The Tennessee Titans held their final OTA session on Wednesday, and it was quite an eventful day. Several important players opted out of the voluntary workout, which opened the door for a couple younger players to shine. All three quarterbacks were in attendance, however, as was cornerback Kristian Fulton.
Since many of the questions surrounding the Titans entering 2023 have to do with the offense, I spent Wednesday's practice session with the offensive side of the ball. Here's what I noticed:
Following up on DeAndre Hopkins
The Titans hosted free agent wideout DeAndre Hopkins on a visit this past weekend. Tennessee was the first team Hopkins visited with, and he's now reportedly in New England meeting with the Patriots. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about Hopkins, and he didn't have much to add.
"Well we'll continue to kind of look through where we're at," said Vrabel.
Several starters missing, but Kristian Fulton in attendance
To put it bluntly, there weren't many starters on the practice field Wednesday. I didn't see Derrick Henry, Treylon Burks, Kevin Byard, Jeffery Simmons, Azeez Al-Shaair, among others. But one player that was "present" was No. 1 cornerback Kristian Fulton -- and he even spoke with reporters.
Fulton has been a headline for the Titans this offseason. The starting cornerback is entering the final year of his rookie deal, and was not present when the Titans kicked off OTAs earlier in the offseason -- opting to train elsewhere. The 2023 season is obviously a huge year for Fulton, and some wondered if he was injured. Injuries have unfortunately caused Fulton to miss 20 games in his three NFL seasons.
Fulton was at practice on Wednesday, although he didn't take any reps. Afterward, he attempted to offer some clarity on his situation, stating that he is not injured, and that he's feeling good. Fulton has been working -- although not on the field with his teammates. What was probably the most notable takeaway from his interview was that Fulton said he will be "full go" come training camp.
If that's true, hopefully we can put this story to bed. Vrabel was also asked if he felt good where his top cornerback was at.
"I think that will all be determined by how training camp goes and how he performs on the field," Vrabel said.
Quarterback room's good vibes
I spoke with Titans quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Charles London before practice to see how Ryan Tannehill was faring in mentoring Will Levis and Malik Willis.
"He's been great in the room. He's been really good," London said. "Obviously Ryan's played a lot of football. He's been able to share some of his experiences as a younger player and they follow his lead. He can maybe give them a tip. 'Maybe this is what I look for for this coverage' or 'to find this pressure, maybe this is what I look for.' He's been a great mentor to those guys and he's done a great job. It's a really neat dynamic to see those guys interact in the room."
It sure seemed like a good room from what I could tell on the practice field.
This was just one round of the QB "net game," so don't put too much stock into it. But I will tell you, Willis was noticeably good at this drill on Wednesday.
Willis really could be his own section here. The second-year signal-caller has attracted some praise recently despite Peter King of NBC Sports reporting earlier this offseason that Tennessee had lost faith in him. Willis will likely be QB3 by the time the regular season rolls around, but he's made some strides. That's very clear.
Will Levis struggles with INTs
Levis has reportedly been up-and-down throughout OTAs, and the same was true on Wednesday. This week was the first time I had seen him throw in-person since being drafted, and it's pretty wild how the ball just jumps out of his hand. He definitely has an NFL arm, but there's much more to quarterbacking.
Levis threw three interceptions Wednesday, but two were deflected at the line of scrimmage. He did have one interception that appeared to be his fault on a downfield shot to one of his wideouts, and that interception came directly after one of the picks that was tipped. Still, Levis completed some throws in the team period, and was able to keep perspective on the team's development. Levis said after practice he felt like Wednesday was a good day overall for the whole offense.
"I feel like that was our best day as an offense," Levis said after practice. "Every play I felt like was operated very well. There may have been a couple that we would like to get back and make a couple of different decisions, but a couple at most I feel like. Other than that, we did a really good job and defense did a heck of a job too with the couple of takeaways they had. But I mean, good clean work for the offense. It's good to end on this note."
Alonzo Davis
The Titans' cornerback room is not considered to be one of the best in the NFL, so the emergence of a younger player at the position would be very welcome. That player could be the man they call "L.J. Davis." He was great in coverage on Wednesday, tipped a couple passes and picked off Levis downfield.
Undrafted out of Northern Arizona, Davis recorded 32 total tackles, two interceptions and nine pass breakups last year, per NAU's official website. He wasn't going up against DeAndre Hopkins or Treylon Burks on Wednesday, but he's someone I'm going to watch closely now.
Surprise wideouts make highlight-reel catches
If only reporters were allowed to take videos during the team period. Hopefully the Titans put these catches on social media.
Undrafted rookie Tre'Shaun Harrison out of Oregon State caught a touchdown pass on a ball that was deflected up in the air downfield. It was one of the plays of the day, but ranked second behind what the veteran Chris Moore pulled off.
On a deep shot from Levis, the former Houston Texan wideout went up in the air, failed to catch the ball cleanly, but didn't give up on the play and somehow reeled in the pass while falling to the ground. It was definitely the "wow" moment of practice.