NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This week's edition of The Paul Kuharsky Podcast came fresh off the Titans' second open OTA practice.
Before it, we had short conversations with all the new position coaches except for receiver coach Greg Lewis, who was off for personal reasons.
So the pod weaves in some snippets of most of those guys and discusses some of what they had to say, from nickel coach Dalton Hillard on Marcus Harris, to Carmen Bricillo on smart and tough offensive linemen to Dave Borgonzi on the No. 1 job for linebackers.
You can watch on X or YouTube, which is embedded below, or listen on Apple, Spotify or iHeart.
We're sponsored by Edley's BBQ, such a great place to eat, you simply must visit one of their eight locations in and around Nashville soon.
You can find a transcript of some key moments below the embed.
Carnell Tate
2:26
Tate continues to look smooth and strong, making two more terrific catches. But it was a much more balanced day than the dominant performance we saw at the first open OTA.
Transcript: Let's start with (Carnell Tate). A lot of people are going to rave. He made two really good catches today. I think
they were both in two minute. One bolting up the right sideline. A very good throw from Cam Ward. Micah Robinson on him in good coverage and he just stuck his right hand out in front of him. This is all over social media. Titans film crew did a nice job. Uh ball stuck in his right hand, pulled it in. Really good catch. And another one up the right sideline in two minute where he went up, took it away. Pretty good coverage by Robinson again. Very handsy
physical catch, the kind that's been advertised that he can make. Took it away, pulled it down and got out of bounds, which they needed to stop the clock in two-minute drill.
But earlier in the day, Carnell Tate had drop, an outright drop, another drop of a ball that was a little bit behind him from Cam Ward, but we would expect a receiver of his caliber to find a way to pull it down. and in drills. I put together a little string of a bunch of his plays in drills. He had a drop there, too. So, he was not as sharp as he was with the three-touchdown, six-catch day the practice we saw before.
Will Levis
4:23
With Mitch Trubisky absent again, the Titans' second quarterback fell back into some bad habits, though he also made what was probably the throw of the day with a pretty 25-yard toss that fell over Bryce Oliver's shoulder against tight coverage from Kendell Brooks.
Transcript: Levis threw two bad interceptions. The first one reminiscent of bad Levis, right? The pocket quickly there was somebody kind of in his face kind of rolled back and to his left a little bit open and then looked to loop the ball to a running back and against defensive lineman Solomon Thomas was quickly in his face and picked it off and rumbled for what would have been a touchdown. Very disappointing play. He had another interception later on a deeper ball that he threw into difficult coverage that he should not have thrown. So not a good day for him. Mitch Trubisky we still haven't seen. He was not here again.
Just One Thing
9:16
Robert Saleh's "Just One Thing" philosophy asks Titans coaches to identify one primary area of improvement for each player rather than overwhelm them with a long list of corrections.
Transcript: The Just One Thing theme. So I'll be posting that story afterwards. Basically, Salah asked all the coaches come up with one thing for their guys. My sense is you know they think that a guy could be overwhelmed if you give them a list of a bunch of things to work on in the off-season and then that position coach particularly the position coaches that have a lot of guys you know if they're trying to track five or half a dozen things for a half a dozen guys it becomes too much. And so they're, you know, obviously you're working on multiple things, but you want to work on one primary thing. And so, one example I heard was Cody Barton working on his hand work and shedding blocks.
Adding a Veteran DE
16:51
Will the Titans add a veteran DE? I think the Titans' addition of big numbers along the defensive line makes it highly unlikely we see Von Miller or anyone else tagged on, certainly before camp.
Transcript: What are my thoughts on adding a veteran DE and that veteran group that's out there? Von Miller intriguing at all? Listen, I would only think about adding one of those guys if you really don't feel like you're getting um anything close out of what you've added, but they brought in like eight guys. You have to give him them a chance to play. And you know, you've got Keldric Faulk, Jacob Martin. You would hope that'd be good enough to hold down one side. Jermaine Johnson and Femi Oladejo. That should be a good enough fourpack.
Now, there's not enough edge burning and not enough bendiness for me there, but um and you know, then you have John Franklin Myers who can go outside …But I mean there's a lot of guys to sort through and I don't expect them to bring in outsiders at this point at positions where they have a lot of bodies until they figure out that they're somehow deficient, you know. So, positions like the defensive line, like running back, like offensive line, I don't see um additions coming. Now, if you can get yourself a cornerback who, you know, is willing to say he's got to fight for a role and he's not going to start, then okay, you know, a second Nickelback to to fight with Marcus Harris and maybe, you know, come in behind Marcus Harris. Sure. A guy to compete for the third outside cornerback spot with Joshua Williams. Absolutely.
Austin Schlottmann
19:31
All offseason indications are that Schlottmann will be the Titans' starting center in 2026.
Transcript: The Titans had four guys talk to us last week and they had five guys talk to us this week. So nine guys have spoken to us, nine players. Now, (Austin) Schlottman is being given to us partly because of the intrigue, right? But which we appreciate. He's started at center throughout these two days. We can safely say that in part, because Peter Skoronski gave it up also when he talked to us last week.
Are they rolling out a guy who's really in a competition, an all-out competition as one of their first nine guys? I mean, I think something would have to go really poorly for him not to be the starting center at this stage for them to roll out a veteran guy who's allegedly in a competition. And the people behind him, without being explicit, rookies are not moving, are not moving on the depth chart the way you might imagine they would be. And so, you know, I think right guard where you would expect (Cordell) Volson and (Jackson) Slater and maybe other people to be in the mix and competing is in fact like that. I don't I don't sense that center is like that.
And Wilson and Slater aren't being brought to a podium anytime soon. Austin Schlottmann was at the podium the second day players were available. So, thank you for helping us with the storyline by putting him there, but nobody else that's in a competitive situation is there. Cody Barton was a captain last year and we got Austin Schlottmann before we got Cody Barton, who's in a bit of a competitive situation right with Anthony Hill. I don't think I'm reading too much into that.
Defensive line Get-Off
29:25
Aaron Whitecotton is emphasizing faster get-off for Titans defensive linemen, including a unique tennis-ball drill designed to sharpen reaction time.
Transcript: The defensive line I watched in the individual period work a lot on get-off a drill I'd never seen before. Aaron Whitecotton stood between and behind two linemen who had a hand down on a line, and he told them to go when they saw the tennis ball hit the line. So, he's throwing a tennis ball from behind them and bouncing it on the white line. They were seeing it come with their peripheral vision from behind them, right? So they would see it come here and watch it hit the white line that they had their hand on. And as it hit the line, they took off. That was their get-off cue.
And some of them who were very adept at it would then go catch the tennis ball with one hand. I thought that was good. Yeah, I thought that was interesting.