The worst news of the day came directly after practice when Mike Vrabel informed the media that Johnathan Cyprien tore his left ACL in yesterday’s practice and will be out for the season. On the other hand, Vrabel said that Kendrick Lewis should be expected to return to the field soon. DB Demontre Hurst took reps with the 1’s at the other Safety spot today as a result.
On the field today, the offense started to install a lot more slant and quick passing options for the quarterbacks. Immediately, the plays showed effectiveness with Tajae Sharpe and Corey Davis both picking up large chunks of yardage following quick inside releases. The success of these routes allowed for other players to get open down field for big gains. Jordan Veasy, Corey Davis, and Jonnu Smith each found themselves down field with a lot of space around them.
One of the more interesting matchups to watch was Tajae Sharpe being covered by Malcolm Butler. The two traded wins back and forth. On a couple of occasions, one while Butler was covering and one where he was not, Sharpe had his man beat but was overthrown both times. One overthrow came from Mariota and the other from Gabbert.
Wesley Woodyard, who has had a quiet camp so far, came out in a positive and confident mood today. During period in the middle of practice, he looked over to the stands and started a “D-Fence” chant with the fans. He followed his chant by showing good coverage skills and by charging in for a sack on Mariota later in practice.
With the absence of wide receiver Michael Campanaro today, we got to see a heavy dose of Nick Williams who has proven to be quick and slippery in the open field. His catching ability has been off and on so far in camp, but today his hands were sticky as he caught most of what came his way.
Anthony Firkser got a lot of reps today behind Jonnu Smith with the absence of Delanie Walker. Firkser has impressed all throughout camp so far and continued to catch the eye of coaches and fans with his increased workload today.
Akrum Wadley, rookie out of Iowa, saw rep total rise without someone resting in from of him today. With Lewis and Henry both taking first team snaps, Wadley found himself taking reps with the second team over David Fluellen and Dalyn Dawkins.
A player who hasn’t garnered a lot of attention, but has looked consistently productive is Derrick Henry. Today he showed versatility with intelligent cuts into the middle of the field while also breaking outside and allowing himself to pick up a head of steam that makes him borderline impossible to bring down.
The field goal unit today attempted a fake field goal from the 17-yard line. After an atrocious throw from Brett Kern on the play, there were no more fakes in the forecast.
On the defensive side of things, there was a scary moment for linebacker Will Compton who was slow to get up after a play. He walked over to the sideline and laid down next to the cooler for roughly 5 minutes after that. Once he was able to take a break though, Compton came back onto the field and showed no trepidation getting back into the mix of things.
The right side of the defense also gave the offensive line fits. On multiple occasions we saw Derrick Morgan and Harold Landry teaming up and being extremely difficult for Dennis Kelly to keep out of the backfield.
Tomorrow night, the Titans practice at Centennial High School at 7:15 PM for their annual “Friday Night Lights” practice. After practice today, players expressed tons of excitement to play under the lights and feel like playing high school ball again. Coach Vrabel said to expect a lot of “put the ball down and play” type periods tomorrow.
