NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When the Titans reported for voluntary offseason work on April 7, they weren’t handed playbooks in the traditional fashion NFL fans tend to picture.
The tablets they use aren’t loaded with the team’s full offense and defense from the start.
With a new staff, a new scheme and so many new players as the team tries to accelerate Cam Ward’s development, I’ve been curious about how players are fed the systems in the early stages and I’ve gotten a clearer picture of how it works.
When Phase Two of OTAs began on May 4, coaches began the first round of installation, and everything that entailed appeared on each player’s tablet.
Then, for each day of work, players get new sections on their tablet that build on what they’ve done up to that point. Right now, those are covered in meetings, individual player instruction and non-contact walkthroughs with the offense and defense separate.
One thing the defense is conscious of is teaching small to big. For example, players learn all the techniques that are a part of a coverage before the coverage is presented. In some places, it’s more top-down, with the coverage presented first and then broken down into its components.
In the way Robert Saleh has set things up, Brian Daboll and the offense set the pace while Saleh, Gus Bradley and the defense align things with the offense’s core concepts and new installs
By the time Phase Three and the offseason are over, things will have been installed twice. Training camp presents a third go-through, when situational focus may tighten to get players ready for specific game plans.
So this version of the Titans remains in the early stages of learning formations, shifts, motions, personnel and the plays that come off of them on both sides of the ball.
Phase Three begins later in May and allows for more. While there is still no contact, the offense and defense can match up in seven-on-seven, nine-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills.
Some upcoming OTA sessions will be open to the media and we’ll be able to share some details of what things look like, and then we’ll also see mandatory minicamp on June 16, 17 and 18.