Safety Amani Hooker is one of the longest-tenured Titans defenders, but that experience didn’t afford him much of a leg up this offseason.
The Titans brought in a new coaching staff this offseason, including defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, so the scheme is just as new to him as it is to less experienced teammates. While that means Hooker is still learning the ropes, his time with the team has allowed him to identify a key difference from what the team was doing in the past.
“I’ll just say it’s a lot more aggressive,” Hooker said, via the team’s website. “It has been aggressive there’s times when it can be aggressive and there’s times when not to, so our coaches are doing a good job teaching that.”
The Titans added cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie to their defense this offseason and the added experience in the secondary should help them continue to be aggressive this fall. If that aggressiveness translates to turnovers and better field position, their defensive exploits could help set the stage for better offensive results as well.
Fifteen years ago today, former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was killed. He was only 36 years old.
The official explanation was that McNair had been murdered by his 20-year-old girlfriend, Jenny Kazemi, and that she then committed suicide.
The story always seemed incomplete. Suspicions lingered that it was a double murder made to look like a murder-suicide. Six years ago, SI.com released a nine-part podcast series on the crime.
The third overall pick in the 1995 draft from Alcorn State, McNair spent 13 years in the NFL. He played for 11 seasons with the Oilers and Titans before finishing his career in 2006 and 2007 with the Ravens.
He led the Titans to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV, nearly forcing overtime against the Rams with a late drive that ended in receiver Kevin Dyson being tackled just short of a touchdown.
McNair shared the 2003 MVP award with Peyton Manning. He had more than 31,000 career passing yards, and he appeared in 161 regular-season games with 153 starts.
He’s a member of the Titans Ring of Honor, and his No. 9 has been retired by the team.
If you haven’t seen it, the episode of A Football Life devoted to McNair is worth watching.
The Titans have made a lot of changes on the offensive side of the ball over the last few years, but wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has found a way to remain on the team.
Westbrook-Ikhine made the roster as an undrafted rookie in 2020 and he is now the longest-tenured member of the unit as the Titans head into the 2024 season. He’s started 30 of the 61 games he’s played for the team, but neither that history nor his success in creating a role for himself in Tennessee has him feeling like he can rest on his laurels this year.
“You definitely have to prove yourself,” Westbrook-Ikhine said, via the team’s website. “Complacency kills, so you can’t be complacent. The fact that I’ve been here, going into year five, doesn’t really mean anything. It’s a totally new staff, and a totally new year, a new room. So, you always have to prove yourself in this league.”
Complacency shouldn’t be an issue given the moves the Titans made at receiver this offseason. They signed Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd to join a group that also includes DeAndre Hopkins and 2022 first-round pick Treylon Burks, so there will be a lot of competition for playing time this fall.
Titans quarterback Will Levis isn’t getting totally away from football during the break leading into training camp.
Levis told head coach Brian Callahan during OTAs that he felt something was off with his throwing mechanics and that he wants to be “more stationary” when delivering passes. The team worked with him on that through the end of the offseason program and Levis will work on it with his personal quarterbacks coach on the way toward camp.
“Quarterbacks are weirdos,” Levis said, via Turron Davenport of ESPN.com. “We’re always tweaking something, feeling like something might be off. The ball wasn’t coming out the way that I would’ve liked it to, and I just started looking at what could potentially be the cause of it.”
The Titans have a lot riding on Levis’s continued development as a quarterback, so any work that can be done inthe coming weeks to enhance his chances of success will be time well spent.
The Titans have not yet revealed their full public training camp schedule but they did announce one opportunity for fans to see the club this summer.
Tennessee will host an open practice at Nissan Stadium on Saturday, July 27 as part of Back Together Weekend.
Practice is free to attend, but fans will need to register for a free ticket on the Titans’ website. Gates will open at 10 a.m. for the 11 a.m. practice.
Nissan Stadium will also have discounted concessions for the practice.
The Titans will announce their full schedule for training camp practices at their facility at a later date.
There’s more than two months until the start of the regular season, but Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is already thinking about Week One.
Part of Simmons’s impatience to get to the game comes from the fact that he was sidelined for the final weeks of the 2023 campaign and part comes from who will be on the other side of the field. Simmons and the Titans will be in Chicago to face a Bears team that expects to be starting quarterback Caleb Williams in his NFL debut.
During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Simmons acknowledged that “all the hype’s gonna be around” the team with the first overall pick in the draft and that he thinks “everybody just counts” the Titans out in games like that. Simmons said that he understands that view, but such circumstances “make me get into a different mode” and he’s looking forward to getting there on September 8.
“I get it,” Simmons said. “You’ve got a first-round pick like Caleb Williams, which is a great player. Watching a couple games when he was at USC and he’s a hell of a player, but it’s a different league and I’m excited to play him the first game.”
Eisen mentioned Caitlin Clark’s transition to the WNBA and how players from other teams have relished a chance to show her how tough life as a pro can be and Simmons said he has a similar mindset when it comes to welcoming Williams to the NFL.
The NFL’s new kickoff formation, borrowed from the XFL, has led at least two franchises to look for a return specialist in the UFL.
AtoZSports.com reports, that the Giants and the Titans have been in contact with Juwan “Sonic” Manigo of the Arlington Renegades.
Arlington signed Manigo last June, while the XFL still existed. He survived the merger and thrived as a kickoff return specialist, finishing second in the league with 954 return yards on 43 attempts. The average per return of 22.18 yards came not from the traditional kickoff formation that the UFL absorbed from the USFL.
Manigo, 26, played college football at Delaware Valley University. He spent two seasons with the LFA league in Mexico.
If the Giants or Titans sign the five-foot, seven-inch Manigo, it will undoubtedly be for his return skills. As an offensive player, he had only 32 receiving yards and -5 rushing yards in 10 games.
“Joey, do you like commercials about gladiators?”
If you do, you’re soon to be in luck.
Via Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal, several major NFL stars recently traveled to Canada for a “gladiator-themed” Pepsi commercial. (“Drink Pepsi, you’ll feel like you’ve been stabbed impaled by a spear in the stomach”?)
The NFL players in the spot include Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Ravens running back Derrick Henry, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, per the report.
Lefton suggests that Pepsi has some sort of arrangement with Gladiator II, which will debut later this year. The commercial comes before that, just as the 2024 season gets started.
So Pepsi is getting paid to push the sequel to Gladiator, and various NFL players are getting paid to push Pepsi as gladiators.
Whether we are not entertained by the commercial remains to be seen.
The Titans took offensive tackle JC Latham with the seventh overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft with the idea that he’d be their starting left tackle of the future. And they think that future is here now.
Latham took all the first-team reps at left tackle during Organized Team Activities and minicamp, according to Turron Davenport of ESPN, and Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz says no one has shown a more impressive work ethic than Latham this offseason.
“JC has maybe the best energy of any person on this team,” Holz said. “His energy is infectious. He’s done a really nice job with his footwork. He’s improved and is playing under control. He’s so big and so strong.”
Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan, one of the most experienced and respected offensive line coaches in football, has said that Latham has all the traits to be an elite left tackle in the NFL. The Titans are very excited about what their top pick is ready to do.
While many of the top free agent players settled with new teams quickly in March, wide receiver Calvin Ridley took some time before settling on a place to play.
Ridley ultimately accepted an offer from the Titans over returning to the Jaguars or signing with the Patriots and his new team has had a few months to get to know him. During an appearance on The Adam Schefter Podcast, Titans head coach Brian Callahan said that process has been overwhelmingly positive and that adding him to the roster is all the better because he left another AC South team in Jacksonville.
“I believe in everything he’s about. He’s a pro’s pro and he’s got real talent,” Callahan said. “He’s one of the better route runners I’ve ever been around. Really sudden, really fast, really explosive and, on top of it, he’s a great personality. To have him here and be able to steal him from a division rival makes it a little sweeter in that regard. I love having Calvin and I think he’s really gonna help us.”
Ridley missed much of the 2021 season because of mental health issues and he missed all of 2022 due to a gambling suspension, so he was getting his legs back under him during his season in Jacksonville. If that proves to be a stepping stone to even better things for the wideout in 2024, it will make Callahan even happier about the route Ridley took to Nashville.