Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans TRENCH FIGHT, Tempers Flare, Will Levis Rotating & First Team Offense Looks Sharp

Starting point is 00:00:00 We saw some high intensity at Tennessee Titans practice on Tuesday that led to a few dust-ups, but we also saw some improvement from the Titans offensive line. We're going to dive into everything you need to know about Tennessee Titans Tuesday practice on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! You are Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:55 I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we got a lot to discuss on today's show, breaking down Titans practice on Tuesday. Tempers flared. There were a couple of dust-ups out there, but we got to focus on the Titans offensive line and the improvement that Mike Vrabel discussed after practice. Also, more updates in the backup quarterback battle. Will Levis has another good day, and he may just be taking over quarterback two right in front of our eyes.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Also, the first-team offense has an up- up and down day, but Tannehill was pretty sharp out there. Before we get into all of that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of the NFL. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started today. Also, thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there. Let me know down below who you guys are.

Starting point is 00:02:08 Throw a thumbs up on the video as well. That support really helps out the channel. The show's always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button. Do want to let you guys know that on tomorrow's show, I'm going to go over some under-the-radar players from Tennessee Titans training camp, some players that haven't got talked about enough.

Starting point is 00:02:25 So we're going to do that tomorrow. But let's talk about these fights. Let's talk about these dust-ups. I wouldn't necessarily call them fights, but there were definitely some high-intensity dust-ups. Number one, on the third play of practice, literally the third play of practice, Jeffrey Simmons and Jamarco Jones getting a shoving match.

Starting point is 00:02:45 People are pushing each other's face mask, maybe a punch or two, maybe a face shove, whatever you want to call it. There was definitely some high intensity. Mike Vrabel tried to calm it down. It didn't calm down. So Mike Vrabel kicked out Jamarco Jones and Jeffrey Simmons. Literally kicked them out of practice.

Starting point is 00:03:04 Jamarco Jones was so mad that he went inside for a little while. Jeffrey Simmons walked straight over to the sand pit where guys have to go. And Jamarco Jones ended up coming back out, working in the sand pit as well. But they literally kicked him out of practice for getting in the dust up. So Mike Rabel don't play that. Mike Rabel don't play that. Mike Rabel doesn't want these guys fighting out there. He always preaches take care of your teammates.

Starting point is 00:03:27 And the one thing I do want to note here is Jamarco Jones is supposed to be starting at right tackle. If Jamarco Jones gets kicked out of practice, well now Jamarco Jones is given a ton of opportunity to Chris Hubbard, who was just signed. So not a very smart decision from Jamarco Jones. Jamarco Jones has been in more fights than games for the Titans in the one and a half years that he's been with the team.

Starting point is 00:03:52 He got in a fight with Taylor LeJuan before practice last year. Now he's getting in a fight with Jeffrey Simmons getting kicked out. Look, I like intensity, but I just got to say this. Any of you guys who have ever played sports before in your whole life, you know the guy that starts to throw a fit when he's losing. You know the guy who starts to throw a fit if maybe the guy who's behind him starts playing better. I don't know. Call it what it is, but to me, Jamarco Jones just kind of seems like, I don't know, kind of like a crybaby. At the end of the day, I don't know the guy personally, so maybe that's too far. Maybe I

Starting point is 00:04:23 shouldn't say that, but just everything that we've heard about DeMarco, his demeanor in interviews, like he just seems like a pouty guy. Like he's just always complaining, pouty, focusing on the negative. I could be wrong about that. Again, I don't know him personally, but the experience with him so far with the Titans,

Starting point is 00:04:42 that's what I would say. So he gave a lot of opportunity to Chris Hubbard to jump in there and be the starting right tackle for the day. But that wasn't the only dust-up. At one point in practice, Aziz Alshayer grabbed Traylon Burks on a reverse and ripped him down with a horse collar tackle and then taunted him afterwards. Mike Vrabel literally ran in there, threw a flag,

Starting point is 00:05:04 told Aziz that not only would it be taunting, but it's a horse collar tackle, and he would have got two penalties in one. Mike Vrabel was not happy. And then on the very next play, on the very next play, Aziz Alshayer drilled Tajay Spears in the backfield and made him fumble.

Starting point is 00:05:23 Now, I've seen reporting that said that it was an unfair hit. They're not going full go in practice. It's not full contact in practice. Mike Vrabel, again, preaches protecting your teammates. And I've heard that that Aziz hit on Spears may have been a little bit across the line. But that's the intensity, guys. The pads are on.

Starting point is 00:05:41 People are ready to hit. People are fed up going against the same guys over and over, and they want to go out there and smack somebody. That's the type of players you want in football. So I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but you can definitely tell that the intensity is rising out there. And I do want to talk about the offensive line real quick before we move on, though,

Starting point is 00:06:02 and just generally about their performance on the day. It was ugly early. We saw multiple sacks. Danico Autry drove Trevon Wesco into the backfield and made Tannehill trip. Danico Autry was in the backfield again on an inside move.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Arden Key got there again and probably had another sack. So it was up and down early but Mike Vrabel gave us a quote after practice. He thinks that the offensive line is getting better. So I just want to read this quote to you because I know we've been talking about the offensive line and I just don't think it's time to panic even though it's fair to be worried.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Mike Vrabel said, we've had some better pockets with pads on. I thought that it looked like crap through a brass horn the first couple of days, and I think it's been better with pads on. I think these guys have been able to try again to build some depth in the middle. Talking about good protection in the middle. The quarterback can step up and try to get some width to the edge rushers. He means move the edge rushers past the quarterback up the field.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Not that it was perfect, but I would say it is improved from my vantage point. He also said this, I try to stand back there, like back by the quarterback, and that's one of the things that I can kind of feel. I'm like, maybe I wouldn't want to be a quarterback on this player. Hey, there is some comfort level. Again, they're working together.

Starting point is 00:07:30 They're seeing the games, twists and stunts up front from the D-line. They're building profiles on rushers, like a scouting report on a pass rusher. This guy likes to rush this way. This guy likes to do certain moves. That's all part of the progression, I think. That's great insight from the progression, I think. That's great insight from Mike Vrabel right there, talking about all of the different things that the offensive line is trying to do.

Starting point is 00:07:53 So the offensive line has struggled early on, but like Mike Vrabel said, it has gotten better with pads on, and that makes sense. Offensive linemen in space situations, when they can't leverage their physicality, it makes sense that the offensive line might struggle without pads on. But now the pads are put on, the offensive line is doing a little bit better, so it may not be great. And it is fair if you have concern. I'm not telling you not to worry about the Titans offensive line going into the

Starting point is 00:08:19 season. But, but I think we need to give this offensive line some time. New offensive coordinator, new offensive line coach, brand new offense, new pieces. I mean, with NPS suspended, that's four out of five offensive linemen will be different on week one. The Titans have a great front as well. And, again, there were no pads for the first week. So, I still think that the

Starting point is 00:08:46 offensive line could be the downfall of this team, but it's not time to declare that based on what we've seen so far. So I think we just got to give this offensive line some time. And Mike Vrabel has said that they're improving and the pockets are getting better now that the pads are on. But with that being said, we got a lot more to talk about on today's show. Will Levis continues to take over the backup quarterback role. We got more evidence of that, but I need to be fair to Malik Willis who had some good plays as well. So we'll dive into that. Plus give you guys an update on who was injured at practice, who returned to practice, who missed practice, the first team offense, a bunch of stuff at the end of the show as well. Before we get into all of that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode

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Starting point is 00:10:47 Titans fans, let's continue today's recap, today's breakdown of Tennessee Titans practice. We talked about some of the dust-ups that happened. Simmons versus Jamarco Jones getting in a fight. Aziz Alshire taking on the entire Titans offense. And Mike Vrabel, it felt like, talked about the offensive line some as well. And Mike Vrabel's comments on how the pass protection is improving now that they have pads on.

Starting point is 00:11:08 But I want to transition and we got to talk about this backup quarterback battle again because Will Levis and Malik Willis continue to take steps every single day. And I wanted to bring this up because yesterday, I told you guys that today's practice would be basically a team scrimmage. Mike Vrabel calls it, call it, is basically what it is. And the Titans go out there, and they gave both sides of the ball a mini playbook to run. So it really was like an organized team scrimmage.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Each team got a mini playbook the night before that they were supposed to study. Tim Kelly was calling in offensive plays to the helmet of the quarterback like normal. They were doing a full field drive. Hey, you complete a pass for 20 yards, get in the huddle, call a play, like you're doing a real-life drive. So this was basically a real scrimmage. I wanted to bring that up before I get into any of this stuff

Starting point is 00:11:57 because it's so important that these aren't just guys running good plays and executing good plays in practice. They are literally simulating game situations right now to determine how much progress these guys have made. How well do you know your plays? How's your stamina? Can you keep your wits about you as the drive continues? All this stuff. It's different than one play after another when guys know what's coming. So this was This was a huge practice. And Will Levis, once again, had a great day. I mean, stacking days. That's what they say, stack days.

Starting point is 00:12:31 And right now, Will Levis had his best day of camp on Monday through five touchdown passes, was absolutely awesome, started rotating in with the twos, and then today he had another pretty good day and got even more work with the twos. So I see Levis climbing up the depth chart. Let's talk about some of the particulars here that happened on the day. Will Levis started 0-3 on the day.

Starting point is 00:12:53 There were drop passes. Malik Willis was the victim yesterday on Monday, or whenever you're listening to this, could be two days ago. But on Monday's practice, Malik Willis had a couple of drops that were not his fault. Other people's.

Starting point is 00:13:04 And that transferred to Will Levis today. Will Levis had some drops early in practice and balls that were good placement or were there and they just weren't caught. I think that just goes to show us that, yeah, the Titans added DeAndre Hopkins and that makes their talent level higher, but they still don't have depth at the skill position players. It's still an issue that they need to work on throughout the next few years of roster building. But after the 0-3 start, four passes completed in a row for Will Levis included a deep bomb down the sideline to Reggie Roberson. Then immediately after a touchdown pass

Starting point is 00:13:42 in the back corner to Reggie Roberson. Roberson had a good day, but we'll talk about him tomorrow. He had a play-action strike to Racey McMath for a good game. Came back, hit Mason Kinsey from 15 yards out in the left corner for another touchdown. I mean, Will Levis was just on it, man. Will Levis was just on it. I don't know what else to say. Some of you guys see favoritism. When I defended Malik last year, everybody was saying I was a homer becausevis was just on it. I don't know what else to say. Some of you guys see favoritism when I defended Malik last year. Everybody was saying I was a homer because I was defending

Starting point is 00:14:09 Malik. Nobody's happy. It depends on who you like and who you want to win. All I can tell you is what happened in practice. Will Levis rotated in with the twos. He had a great day again. Good day again, we'll say. Reports indicate he was smooth, efficient, in command, getting his guys in and out of the huddle. He was making quick reads, delivering the ball. Mike Vrabel said this. His demeanor has been pretty good. As far as maybe some negative plays or things that have come up,

Starting point is 00:14:38 I've seen him be able to process and just kind of transition to the next play and listening to Tim Kelly and what Tim has going on. So I think it's been pretty good. We just need to continue that and make sure not too high, not too low. I would agree he was able to kind of transition and get the call, get guys in and out of the huddle, and that's certainly a great start. I just got to take you guys back to last year.

Starting point is 00:15:07 The things that Malik Willis had the biggest learning curve with. Getting in and out of the huddle. Calling regular plays. Getting guys lined up. Mike Vrabel said before training camp kicked off, he wanted to see Malik Willis have a better command of the huddle. Have more of a presence to him. Be more, he didn't use this, but let's bedle, have more of a presence to him, be more,

Starting point is 00:15:25 he didn't use this, but let's be real, be more of a leader to the guys, all of that. And he's praising Will Levis for doing that stuff right now. And remember, this was a simulated scrimmage, essentially, for the Titans, where this was as close to what a preseason game is going to be like for the Titans. And Will Levis was the one who stepped up and elevated his game and threw multiple touchdowns and organized the huddle and commanded the offense. So, I mean, that is what it is. Now, we do got to talk.

Starting point is 00:16:00 Well, let me say this. Will Levis was 5 for 11 on the day. He's now 28 for 41. But I'm going to come back to that in just a moment. Malik Willis had a big gainer on a play-action pass to Karis Jackson. He made a good pass down the sideline to Racey McMath that he caught and had some run-out for catchability. He threw a deep pass to Reggie Roberson. It was a bad throw throw though. That's the

Starting point is 00:16:27 reality. That's the truth here. There was an open pass down the field to Reggie Roberson, wide open past the defense. And Malik threw it off his back foot, threw it late. The ball was underthrown. Roberson had to slow up to get it. It was not a good throw. Now, it was caught. The wide receiver was wide open. But, I mean, every description of the play that I've seen, it was not a good throw. Okay? It simply wasn't. But there were other good plays in there.

Starting point is 00:16:55 Malik had a really good seam pass down the middle to Elise Mack. He had a couple of runs as well, but not as much running today with it not being red zone work. He also threw a bad pass that should have been intercepted by Matthew Jackson at the very end of practice. And Tim Kelly was absolutely livid. Tim Kelly was not happy. So it's up and down. You see moments of good pocket awareness and pocket management. You see some throws, but I mean, there were bad throws. There were misreads. There were late throws where he's

Starting point is 00:17:28 still holding the ball. It's not the same as it was before where he's patting the ball a ton and really taking a long time. But again, this is what I talked about in the, in the all season Malik could improve drastically, but from where he was, even a

Starting point is 00:17:44 drastic improvement doesn't mean that it's good enough you know what I'm saying I do want to give a shout out to Easton Freeze although we've been kind of at each other here lately that's an inside joke for the Twitter folks but Easton is there

Starting point is 00:18:03 and he did put out a tweet about Malik, and he said, Malik is frustrating to watch at times. His pocket management has clearly improved. He doesn't panic and pat the ball nearly as much anymore, and he still takes an unrealistic amount of time and practice to pull the trigger on many throws. Still a work in progress. Progress has certainly been made, but it needs to keep improving.

Starting point is 00:18:24 Shout out to Easton. I think he's telling the truth there. Okay? Malik has improved. We can certainly been made, but it needs to keep improving. Shout out to Easton. I think he's telling the truth there. Okay. Malik has improved. We can all acknowledge that, but is the improvement enough? Especially when the reality here is he's getting outplayed in practice by Will Levis the last two days. The last two days he's been outplayed by Levis in practice. There's no way around it. And he's going against twos. So let's not do that. He's going against threes. Malik's going against twos.

Starting point is 00:18:49 No, they're rotating now. And I want to say this. This is the last point that I want to make. In practice, every day, and this is around the NFL, not just the Titans, the number one quarterback gets the most reps, gets the most throws.

Starting point is 00:19:06 You can tell by the amount of throws that they have in practice. Every practice. It goes Tannehill. Tannehill's thrown 62 passes in practice in training camp so far. Well, the last two days, the throw totals have gotten closer between Willis and Levis.

Starting point is 00:19:29 And on Tuesday, Will Levis threw more passes than Malik Willis. That means he is going to be ahead of him soon on the depth chart. Because they give more reps to the guys who are higher on the depth chart in a normal practice. That's why Tannehill has way more throws than everybody else.

Starting point is 00:19:51 Levis has 41. Willis has 45. Tannehill has 62. And Willis was ahead of Levis for the first week, but now those totals are getting closer together and today Will Levis threw more times. It's happening, guys, right before your eyes, whether you want to believe it or not. Will Levis is earning it. He's earning more reps. He's earning rotation with the twos and

Starting point is 00:20:16 it won't be long before he takes over that quarterback two role. It's just inevitable at this point, but that's what happened. We're going to talk about the first team offense. Also, I'll do some injury updates and answer some of your guys' questions as well in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down everything you need to know from Tennessee Titans practice on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:20:59 We talked about some of the dust-ups, Jamarco Jones and Jeffrey Simmons getting kicked out of practice on the third play of practice. Aziz Alshire taking a cheap tackle at Traylon Burks and then a cheap shot at Tajay Spears. Probably a little uncalled for there, Aziz, but I get the intensity. We talked about the improvement from the Titans' offensive line, at least from Mike Vrabel's vantage point is what he said.

Starting point is 00:21:23 Then we talked about Will Levis having another really good day. Malik Willis doing well, but it may not be enough to stop the oncoming momentum from Will Levis. Now I want to talk about the first team offense. So the way the practice worked, again, it was basically a scrimmage for the Titans. Mike Vrabel did call it period all day long, where they basically are calling plays, going down the field, simulating a real game situation. The Titans' first team offense went first, and then after that, the second and third teams got their opportunities. But the Titans' first team offense came out rough. It was rough to start.

Starting point is 00:21:58 I'm going to get into that. Before I do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms and always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day.

Starting point is 00:22:18 But, again, early on, it was ugly for the Titans. I mean, I explained it earlier when we were talking about the offensive line, but you had multiple sacks, Danico Autry pushing Wesco back, Arden Key getting into the backfield. I mean, it was ugly early on. And that was, again, without Jeffrey Simmons. The pressure was a bit overwhelming on the offensive line. But the O-line improved throughout the day. Tannehill was sharp when he was able to get passes off. He started 4-5.

Starting point is 00:22:50 He finished 8-10. Again, he's 46-62 for training camp now, but it was all about Ryan Tannehill to Traylon Burks and DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, four straight passes at one point during this scrimmage were Burks and Hopkins completions. Like, Tannehill knows where his bread is buttered, and it's going to be DeAndre Hopkins and Traylon Burks. Speaking of Hopkins, Hopkins had a bunch of catches over the middle, and guys, I've been talking about this. I'm trying to describe the play for you guys.

Starting point is 00:23:23 You've seen it before. Two tight ends, one on each side of the line, offensive line. Derrick Henry in the backfield. You got two receivers, one on either side of the field. Imagine one is Burks running a deep post. Imagine DeAndre Hopkins is running an intermediate crosser. The Titans play action fake to Derrick Henry. There's a bunch of space over the middle. They throw it to DeAndre Hopkins. He plucks it out of the air and has a ton of room to run. Oh, the safety wants to come up and defend DeAndre Hopkins over the middle?

Starting point is 00:23:52 Alright, well, now goes Traylon Burks on the deep post running behind him for a deep shot where Burks is going to put a cornerback in the hoop and dunk on him and go up top and catch the ball. I mean, it's just going to be very, very difficult to defend. When the Titans have two NFL-level wide receivers,

Starting point is 00:24:10 the offense is insanely hard to defend. I talked about that all last year when the Titans didn't have it. And now that they do, it's going to be so obvious how that benefits. That is the main play that made the Tennessee Titans offense explosive for the two years that we had the explosive offense in 2019 and 2020. It was that play. PA strike, PA door. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:24:33 People call it a bunch of different things, and I've heard it described as a bunch of different things. But either way, that play right there with those two wide receivers is going to be so effective, and we saw it be effective in practice a bunch on Tuesday. I like how Jim Wyatt from TennesseeTitans.com explained it. Hopkins doesn't catch the ball. He literally plucks it out of the air, snatches it out of the air.

Starting point is 00:24:54 So Hopkins is going to be huge for this team. I do want to comment on a few injury things. If you guys have any questions for me, get those in the comment section now. If I don't see any before I'm done talking about this, I'm just going to end the show. T.R. Tartt, back on the practice field. He missed practice on Monday. He's back, so that's good news. Luke Gifford and Corey Levin missed practice. Christian Fulton came up limping at one point during practice,

Starting point is 00:25:25 but he went and worked on special team stuff right after. So that appears to be fine. Other than that, everybody relatively healthy. Everybody at practice getting working. Nothing too crazy. The Tennessee Titans will not have an open practice tomorrow. I can't remember off the top of my head

Starting point is 00:25:48 whether they don't have practice at all or whether it's just not open to the media. But either way, we won't have a practice to break down tomorrow. But what I'm going to do is give us an opportunity to catch up on some of the under-the-radar players in Titans training camp. Like, there are guys who deserve to get mentioned, and I simply don't have the time to do it, you know, because the show is only 30 minutes.

Starting point is 00:26:10 So, I'm going to get into some guys who haven't got the necessary pub. Reggie Roberson, I've seen some people. Harpoon Wave, I see you. Reggie Roberson doing some good things. I'm going to talk about him. Jaden Peavy, Elijah Molden got some more insight on the safety thing with Molden. So we're going to talk about all that stuff on tomorrow's show.

Starting point is 00:26:28 And then Thursday, I'll be back with you guys to break down practice again. That'll be there on Friday morning for the podcast crowd. But Thursday night, I'll break down Thursday's practice for the Titans that's open to the media again as well. So a ton of content still coming your guys' way. Well, we're like 11 days out right now as I'm recording this from the Titans' first preseason game? Let's go, baby. Football's right around the corner.

Starting point is 00:26:50 Make sure you stick with me here on the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every single day. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans TRENCH FIGHT, Tempers Flare, Will Levis Rotating & First Team Offense Looks Sharp

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