NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Congratulations on making it to Memorial Day Weekend.

May it be filled with late mornings, full days, no thoughts of work and fitting tributes for those who died protecting and serving our country.

Here is the best of the mail that came in.

Adam Alsup Where do you stand on Burks? Do you believe he is out of shape or was just having allergy/pollen issues as stated? It is concerning to me that he is struggling to make it through practice.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Since he counts sixth in cap dollars for the Tennessee Titans next season, the final year of his five-year contract, Taylor Lewan is already looked at as a potential cap casualty after the season.

But I think if he’s solid in his second season back after a 2020 torn ACL he could be in prime position to play out that deal or get a contract extension that would bring his 2023 $14.845 million cap number down.

© George Walker IV / The Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC

At 30, Lewan has no guaranteed money remaining on his deal. His $14.69 million cap number this season is 10th among left tackles in the NFL and next year currently ranks 14th.

Those are reasonable spots if he plays to the level we know he’s capable of.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A line runs through the Titans’ fandom map, tracing back to the Ken Whisenhunt years, a 2-12 season in 2014 and a 3-14 season in 2015.

For some, challenges to the team’s recent playoff failures or to Ryan Tannehill’s performance are rebuffed with these ideas: You forget how far we’ve come, how bad things were. I hear a lot of that from fans.

And even Taylor Lewan falls back on this sort of thinking.

Asked about the tone regarding Ryan Tannehill since the terrible playoff loss to Cincinnati in the divisional round of the playoffs, Lewan said it’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Upset at how comments about he didn't view mentoring the Titans' new rookie quarterback as his job turned into a firestorm, Ryan Tannehill began his Tuesday conference with nearly 3 and a half minutes on how he's a good teammate and was misunderstood.

He said he wasn't finished when the first questioner jumped in.

"We were communicating the whole time," he said of Tennessee Titans third-round pick Malik Willis."As soon as it blew up I reached out to him and said, 'Hey, I'm going to be a great teammate to you, I'm going to support you, and they are making this out to be something that it's not... it's not what it's made out to be.'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When I last saw Malik Willis, all the way back on May 13, the ball was zipping out of his hand at the Titans’ rookie minicamp, but his throwing motion clearly needed some revising.

It has some unneeded swoop to it.

Tuesday, at the full team’s second OTA practice and the first open to the media, his motion looked cleaner and tighter already.

Even subtle progress in that area in such a short amount of time would be an accomplishment, and this is just a layman’s observation. Others in the media on the sideline shared a similar assessment. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When Julio Jones’ salary cap savings kicks in at the start June, the Titans will move from 29th in space to 15th, per current spotrac records – with slightly over $11 million.

It’s a reasonable amount of room with no major expenditures ahead and only contingency money needed.

In 2023 we don’t know what the cap will be, but against projections, they are currently 24th, a bit more than $15 million over the cap.If they are ready to move on to Malik Willis as their starting quarterback and trade or cut Ryan Tannehill, they’d save $17.8 million against the cap and be in a good financial place.

Whatever happens at quarterback, playing with Derick Henry’s contract now could be dangerous.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A mailbag? On a Wednesday? I know you are thinking something must be up.

There is no slipping anything by you.

Yeah, I'm heading out of town Thursday for a bit and I'll let the art here be the big hint as to where I am going.

I wanted to leave you with a beefy mailbag to chomp on. So here's the best of what you sent in. Enjoy and good luck. Oh, not for you, for me!

DeWayne Gee#Titans I saw one of your counterparts post that Tannehill is the undisputed starter this season(not surprising) Woodside will be the #2 and Willis will be the #3 inactive most Sundays. I know he has a lot to learn, but I would be surprised if he ends up the 3 and inactive on Sundays unable to be used at all in special packages. What are your thoughts?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Last summer, the Titans became the last team in the NFL to officially add an employee with an analytics title to their staff.

Matt Iammarino became the team's assistant developer, analytical football research.

But a low-level guy on Jon Robinson’s staff hardly marked a big change in the way the franchise approached analytics, at least from a dedicated employee standpoint.

I spoke to Robinson about Iammarino back at the owners' meetings. He sketched out what the young analytics assistant did in draft prep and overall and revisited his overall stance on the subject.