NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are counting heavily on an almost completely revamped secondary and finally get to see them all work together Sunday in their season opener in Chicago.
Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, signed as a free agent from Cincinnati in March, missed essentially all of the preseason after hurting a calf muscle in the opening days of training camp. L'Jarius Sneed, who had 10 interceptions in his four seasons with Kansas City, has been on a management plan since the Titans traded for him in late March.
First-year coach Brian Callahan isn't worried about either Awuzie or Sneed even if the secondary will need to make a big leap from walk-throughs and a few days of practice into the season opener.
“It’s not what you would plan on if you had a perfect world, but I know what those two guys are made of, particularly L’Jarius and Chido,” Callahan said Monday. “I’ve seen them play. I’ve seen L’Jarius play really, really good football. He looks great now. I know what Chido’s capable of. So I know what the pieces are capable of, and then there’s going to come a part of playing together that we’re going to have to grow as we go."
Callahan said that's part of what will be an ongoing process with Tennessee having so many new players and coaches.
“But I’m very confident in what those — especially those two people — what they’ve done and how they go about their work that I’m not worried about their level of play, but certainly the group as a whole is going to need to grow together.” Callahan said.
The attention has been on the two new starting cornerbacks. General manager Ran Carthon also signed safety Jamal Adams in July before training camp, then added Adams' former Seattle teammate Quandre Diggs in early August. Carthon spent all that money to help new coordinator Dennard Wilson improve a defense that had the NFL's fewest interceptions last season with six with Tennessee losing 18 of its past 24 games.
Callahan declined to give any kind of an injury update Monday with the first official report due Wednesday afternoon. Sneed and Awuzie returned to practice last week with the start of two practices open to reporters.
Adams, limited by injuries to 10 games combined the past two seasons, is expected back from an undisclosed injury.
Sneed pointed out he took part in walk-throughs and meetings since joining April, and he believes the work he'll get before kickoff Sunday will be enough. He learns best walking through what he's being asked to do on the field.
“A lot of guys know it's go time," said Sneed who believes both he and Awuzie are ready to go. Awuzie agrees and knows what comes next in a secondary that includes Amani Hooker, the lone returner at safety, and cornerback Roger McCreary, a second-round pick out of Auburn in 2022.
“Now it’s time to build an identity of who we are,” Awuzie said. “You know me, Sneed haven’t really had the chance to be out there with the guys as much as you like to. But in the meeting rooms when we’re hanging out in the locker room and all that stuff, we definitely built a strong bond. So now it's just football."
This secondary will be tested by the top overall pick in April's draft in Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. That makes communication key. Hooker said every practice rep now has to be intentional with everyone on the same page. It also helps that the new Titans have lots of NFL experience.
“Guys are able to bring ideas over from previous teams that they had that they believe could work and help us out,” Hooker said.
