FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – What is this team?
There is no sign of an identity, of consistency, of across-the-board growth for the Titans.
The Falcons are more talented and showed it through two days of joint practices here. The Titans improved in Day 2, but it would have been hard not to beat what they did on Tuesday.
Sure, the long view is it’s early, they are developmental, things are all about Cam Ward and that’s going to be up and down and not fast. Maybe one day, there will be a sudden spurt. Or perhaps, watching the 2025 Tennessee Titans amounts to watching a football glacier.
Let’s list the things to really like about them.
1) The Ward-to-Calvin Ridley connection looks legitimate and can do some damage.
2) The offensive line looks better with the addition of Dan Moore (an upgrade after three bad years at the spot), the position switch and weight loss for JC Latham, the acquisition of Kevin Zeitler and the continued maturation of Peter Skoronski, who’s probably the best of the bunch.
3) They’ve upgraded an inside linebacker with Cody Barton, who looks far more instinctive than Kenneth Murray.
4) The rookie class seems to be full of guys who will be players.
That’s not a great deal, and it’s not a lot to win games with. Most weeks, the Titans will see more talent than they have on the other side, so winning will be about outfoxing the other team, or really playing well to hold things close and getting the right plays at the right time. There isn’t a lot of evidence to suggest they will be able to do that with any regularity.
So far, this team has no presence, no feel to it.
Amani Hooker repeated the basics. He said the team is “tough, smart, physical and has guys who just love ball.”
Peter Skoronski said things need more time when it comes to formulating an identity.
“I think we’re still working through that and we’re still finding it,” he said. “I think these practices have helped. It’s definitely been a lot of soul-searching in terms of what we can do and what we can’t do. And we’re still going to grow into that. I’m not sure right now I can define one particular identity. We’re working through that.
“Especially with a young quarterback and a lot of new faces, it’s not just going to all click right away.”
Femi Oladejo in drills. #Titans pic.twitter.com/jrnWZVGtuJ
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) August 13, 2025
Understandable. When you're around it daily, you have to slow yourself down. Still, big picture from all I've seen, I think it's reasonable to want more at this stage.
Here's an example of the Titans failing to rise to an occasion.
Jeffery Simmons said whatever issues the Titans had with the Falcons' run game in the first practice were because they were unfamiliar with the plays. So, is this a team that cannot play in the moment and react well? Say hey, we don't know these plays, let's read, react and shut them down anyway.
Simmons' attitude was less of a response and more of an excuse.
I don’t think the Titans will know all of the Broncos’ plays on opening day in Denver.
There were three small-scale fights on Wednesday, two on the Titans’ defensive field and one involving the punt return team. They talked about them bringing energy, but I don’t know that they came with a big carryover. And somehow, there is a disconnect for this team between fighting and feistiness. Where is the feistiness?
The Titans seem to be waiting for something, but I’m not sure what.
If it’s Ward’s arrival, well, odds are there is no verdict coming this year. The young QBs who have really taken off as rookies can cover up things when they don’t recognize coverages and don’t know what to do by taking off and making a play anyway, and Ward isn’t the kind of runner Jayden Daniels or Lamar Jackson are.
Ward’s growth will ebb and flow.
Daily reports of how he’s doing through camp are what we can offer, but up close, it’s so incremental. In-season we will talk for a week about Sunday’s good or bad performance and then repeat.
Maybe some weeks will feel satisfying just on Ward’s performance alone.
Last year’s expectations were foolish, but they provided hope, emotion. The undercurrent around the team now is keeping expectations in check, even as they know requesting patience is not at all glamorous. The only guy really touting the team is Ward, who says he’s got a top 5 receiving corps and a potential top 10 offense. He’s pumping his guys up, which is fine. Even the most optimistic Titans fan should be aware he’s not aware of how his team’s talent actually stacks up, of where the Titans are coming from.
With the real expectations, there is hope only of small gains and progress over four months. Will you be excited when the second-round pick’s pass rush hand placement improves from one week to the next?
No matter how you want to force Xavier Restrepo into the role, there is no underdog hero story on this team.
These Titans are closer, Brian Callahan made that an offseason theme, and this nine-night trip they are on is meant to make them uncomfortable together and provide something for them to draw on later.
Maybe that’s fruitful in some way, but when you’re not as good as the guy across from you, your bond with the guy next to you isn’t the most important thing.
What can jolt them in the 19 days and six padded practices and two preseason games before the season starts?
An electric return by L’Jarius Sneed? A turn to a deeper passing game, which I think tends to revert to short, quick stuff when things get tough? A pass rusher catching fire?
I don’t know. Do you?
They don’t think anything is wrong or off. They acknowledge the roster deficiencies and are plowing forward with what they have assembled.
The hope would be it's all greater than the sum of its parts.
As of today, I can tell you it is not.