Category: Titans training camp

See it: Titans’ Kristian Fulton grabs sick 1-handed INT in joint practice

Titans CB Kristian Fulton had an impressive one-handed interception at joint practice on Thursday.

One of the good things about the Tennessee Titans’ joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings this week is some Vikings fans are taking videos of the team periods, which is something we don’t get to see when the Titans are practicing by themselves.

Thanks to that cool little wrinkle, we got a look at the ridiculous one-handed pick Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton ripped off on Thursday.

On a pass from Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins to the corner of the end zone, Fulton goes up and grabs the pass with one hand for the impressive interception — and he manages to get both feet down, also.

Shoutout to Leighton Glodek of StrictlyFootball for the video:

After practice, Fulton said he hopes the play goes viral — we’re trying, Kristian!

The LSU product has been impressive throughout training camp and in joint practices with the Vikings. He looks primed to have a big year, assuming he can stay healthy.

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Photos from Titans’ 1st joint practice with Vikings

A look at the photos from the Titans’ first joint practice with the Vikings on Wednesday.

The Tennessee Titans took part in their first joint practice with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, and the two teams will hold their second on Thursday.

The biggest news of the day was the injury to wide receiver Treylon Burks, who was carted off the field, leading to Titans fans and media fearing the worst.

Thankfully, that was not the case and instead Burks is expected to miss just a few weeks with an LCL sprain. It goes without saying Titans fans breathed a huge sigh of relief at that positive news.

In case you missed anything that went on during the Wednesday session, you can check out our biggest takeaways right here. If not, keep scrolling for the photos below.

Biggest takeaways from Titans’ 1st joint practice with Vikings

Malik Willis and the Titans’ defense shined on a day that was otherwise marred by the injury to Treylon Burks.

The Tennessee Titans were back on the practice field on Wednesday, but this time they shared it with the Minnesota Vikings for Day 1 of joint practices between the two teams.

Tennessee and Minnesota will have a pair of joint sessions in all, with the second one taking place on Thursday. After that, the two teams will meet in preseason Week 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday, with kickoff set for 8 p.m. ET.

The biggest story of the day was no doubt the injury to Treylon Burks, who went down with an apparent leg injury after making a catch during team period. The exact injury and severity remains unknown as of this writing.

UPDATE: We can all breathe a sigh of relief, as Treylon Burks is only expected to miss a few weeks (READ MORE HERE).

While it’s hard to care about anything else right now in the wake of Burks’ injury, there was still an entire practice to cover. Here are the rest of the takeaways from the first joint practice between the Titans and Vikings.

Arden Key confident in Titans’ defense ahead of joint practices with Vikings

Titans OLB Arden Key respects the Vikings’ offense ahead of joint practices but also noted, “they’ve got to deal with us, not the other way around.”

Ever since Arden Key signed his three-year deal with the Tennessee Titans earlier this offseason, he has been one of the most vocal sparkplugs on the team.

Key has constantly received praise from his teammates and coaches for his contagious energy, both on and off the field.

The LSU product is coming off the best two-year stint of his professional career, albeit in a limited role. Now he wants to take that next step in his career as a true every-down contributor for an NFL defense.

The Titans’ starting defense in general has been fantastic throughout training camp, routinely winning more than its fair share of days over these last few weeks.

That positive momentum appears to be building a lot of confidence within the unit, and rightfully so, as the projected starters absolutely have the talent and potential to be among the league’s best.

The Titans are set to practice and face off against a Minnesota Vikings team this week that has a fantastic offense on paper that includes arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL, Justin Jefferson.

Despite the talent level on the other side, the Titans certainly don’t appear to be backing down from the task at hand, nor should they.

Following Monday’s practice, Key was asked about facing the Vikings’ offense, but he believes Minnesota should be the ones who are worried about having to go up against the Titans’ defense.

“They’re going to test our defense,” said Key, per 104.5 The Zone. “Especially what we’ve been putting in, they’ve got a good offense, a high-powered offense, little Jeff (Justin Jefferson) over there, he do his thing, and they’ve got a good O-Line.”

“But it’s not about them, it’s about us,” he added. “As long as we go out there and lock our jobs [down] and keep going, then they’ve got to deal with us, not the other way around.”

Confidence certainly appears to be high heading into joint practices and the preseason Week 2 matchup. Let’s just hope the team doesn’t get served a piece of humble pie while in town.

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Titans’ Eric Garror carries underdog mentality, chip ‘built in’ shoulder

Titans CB Eric Garror stands at just 5-foot-8, 174 pounds, but he played big in his preseason debut.

Arguably the biggest surprise of the Tennessee Titans’ first preseason game was the performance of rookie cornerback, Eric Garror, who the team signed as an undrafted free agent back in April.

Before the Titans’ first preseason game, Garror wasn’t realistically on many people’s radar.

But following his impressive debut where he finished with the second-most tackles on the team (four) while also earning the eighth-highest overall grade by a defensive player (64.7). Among Garror’s four tackles were two impressive open-field ones, and he had a pair of tackles for loss.

The rookie has now given himself a puncher’s chance at sticking around beyond the preseason in some capacity. In fact, in his latest 53-man roster projection, our Mike Moraitis has Garror making the cut as of right now.

The rookie’s impact was positively felt on special teams, as well. The UDFA added two punt returns for a total of 26 yards, including a 17-yard return with under one minute left in the game to give Tennessee another chance at a game-winning drive.

“I really just want to come out here and show my abilities and try to make it on this team,” Garror said after practice Monday, per Sam Phalen of AtoZ Sports. “I’m trying to get right and do good for the team this year.”

Garror was asked about his size (5-foot-8, 174 pounds) and how he compensates for his physical limitations.

He stated that it’s his mentality and heart that allows him to play much bigger than he actually is. Garror added that he’s been embracing the underdog role ever since he was in high school, and all it does is motivate him to keep grinding, even when the odds are seemingly stacked against him.

“Since high school, I’ve been a little underdog,” he said. “That didn’t hurt me, it just made me want to work more and grind more.”

Earlier in the day, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said the Louisiana-Lafayette product attacks each day with a chip on his shoulder, something that Garror explained he’s had his entire life.

“That chip on my shoulder, it’s built in my shoulder,” he said. “I just come out here and every day I know I can’t do what other people do. I’ve got to go harder because everybody is overlooking me.

Garror appeared in 62 games over four years at Louisiana-Lafayette, recording a total of 129 tackles, three tackles for loss, 35 passes defensed, one sack, and nine interceptions while also returning a whopping 93 punts for 778 yards and three touchdowns.

There will need to be a lot more positive days between now and cutdown day for the Alabama native to make the final roster, but there’s no denying that Garror is at least trending in the right direction.

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Titans’ Peter Skoronski reflects on ‘surreal’ debut, how starting OL performed

Titans LG Peter Skoronski reflects on his first preseason game and how the starting unit did as a whole.

One of the biggest bright spots from the Tennessee Titans’ first preseason game was the performance of the projected starting offensive line.

Left tackle Andre Dillard, left guard Peter Skoronski, center Aaron Brewer, right guard Daniel Brunskill and right tackle Chris Hubbard each played the first drive of the game, looking very solid as a unit in the small sample size that we got from them.

Brewer (81.9) and Brunskill (79.9) actually produced the two highest overall grades on offense while Dillard rounded out the top 10 after receiving a respectable grade of 70.0, per Pro Football Focus.

Most importantly, the group allowed just one pressure, no sacks and was solid in the run game, too.

As for the Titans’ first-round draft pick, Skoronski more than held his own in his first taste of NFL action, especially in pass protection, where the rookie lineman received an impressive pass-blocking grade of 78.2.

Now that the Northwestern product got a chance to make his long-awaited preseason debut, he recently had a chance to reflect on how he personally felt it went after practice on Monday.

“It’s a little bit surreal, that first game experience,” Skoronski said, per Jim Wyatt. “I feel like I settled in and, you know, it’s just ball, so it felt good to get out there.”

The rookie noted that the lone series, which resulted in a touchdown, helped build the confidence of the starting group. But he also understands there’s still work to be done.

“That drive helped a lot in terms of our confidence in general, kind of being able to run the ball down there and score on just one drive, it kind of makes you feel good,” he said. “But obviously, [we have] stuff to work on, and it’s going to take a little more time to gel, and work together, and it’s not going to click right away, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Brewer doubled down on this stance, as well, stating that it doesn’t really get much better than driving down the field in 12 plays and scoring a touchdown (he said 13, but it was 12).

The next benchmark for the Titans’ offensive line will come this week when Tennessee travels to Minnesota to practice and play against the Vikings.

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Biggest takeaways from Titans’ 8th padded practice of training camp

The biggest takeaways from the Titans’ eighth padded practice of training camp on Monday.

After a day off following their preseason Week 1 contest on Saturday versus the Chicago Bears, the Tennessee Titans were back on the practice field on Monday, which comes one day before they take part in joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday and Thursday.

We saw two players for the first time in training camp today, with one of them being veteran defensive lineman Kyle Peko, who is back after being added to the roster.

Peko, who played in eight games for Tennessee in 2021, will take the roster spot of  2023 UDFA and defensive lineman, Shakel Brown, who head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed would be placed on season-ending IR.

The other new face in practice was defensive back Josh Thompson, who was activated off the NFI list after missing all of training camp to this point due to an undisclosed injury.

Now, the takeaways from what was the eighth padded practice of training camp.

Biggest takeaways from Titans’ last practice before preseason Week 1

The biggest takeaways from the Titans’ final practice before their preseason Week 1 game against the Bears.

The Tennessee Titans returned to the practice field on Thursday for what was their last full session before the preseason opener on Saturday against the Chicago Bears.

The Titans will spend Friday traveling to Chicago ahead of their noon CT kickoff at Soldier Field on Saturday. Head coach Mike Vrabel revealed some starters will play, but didn’t say who, nor did he name a starting quarterback.

However, I suspect Willis, who was named the No. 2 quarterback going into camp, to start, with Levis coming in afterwards. It remains to be seen if each will get a half or if they’ll alternate quarters. Don’t expect Ryan Tannehill to take the field, though.

After there was a bit of panic stemming from DeAndre Hopkins’ absence on Tuesday, the three-time first-team All-Pro was back on the practice field on Thursday, albeit a little later than everyone else.

In other news, Teair Tart was back, but five others were absent.

As has been the case all training camp long, the defense won the day, but a few offensive players who we haven’t heard much from managed to stand out.

Keep scrolling for all of those takeaways and many more based on what beat writers on the ground reported.

Titans’ Jeffery Simmons lauds Peter Skoronski’s strength

If anyone knows about strength, it’s Big Jeff.

Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Peter Skoronski has had quite the challenge in his first training camp in the NFL, with the rookie regularly going up against a talented defensive line that includes Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry and Teair Tart.

But, by all accounts, Skoronski has been able to hold his own despite the challenge and even recently received some praise from Simmons for the strength he’s displayed thus far.

“I mean he’s pretty strong, I feel like going against him I’ve been feeling his strength get better each and every day,” Simmons said, per Paul Kuharsky. “What he works on with (Mike Vrabel), I hear him in the team meeting coaching him up about replacing his hands.

“And when he replaces his hands — I’m a strong guy, but once he replaces his hands and gets his hands on guys, not many guys are going to get past him because he’s that strong.”

If there’s anyone who knows about strength, it’s Simmons, who is one of the strongest players you will ever see. Thus, this praise is significant.

Skoronski’s lack arm length was a major topic of conversation coming out, leading many to believe he’s better suited at guard in the NFL, which is where he’ll be playing during his first season.

While that remains to be seen, his strength has never been in question and draft analysts like our own Shaun Calderon always make sure to note that once Skoronski gets his hands on a defender, that defender won’t go far — and Simmons’ assessment only confirms that.

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Photos from Titans’ 5th, 6th padded practices of training camp

Photos from the Titans’ practices the last two days.

The Tennessee Titans are inching ever closer to their first preseason game this week, with the contest set to take place on Saturday afternoon against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.

The Titans won’t have a full practice on Wednesday, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online, and instead are opting for a walk-though after two straight days of full practice on Monday and Tuesday.

If you missed any of the action the past few days, you can check out our takeaways from Monday’s session right here, and our takeaways from Tuesday’s practice right here.

While we wait for the Titans to retake the practice field for their next open session on Thursday, here are some photos from the last two.