which is, everyone has their own opinions on it. So it is what it is. I love this game. I love this team.

I want to be able to compete and do the things that I think are important to build chemistry and win football games. So ultimately that forced my hand. That's a good message. I also would like to point out that Ryan Tannehill, along with his obvious demeanor, they're talking about the NFL protocols, the use of the phrase force their hand, force our hand. He just came out and clarified as well.

He would not have gotten the vaccine if not for the NFL protocols. And he's 100% right. Now, you can agree or disagree with how he feels about the situation. But the NFL did essentially say, you know, if you want to play in the NFL this year, you got to get the vaccine. Whether they outright said that or not, their policies, the policies put in place made that apparent. And that's the conversation that we have to have here.

Just because the NFL didn't come out and literally say that doesn't mean that they aren't practically forcing guys to do it. Now, some people are okay with that. Some people aren't. I'm not weighing in on that topic period I made that decision a long time ago it's it's not my place to tell people how to live how to live their lives or how to feel but for the purposes of covering the Tennessee Titans it is important to hear these things and to hear how these guys feel and I think Ryan Tannehill did a

good job of explaining how he felt while and you could hear him do so tiptoeing around you know offending anybody so I appreciate that sort of professionalism and also appreciate John Robinson's candidness and giving us the the vaccination number as well but that is an entire breakdown of the first full-team Tennessee Titans practice from 2021 training camp. I hope you guys did enjoy, and I will be back with you guys on Friday breaking everything down again. So, until then, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland,

and this was Locked on Titans.