By now, everyone knows about Taylor Lewan’s new contract and everyone has probably seen the video of his entrance to the podium after practice. Even with all the excitement off the field, the Titans did indeed have practice today. And a pretty productive one at that.
No surprise to see Marcus Mariota and Luke Falk be the first two players onto the field yet again for the second day in a row. The quarterbacks looked solid again today with help from a spectacular day from the receivers. Corey Davis was the star of the show with a couple of highlight reel snags. He started with one that was tipped up into the air that he was able to come down with and take all the way to the endzone. Later in 7 on 7 redzone drills Corey Davis reached over Jonathan Cyprien (who was in tight coverage) and was able to grab the ball virtually off of Cyprien’s back. In that same drill, Taywan Taylor showed a glimpse of what we all hope he will turn out to be by coming down with a 1 handed catch in the endzone with Malcolm Butler covering. Undrafted free agent Deontay Burnett got into the wide receiver spotlight as well with a full extension diving catch as he sliced across the field.
That isn’t to say that the defense had a bad day. Jayon Brown jumped a route and picked off a Marcus Mariota pass. Tye Smith was also able to force a fumble on David Fluellen during team drills. Rookie Joseph Este had a nice pass break up in the back of the endzone. For the most part, however, it was a day spent trying to contain an offense that was clicking, an offense that looked sharp.
Coach Vrabel received praise after getting in and doing some hitting with the linebackers yesterday. He continued the physical, intense coaching style today by jumping in on a running back blocking drill and making them block his 6’4” 260 lb. linebacker frame. Later the head coach was working with the wide receivers and defensive backs in a one on one drill where the losing team had to do burpees. The defense lost and Mike Vrabel did the burpees right along with his players.
Taylor Lewan, with his new contract, did participate in team drills today and we would expect to see him equally a involved in team drills tomorrow when the pads come on. In injury news, there looks to be improvement with Rishard Matthews. He was not running routes today, but did act as a stationary target for quarterbacks when they were going through a route progression drill. Potential bad news could be on the horizon with linebacker Brian Orakpo who left practice half way through to go to the locker room. We currently do not have anymore information on that situation, but we are all watching to see if he is at practice tomorrow and what his involvement will be.
During the post practice press conference, Coach Vrabel revealed the winners of the preseason awards. Ben Jones comes out of the offensive and defensive line group, Derrick Henry from the running backs, tight ends, and linebackers group, and Corey Davis and Kevin Byard were the recipients from the wide receiver and defensive back groups. These players were awarded for their exemplary effort on and off the field. They did more than just clock in and clock out, they put in the extra effort, and were leaders of their respective groups. Vrabel made a point to emphasize how important that they continue to work as hard as they are and act as leaders in the locker room.
The energy levels only go up from here, as pads come on for the first time tomorrow, as training camp continues at 9:50 am.
