NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the first time since 2019 the Titans held an open practice inside Nissan Stadium Saturday. It served as the first opportunity for fans to get a look at Brian Callahan’s first team.
We went to the practice, you can check it out in the player above.
It also gave the new head coach and the many new faces on this year’s roster their first chance to step on the team’s homefield.
“It was really cool,” Callahan said. “I’ve not had many moments where it feels real. And this made it feel real, for a taste of it at least of what it feels like to walk out here on Sundays. But it’s exciting. It was really fun to come out and be the head coach of this football team in front of these fans. It meant a lot.”
First round pick J.C. Latham walked onto the field ahead of practice to the chants of fans. Latham, a left tackle from Alabama, was one of seven rookie draft picks that felt the love from the fans.
“It’s awesome,” Latham said. “Fans that really embrace their team and the team that embraces their community. We lift each other up. You know, we play for each other on the team, but we also play for the community as well.”
Fourth round pick Cedric Gray is in a battle for a starting role at linebacker. For him it was all business during practice, but he did make it a point to get there early Saturday and soak it all in ahead of his first day inside his NFL home stadium.
“I actually had to come out here before we even started practice just to walk the field,” Gray said. “Just to get a feeling of this. It was just an amazing feeling, something I’ve dreamed about.”
The practice served as a sneak peek at the Callahan offense. Fans got to see the varied formations, motions and other pre-snap movement that the head coach and play-caller likes to employ.
They also got a taste of the explosive potential of the offense with a couple of big Will Levis throws, including a beautiful touch pass to Tony Pollard deep along the sideline.
“We’re going to move our formation, we’re going to move our players all over the place,” Callahan said. “Pre-snap motion is a big part of what we do and how we manipulate the defense. So that is definitely going to be part of what you will see on Sundays. We wanted to have a couple (wrinkles) to have some fun with and see if we could get the fans excited, and we had a few.”
The defense made plenty of plays as well, dominating the third down period late in practice. The highlight of that sequence was a Tre Avery leaping interception of an underthrown Levis pass in the direction of Calvin Ridley.
“Everybody competing on both sides of the ball,” outside linebacker Arden Key said. “The offense is looking way better than it normally has. Defense is coming, flying around. Just the players we got, we have so much coming at you. It’s good to get the competition.”
Competition that is good for the entire team. But also serves as a reminder that there’s still a lot of work to be done.
And the clock is ticking. The next time the Titans will be at Nissan Stadium is two weeks from Saturday when they host the 49ers in the preseason opener.
“It’s definitely right there on the horizon,” wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine said. “We have a countdown in the facility, you know, second by second leading up to that first preseason game and that’s really when it gets started.”
