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.

Ryan Tannehill

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.'

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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.

Malik Willis

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]

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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.HenrySmokeIf 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.

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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.Titans Chip

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?

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AnalyticsNASHVILLE, 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.

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Titans logoNASHVILLE, Tenn. – Basing schedule difficulty on the opponents' records from the previous year is a bad method.

Using that approach, the Tennessee Titans are 24th, with opponents at .471 from 2021. But last year’s record often is not a good indicator of a team’s caliber this year.

Warren Sharp uses a better method, I believe, utilizing Las Vegas’ projected win totals for opponents in the upcoming total.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Malik Willis is likely to have a long, slow learning after making the jump from FBS college ball at Liberty to the Titans in the NFL.

Friday, he practiced for the first time surrounded only by rookies and four guys with a bit of experience and were eligible to attend. He spun the ball well, in a pretty and tight spiral though his delivery could certainly be sped up.
Malik Willis

© George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

And he forged through a couple of difficult stretches coming out of it all upbeat with a solid understanding of the process ahead.

“I think it went good,” he said. “I got another opportunity to come out here and get on the field again. I mean, it felt good. Just like the first day of school. Got that, you know, little stomach feeling. It felt really good.”

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Hello there.

Paul KuharskyYou're a die-hard who's been waiting for this, to know how to plan out your fall. And it's not the standard Sunday noon deal the way it so often is.

That's only going into your calendar eight times over 18 weeks. On the road, with one game up in the air, the Titans only have three noon kickoffs.

I hope you've read my column with thoughts on things. It was fun to hear from you with what you think about how things played out from NFL headquarters. And of course you pulled us to questions about the state of the receiving corps, the long-term outlook at left tackle and more.

Please head below or shift over to the private Facebook page to rewatch.

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