NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Injuries have been a major concern for the Titans for the last three seasons as they’ve used at least 83 players a year, straining depth. A major talking point was how much fault should have been aimed at the strength and conditioning department.

Thursday, Brian Callahan did something that would have been unheard of under Mike Vrabel. When the Titans rolled out their offensive assistants, there in wraparound shades and a blue Titans short-sleeved windbreaker with a whistle around his neck was an absolute shocker: Zac Woodfin, the Titans director of sports performance.

“We like to say our program is a blue-collar, cutting-edge program,” he said. “And what I mean by that is blue collar in the sense that there is no getting around doing hard work. You’ve got to lift hard, you’ve got to lift heavy at the appropriate times. And then the cutting edge in the science that we bring to it: making sure our guys have the proper assessment through technology. It allows us to get a really clear picture of what they need. Everybody needs something a little bit different to achieve their maximum performance.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Rare is a transcript some thing I'd share here, but Bill Callahan's first conversation with the press seems worthy. I was with the group for about 10 minutes before splitting off to get other offensive coaches.

Here's a lightly edited transcript with some re-ordering and a few videos spliced in with some notes with my thoughts in italics.

Bill Callahan has no doubt about JC Latham at LT for #Titans. https://t.co/HMltI0wYIj

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) May 9, 2024

That "I don't" answer to "Do you have any doubts about his ability to move to the right?" is the answer that should put everyone at ease about the shape of the line. We're looking at Latham, Peter Skoronski and Lloyd Cushenberry, left-to-center, which is solid. Then competition on the left side. If you're demanding pre-camp solidity at those two spots then you're just not familiar with the shape the roster was in at the end of 2023.

The Titans have addressed left tackle, center, two receiver spots, running back, defensive end, nose tackle, two inside linebacker spots and two cornerback spots in the starting lineup -- 11 starting spots in all. Additionally, they added a backup quarterback, a return man who could play some receiver, a fourth corner, and two more outside linebacker. That's 16 contributors before we assess the class of undrafted free agents. 

They simply weren't going to be able to get new everywhere and Callahan has been known to develop previously under-developed players. 

Callahan on Jedrick Willis flip from right to left tackle in Cleveland

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans may be about to shake up their scouting department. The Eagles’ director of pro scouting and the Cardinals' director of college scouting have been in for interviews and the word is a bunch of interviews are going on.

Meetings with Max Gruder of Philadelphia and Josh Scobey of Arizona were still in process late Wednesday afternoon.

Gruder became the Eagles' director of pro scouting in 2022 and joined the team as an assistant in that department in 2019 after six seasons with the Dolphins. He was a linebacker at Pitt and an undrafted rookie with the Falcons who did not make Atlanta’s roster.

Scobey just completed his 12th season with the Cardinals and his second as the team’s college scouting director. He

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

The Titans continued to build around Will Levis with the addition of yet another reliable veteran receiver in former Bengal Tyler Boyd, agreeing to a one-year deal worth up to $4.5 million according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The 6-2, 203-pound Boyd is entering his ninth season in the NFL, but this will be his first outside of Cincinnati, where he spent the last five seasons as new Titans head coach Brian Callahan’s primary slot receiver. There is little question that the slot will be Boyd’s primary role in Tennessee. Boyd played at least 84 percent of his snaps in the slot for Callahan in each of his last four seasons and has never seen fewer than 64 percent of his snaps inside since entering the NFL as a second-round pick in 2016.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tyler Boyd wouldn’t bring the Titans great speed and explosion, qualities the team would definitively like to add to its receiver mix.

They got them with Calvin Ridley in free agency, but at this stage of the season if you’re adding a free agent, he’s got some sort of major limitation.

Boyd would bring a super-understanding of Brian Callahan’s offense and workflow, and he could be the primary guy working out of the slot. An offense with Ridley and Hopkins outside and Boyd inside with Chig Okonkwo as the primary tight end and either Tony Pollard or Tyjae Spears as running back would be a significant upgrade in pass-receiving weapons from last year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – We’ve said all along the Titans had too many holes to fill with one free-agency period and one draft.

There will be spots where the team isn’t as talented as it would like to be. Even if the Titans can find a free-agent tackle, right tackle will be one of those spots.

The free-agent list at this point is poor. Available guys are predominantly old or coming off injury. James Hurst, who played the most among these free-agent tackles, retired. Charles Leno is coming off serious hip surgery and may not play again. Andrus Peat, being touted by some, played a nice season at left tackle for the Saints last year but isn’t listed here because he built his career as a left guard.

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

The Titans 2024 draft class is in the books, and they desperately need it to be a good one. Whether it was or not is certainly not up for judgment today, no matter how big of a business draft grades are for national websites.

However, we can analyze the players, the likely rationale behind the selections and how those new pieces potentially fit in the re-made Titans' roster.

My overall view of the class is positive and that should come as no surprise given the players picked, especially the first three. I wrote glowingly of JC Latham’s dominant skill set and tape here several weeks ago, I listed T’Vondre Sweat as one of “my guys” for a piece two weeks ago, and Cedric Gray is a player who I started to become very fond of late in the draft process.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – To recover from a fourth-place finish in 2023, the Titans must fare far better than their 1-5 AFC South record that was a core ingredient in their 6-11 record.

“I think when you’re building a roster before you can compete with the elite teams in the league you’ve got to be able to compete in your division," president of football operations Chad Brinker told me at the annual league meeting in March. “It’s not like that’s the only thing we look at. But we pay attention to what our division is doing and how they are building their rosters so that we can combat that for sure.