Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans SUMMER PLANS: Cam Ward Won't Stop, Training Camp Schedule & Joint Practice Pluses

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

The Tennessee Titans head into their summer break with a lot riding on the next five weeks. If the Titans stay out of trouble and off the injury report, it will be a successful break. When training camp rolls around in late July, the Titans have some major battles to watch play out and those players involved better take advantage of the break. Finally, the preseason brings big time battles with NFC south opponents as the Titans hit joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.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)

The Tennessee Titans have officially hit summer break, but Cam Ward has a simple plan for how to get ready for training camp. I'll break it down on today's edition of Locked on Titan. 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 rolling Titans fans. Today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by fan duel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins on today's show, we're going to take a look at what comes next for the $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

On today's show, we're going to take a look at what comes next for the Tennessee Titans now that they've officially hit their summer break. I'll tell you what the plan needs to be until training camp rolls around. We'll dive into what to watch for at Tennessee Titans training camp when it kicks off in five to six weeks. And we'll talk about the Tennessee Titans preseason schedule, where I think the joint practices with NFC South teams will be very, very helpful.

I'm going to get you ready for the path all the way up to kick off in week one of the NFL season on today's show. Before we dive into it, do want to thank you 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.

Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one. It may be the off season for the Tennessee Titans, but there is no off season here on Locked On Titans. And next week is gonna be division rivalry week. I'm going to have a ranking of the Tennessee Titans on offense and defense against the rest of the division.

I'm going to do a deep dive on every division rival. You aren't going to want to miss any of the content that I got playing for you guys. So again, make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. But with that being said, the Tennessee Titans finally complete their off season program. The off season is not officially over because there's another five to six weeks here before the Titans kickoff training camp at the end of July. But the Tennessee Titans off season activities are officially over the OTAs mandatory mini camp, the rookie mini-camp,

all of that different stuff is officially over and when the Titans return for training camp, it will technically not be the off-season anymore. Like, this is the season, it's time to get ready, it's training camp. And Brian Callahan had a final message, I guess, to the guys as the Titans wrapped up the off-season work. And I thought it was important to share with you guys. He said, quote, I'll share with you guys, the media, the same message I shared with the team. I appreciate their attendance. I appreciate their buy-in. The work we put in, we are a better team now than we were when we started. I'm excited about getting ready for training camp.

It's been competitive. It's been intense. We've gotten a lot of great work in over the course of the off-season program. That ultimately doesn't guarantee us anything. So we got a lot of work still ahead of us. We got a whole training camp to go. I like where we're at, and I'm appreciative of the effort

that's been put in. So again, like we talked about on yesterday's episode, like Brian Callahan is like a good dude. You know what I mean? I want him to work out or a couple of days ago. Love these kind of answers. But here's the reality. Like Brian Callahan said, off season work ultimately does not guarantee anything. It's simply a good start to the process. So now the Tennessee Titans need to hammer the rest of the process, training camp, joint practices, but these next five to six weeks are critically important. I would throw it back to Mike Vrabel, former Tennessee Titans head coach. Mike Vrabel used to say all the time that these five to six weeks summer break, as I like to call it, summer break is the most important time of the year, is what Mike Vrabel used to say, because this is the time where are you going to work harder? Are you going to keep pushing? Are you going to stay in the playbook? Are you going to stay out on the field? Are you

going to stay in great shape? Are you going to do all of these things that professionals are going to stay in the playbook? Are you going to stay out on the field? Are you going to stay in great shape? Are you going to do all of these things that professionals are going to do? Or are you going to treat summer break like a kid would treat summer break from school? And you're going to go out and you're going to party more. You're going to go on a bunch of vacations. You're going to, you know, lax, oh, I need to get this rest in, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How are you going to handle it? This time of year, especially for younger players,

does Jeffrey Simmons need the best next five to six weeks? You know, does Patrick Mahomes need the best five to six weeks? Probably not. You know what I mean? I think Calvin Ridley would probably be chill if he didn't, you know, kill himself during the next five to six weeks with workouts and stuff like that. He'd probably be all right. But the young players, the young players who aren't perfectly up to date, the young players who aren't maybe in pure football shape after they've been doing draft prep work since their college football season ended this five to six weeks is critically important for the young players and that includes cam ward. All right.

So what is cam ward going to do here? What needs to happen? I'm going to tell you that. But my last point here, my last point about the overall team, is during this next five to six weeks, three things must happen. Three things. No off the field issues, no injuries, and just get better. Even if it's one, two, three percent, just improve. No off field, no injuries, and just improve.

Those are the only three things that any Tennessee Titans player has to think about during the next five to six weeks before we get to training camp. If the Titans have a quiet summer break with no injuries, no off field and just quiet improvement, that is the best thing that they could ever hope for. Period. No questions asked. That's the only things you have to hope for during summer break. Now for Cam Ward,

I don't have a lot of concern about Cam Ward and what he's going to be doing over the next five to six weeks. I want to go to a quote that Cam Ward gave to reporters after practice at the end of mandatory mini camp. I'm not going to say it verbatim here, but they asked Cam Ward, what's your plan for the summer until training camp? I'm going to say it verbatim here, but they asked cam ward, what's your plan for the summer until training camp? He said, quote, just work out, stay in the playbook and throw the blank out of the ball.

I'll let you fill in the blank or not fill in the blank if you don't want to. But the point here is I am not worried about cam ward's summer plan at all. This dude is so locked in, so hyper focused, so driven to his goal. You go back to the 5 a.m. The lore is building, right? Cam Ward's lore is building as we speak, but all the 5 a.m. stuff, he's in here at 5 a.m. He's the last guy here. We got to tell Cam Ward to go home. We got to kick him out of the offices like to go home, we got to kick them out of the offices like that sort of guy. I'm not worried about him doing the right things over summer.

Now, what I would like to see from cam ward over the summer is get the guys together. I think Brian Callahan is right to a point. Like you could be hyper focused and passionately obsessive and all that stuff, but you do still need to have some semblance of relaxation. Like there has to be some balance. And what that looks like to me is, hey, you know, go to some Caribbean resort and throw there with the guys. You get your relaxation and stuff because you're in this environment, you're going to take advantage and you'll hit the spa and have some drinks and eat good food and stay in a nice hotel on the water and all that stuff, but get the work in. Throw with the guys, invite the guys. You know what I think Cam Ward should do? Invite Will Levis. He's a part of this team going forward until he's not. So you get Will Levis, you get all the rookie pass catchers, Calvin Ridley, get the guys together.

That's what I want to see Cam Ward and the Titans do during the summer break along with no off field, no injuries, and just improve. It's that simple. But with that being said, when the Tennessee Titans get back from summer break, it's time for training camp. and we got to talk about everything. We need to have our eyes on when the end of July rules around. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandool Sportsbook. Look, the NBA finals are coming to a close every night, delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments, whether it's a game winning shot or a breakout player,

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your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast, but Training camp starts for the Tennessee Titans on July 22nd July 22nd. I believe it is a Tuesday. We got my handy dandy calendar app here. Yeah It's a Tuesday and then Wednesday the 23rd July the 23rd on Wednesday the Titans will be back out on the practice field.

And then every training camp practice that the Titans have is open to the media. Now they're not all open to fans, but they're open to media. So like, it'll be just like mandatory mini camp week, you know, we are, we are locked in here folks, ready to go. But, when training camp kicks off, the number one thing that everyone's going to be looking for, obviously, is Cam Ward's improvement. How much better is Cam Ward got? How much more comfortable is he with the playbook, with his teammates? How is he going to perform?

It is going to be an every single day event. No doubt about it. Every single day, the conversation around Cam Ward is going to be up, down, this and that, depending on what he does day in and day out. And as I said last week, when we talked about day two and day three of mandatory mini camp and how they weren't as clean for Cam Ward, we talked about the fact that development is not linear. Like Cam Ward's not just going to get better every single day forever. And just constantly every single day gets better and better and better and better. Some days aren't going to look as good. Some days are going to be learning days.

Some days are going to be days where he's dominant and he's incredible. And then it's going to come back down the next day. Development is not always linear. So we can live and die with every single day of training camp. And I guarantee we will. I'm not going to act like we aren't going to do that. But, but you do need to keep in mind, like, the person Cam Ward is on day one of training camp is not who he's going to be at the end of training camp as we get to the season,

and it's not just going to be a constant string of good days on the way to get there. You know what I mean? But obviously all eyes are going to be on Cam Ward as soon as Titan's training Training Camp kicks off and they should be. And then again, the rookie weapons. This time frame, this gap, this summer break, so massive for Cam Ward and his rookie weapons. Sounds like a, you know, a 1960s pop band. Cam Ward and the rookie weapons. You know, but seriously, the chemistry that they can develop during this break if they hang out together and they work together could not only make Cam Ward better, but it could make all of those dudes better in year one, which is what the Tennessee Titans desperately need. They desperately, desperately, desperately need these rookie

pass catchers to step up and make a big difference on the team. Elecayo Manor, Chim Dike, Xavier Restrepo, Gunnar Helm. So, the summer break will be monst- uh, massive, monstrous, massive, whatever you want to pick, for those guys, but that's why, that's immediately what I'm going to be looking for when training camp kicks off. Because we're going to know how much did the work help, how big of a gap is there now. We're going to start to see first team, second team, third team actually matter and actually kind of start to play out. We'll have an idea where these guys are, who they're working with and what their spot on

the depth chart is. So the two biggest priorities at Tennessee Titans training camp by far, cam wards development and then the development of his rookie pass catchers. And obviously those things are tied together a little bit based on this summer break. Now from there, it's time folks to get in the trenches. So with mandatory mini camp, one of the things that I've said all along is anything trench related, whether it be the defensive line, the pass rush, run blocking the offensive line. You can't take too much from that. The offensive line is a massive disadvantage and they're not going to be able to run block the same when you can't get inside your pads and move guys around, when you don't have pads on, athleticism

is even bigger of a determining factor and a difference maker than it would be with the pads on. The pads can be somewhat of the great equalizer. You know what I mean? But for the Titans, with all of the uncertainty surrounding the offensive line, and then the pass rush, and the bounce back of the run defense, which was awful at times last year, historically bad at times last year. curious to keep my eye on the trenches. Did JC Latham truly make a big leap? Is Peter Skoronsky ready to finally become that all-pro level guard that we hoped he could be when he was drafted first round? Is Dan Moore worth the contract that they gave? Will Lloyd Cushinbury bounce back? If not, can Corey Levin or Jackson Slater hold that spot down? Massive questions. And whereas we couldn't really get a lot of answers to those questions

during mandatory mini camp because like I talked about, no pads, massive advantage for the defense. We'll get those answers in training camp. Now, they don't start with pads on in training camp. I think it takes the first week of practices and then the second week of practice they put the pads on but The trenches all the answers that we're looking to get they can be found in training camp with the trenches Especially what's going to happen? You know right after Training camp when we get into these joint practices in these preseason games now

We're really gonna see it not only against the Titans defense, but against real teams and likewise I look at the defensive line I talked about the pass rush on yesterday's show I am confident I feel like I know for certain that the Tennessee Titans pass rush cannot be great even if Femi works out but that's really the pass rush as a whole what's Draymond Jones's role going to be is he going to play some on the edge or is is he gonna be that interior rusher where he's been best? Is Femi Oladejo going to be a starter from day one for the Titans? Is he gonna prove that? we've seen from Femi, his work ethic, his personality, his size, his strength, the reports about his performance in mandatory minicamp, everything right now leans us to, hey, this guy maybe can be ready to play earlier than expected. Well, we're going to know in training camp. Training camp is where we find out that

answer again, because the pads are going to be on and all of that trench warfare is Tavandre Sweat more explosive, off the line of scrimmage, better with his pass rush moves. Like so many questions in the trenches on offense and the defensive line where we need to see those answers. And then, of course, one step back, the linebackers. We've been talking about James Williams, Cedric Gray, Otis Reese. Should we include Anthony Ojeri in that conversation? He's been getting some hype here and there at mandatory minicamp when this coach is talking about him. So be curious to see how that linebacker battle works out.

And look, linebacker isn't quite the same as the offensive line and the defensive line because seven on seven in pass coverage. Like that's a big part of playing linebacker, but getting downhill and making tackles and reading your keys and diagnosing the run and getting off blocks and shedding guys. That's a big part of playing linebacker too, obviously. So we're only getting a picture of it. James Williams looks like he's been pretty solid and coverage so far. Can he reproduce that in run defense too?

That's what we'll find out in training camp and then injury stuff. Will Snead be back at any point in training camp? I have my doubts. Will Lloyd Cushenberry be back at any point in training camp? I have my doubts. Will Lloyd Cushenberry be back at any point during training camp? I have my doubts. Will Kevin Winston be ready to go by then? Dan Moore got banged up on day two of mandatory mini camp,

didn't return on day three. Was it serious? Will he be back? What's going on there? So much to find out, so much to pay attention to at Tennessee Titans training camp. Again, it starts on July the 23rd practice wise. July the 22nd is when the players arrive. But after training camp, we get into the preseason and the Tennessee Titans have two big time opportunities to kind of figure out

how good they are during the preseason, and it's not the preseason games. Titans fans. Let's cap off today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the Tennessee Titans summer, I guess expectations, Cam Ward's plan, what we're looking at at training camp, and now we're going to continue forward. Again, we're making our way all the way to week one for the Tennessee Titans. But after training camp, the Titans have two big weeks to start the preseason. So number one, they have a preseason game. Their first preseason game is August the ninth at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 7 30 p.m. Eastern 6 30 p.m. Central Time. But two days before that on August the 7th the Titans will have a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And I love joint practices. I love joint practices. Let me tell you why I love joint practices. Joint practices are more beneficial than the preseason games because you get your best players, the reps. So we're actually going to see, not in the preseason game, but in joint practice, we're going to see Baker Mayfield against Titans first team defense, Cam Ward against Buccaneers first team defense. We're probably not going to see that in preseason game week one. So the practice, the joint practices are more competitive scrimmages than the preseason games are. Not only that, but you get to go against someone else, which mark my words,

I've been doing this a few years now, mark my words when we get to the joint practices, all we're going to hear from Titans players is, oh, it's nice to hit somebody else. It's just nice to hit somebody else. And not only that, but you go through training camp, you go through the all season program, and you start to know your teammates a little too well. You know their moves, you know their their counters and you're prepared for them, which doesn't really give you the work that you deserve because you're not going to go up against your teammates every week. So not only is the competitiveness ratcheted up from a pre-season game, and

you're going to see real players in the joint practices, but also it gives you a different look, which is going to help your development. And not only that, but I really love joint practices because other teams are nowhere near as strict as the Titans are. So we're going to get full 11 on 11, full seven on seven videos from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because their fans are allowed to come that day and their media are allowed to take those kind of videos.

So we're going to get the best inside access that we could possibly get to our favorite team vicariously through another team, which is a huge blunder by the Tennessee Titans as an organization, in my opinion. But that's the way they want to conduct themselves, then be the mafia. Sure. But it's like when the Titans played against the Vikings in joint practices, we actually got full videos of practice. It was awesome. Okay. But outside of that, Tampa Bay blitzes a ton. Todd Bowles loves to blitz. So that's going to be a big test for Cam Ward early on. They have good weapons on offense with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and now Emeka Buka and uh freaking uh Jaylen the wide receiver out of Washington. Jaylen McMillan. You got Bucky Irving, Cade Otten like they have a lot of really good weapons and

their offensive line is pretty good too with Tristan Werfs who's awesome. They have some other good pieces on the offensive line as well. So with Tampa Bay and all the talent they have being a playoff team, that's going to be a great test for the Titans. Now I like though, the next week the Titans have their second preseason game in Atlanta against the Falcons on August 15th at 7 p.m. Eastern. They have joint practices two days that week against the Falcons on the 12th and the 13th. The Falcons pass rush is not good. Now they added Jaylen Walker and they added James Pierce's rookies, but those are rookies. Their pass rush was despicably bad. It was so bad. I can barely say it. Despicably bad last year.

And quite frankly, the Falcons pass rush has been disgusting for a long time. The Falcons have the least amount of sacks in the NFL over the last 20 years, the last 10 years, and the last five years. They've had a terrible pass rush since I was in middle school. And that should be a nice reprieve for the Titans after dealing with all the pressure that the Buccaneers are going to bring. And then we're going to see, okay, that's a heavy blitz team that brings a lot of pressure. What does Cam Ward look like against maybe a little bit lesser of a pass rush group? Now on the flip side, the weapons on offense, Drake London, B. John Robinson, Kyle Pitts,

if he gets healthy, Drake London, Darnell Mooney. Thank you. Jeej. Takes me some time, but I'll pull it out. They have pretty good weapons on offense in Atlanta. They have a pretty solid offensive line too. So whereas Tampa Bay to me will be a really good read on the Titans defense. How good is the defense or offense? Sorry, I'm getting it all confused now. How good's the offense against a really good defense that brings a lot of pressure? Whereas the Titans, I'm looking at the defense. How does the defense do against the weapons of the Atlanta Falcons

in an offense that I think could be pretty solid? That's what I'll be watching. Now, August 22nd is the Titans final preseason game of the year. It's finally at home against the Minnesota Vikings. But what I find interesting is, with it being the Titans only home game, and the Titans doing joint practices against the two teams that they're going on the road against. Brian Callahan has said they're taking a team trip.

They're not coming home after the game against Tampa Bay. They're going to stay on the road like a true training camp. He said last year, because training camp was at home, it was in Nashville. You know, once camp is over, once practice is over for the day, guys go home. But if you're on the road together, there is no going home. You are home and the guys will spend more time together and they'll be closer teammates and they'll get to know each other. And that is another way of fostering that leadership, that culture, that

environment that Brian Callahan has been laser focused on getting correct throughout the entire off season. So it's cool that they're going to be away as a team in a true camp environment for two weeks. Then they finished with Minnesota 8 PM. I love that as a test, another team with a great defense that blitzes a ton. We're going to see just how ready cam ward is for pressure in the NFL against Minnesota early in that third preseason game. They have great weapons on offense,

but their quarterback is not a certainty. So you kind of get to put JJ McCarthy against Cam Ward in this matchup and see that, but really good defense. It's going to bring a ton of pressure, going to give the O line a real challenge. You get to challenge the defensive backfield against a great group of weapons. And they have a quarterback that isn't that great. So, you know, Cam Ward can outplay him. And let's see how that goes.

But that, all of that, then there's a break, of course. There's a one week, bye week, where the fourth preseason game used to be. It's not there anymore, but then after that week one, Tennessee Titans, September the seventh on the road against the Denver Broncos. So very excited. That's the path forward. That's the summer plans. Can't wait as it all unfolds, but I'll be back with you guys next week.

It's division rival week. You don't want to miss it. That's going to do it for me today though. Folks, as always, I am your host Tyler Roland and this was locked on tight.