Titans Training Camp Report: Prelude

Titans training camp begins today. DrWho and I'll be heading up to Clarksville to take in 3 practices. I thought about audio blogging it, but I decided a trusty notebook would serve everyone better. When I get back I'll go through the notes and put up some posts on what I saw. In a few weeks I'll visit another practice or two so we can compare and contrast.

If you don't like the NFL then I can't imagine that these reports are going to be for you.

For now... here are some things I'm looking for:

1. Free Agents: The Titans signed 4 big free agents this off-season, all in key positions. Kevin Mawae is our new center... a mauler with a big brain. He's been to multiple probowls. Word is he's fit right in. David Givens steps in at wide-reciever. Can he be the number 1 guy? Chris Hope and David Thronton were both side to boost the speed of our linebackers and Safties, the two weakest spots on our defense last year.

2) Lindale White: He's getting a lot of bad press for not getting in shape for the draft. I'm interested in seeing how he looks at the start of camp.

3) Vince Young: Duh.

4) Running Back Battle: One of the biggest questions on the team is the RB postion. Who's the Horse? Chris Brown is the man right now... but he's squaking like he doesn't want to be... plus he's Mr Glass. He get's hurt every game. Travis Henry wants to be the man real bad. Word is he's busted his butt this off-season. He's lost almost 20 pounds. He's back down to his pro-bowl weight of 220. But the future is Lindale White. Is he gonna be a situtational back this year? Or is he simply going to end all the contraversy himself by winning the job outright?

5) Offensive Line: We have no idea who's gonna be our starting right tackle. Loper and Stewart are both big maulers. Daniel Loper in particular is one of those guys who makes people look bad. He dominated Vanden Bosch a lot last year in practice. Is he ready to translate that to on-field production? and what about Jacob Bell? He can be a guard or a tackle... and even though he's been playing tackle more, he's better at guard. So if Loper beats him out for his tackle position, do we then see a battle for him to take a guard position? Good stuff!

6) Cornerbacks: No one wants to admit just how good Pacman is, because no one likes him personally. Personally I don't care. He's a specimen. He's got more upside than Deion Sanders. He's got the skill to shut down an entire half of the field. Reynalo Hill was a huge find last year. He's arguably the most determined player the Titans have. He wants to be the best corner in the league and he works very very hard to reach that goal. If Pacman had this kid's head, Pac would've made the pro-bowl last year. Reynaldo has plenty of talent though. He's not just all heart. Corners tend to get burned a lot in camp... I want to see if Pac and Rey are going out of their way to line up against the big dogs like Bennett and Givens... or if they are sneaking off to lineup against the scrubs to try to make themselves look good. If they put on their big boy pants, this is gonna be a lot of fun.

7) Contact. Fisher has made it clear that this team is going to run the ball. They're going back to smash-mouth Titans Football. That means a lot of time in pads, beatin' on each other. They're going to have at least 1 practice working on nothing but converting rushing 3rd downs. Should be fun. We'll learn a lot I think.

ok... time to wrap it up and get on the road.