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Mike Herndon: Ranking The Seven Most Important Things We Can Learn From Titans' Training Camp

Mike Herndon: Ranking The Seven Most Important Things We Can Learn From Titans' Training Camp

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The 2023 Tennessee Titans begin training camp today, starting preparations for what figures to be a fascinating season. Mike Vrabel’s sixth season as head coach opens with his squad hoping to bounce back from their first losing season since 2015.

The addition of DeAndre Hopkins and the retention of Jeffery Simmons, Derrick Henry, and Ryan Tannehill make it clear that Titans brass are not viewing this as a rebuilding season. However, they laid out some groundwork for a transition from the Henry-Tannehill era by drafting Will Levis and Tyjae Spears in April.

Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry
Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry

With Henry and Tannehill both set to be free agents at the end of this season, this could be a farewell tour for the core group that appeared in the 2019 AFC Championship game and won back-to-back AFC South titles in 2020 and 2021. Maybe a successful season could push that timeline back, but the team appears to be preparing as if this is the last hurrah.

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DeAndre Hopkins Will Move Around As Titans' Young WRs Develop

DeAndre HopkinsNASHVILLE, Tenn. – In 2019 when Tim Kelly took over as the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator, he diversified DeAndre Hopkins’ game.

The receiver had played 336 snaps out of the slot in 2014, but otherwise had predominantly worked outside. Under Kelly he played a large share inside – with 342 snaps inside as compared to 762 wide, per Pro Football Focus.

Fifty-six percent of his 104 catches and 52 percent of his 1,165 yards came out of the slot, per Sports Info Solutions.

The production out of those 31 percent of his snaps was impressive.

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Deep Dive: Two Disastrous Injury Years For The Titans And What's Next

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For two years, Titans have headed to the training room during practice, limped off the field during games, reported injuries on Mondays, popped up on injury reports on Wednesdays, been scratched by Mike Vrabel on Fridays, gotten deactived on Sundays and made trips to injured-reserve.

Over two seasons, a team with 53 roster spots at a time and 48 on a game day was forced to use a remarkable, unprecedented 177 players.

Dec 18, 2022; Inglewood, California, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) is tended to by medical staff during the first quarter of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports
Trainers and Mike Vrabel tent to Ryan Tannehill/ © Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

"Plug-and-Play" Vrabel and his staff coached up a lot of replacements who filled in better than could have been expected… until the second half of last season, when the injuries extended to quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the team finished the season with a seven-game losing streak and a 7-10 record that ended a three-season playoff streak.

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A Look At The Oilers' Throwback Uniforms The Titans Will Wear

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- We've known for two years the Titans would wear Oilers throwbacks this season. 

Sunday they announced it would be for two home games, and they also said they have inquired about the road game in Miami but met resistance. They clearly want fan pushback to help them get that game too.,

Here are some of the pictures they send out with some of their big names in what I think are the prettiest uniforms in retirement.

Kevin Byard
   Kevin Byard
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About Those Quotes... DeAndre Hopkins Informs Me I Was Scammed

DeAndre Hopkins
DeAndre Hopkins/ Courtesy Houston Texans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – So DeAndre Hopkins reached out to me about a Thursday tweet where I shared a few quotes I believed I got from him in a text exchange.

It turns out they were from someone with an old phone number of his who decided to play me by acting as if he was Hopkins when I reached out.

I foolishly fell for it, landing in a spot where I’ve got to write this post, apologize to you, thank him for being cool about it and walk away embarrassed and able to laugh at myself after a period of torture.

Who are we kidding? I'm still tortured.

I had hoped to be able to actually speak with him, of course, replacing some stand-in's words with his own but despite our DMs and texts after I did find his current number, I’ve not been able to pull that off. [Unlocked]

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The Paul Kuharsky Podcast: A Better Chance For The Titans This Time

The Paul Kuharsky PodcastNASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Randy Moss, Andre Johnson and Julio Jones were tremendous receivers who offered hope to the Titans that they would bring some late-career juice.

Instead, Tennessee got virtually nothing out of them.

That's part of why doubt comes with DeAndre Hopkins.

But there are legitimate reasons to think the 31-year-old could be different, and I get into that in this week's edition of the Podcast.

The new episode awaits you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube, which is below.

Other subjects I dive into:

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Mike Herndon: How DeAndre Hopkins Fits Within The Titans' New Offense

Mike Herndon: How DeAndre Hopkins Fits Within The Titans' New Offense

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans have finally upgraded their wide receiver room with the reported addition of three-time All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins, a move that clearly announces their intention to compete for the AFC South title again in 2023.

Hopkins reportedly agreed to a two-year contract worth $26 million with incentives that could take the total value as high as $32 million. The total guarantees and overall structure of the deal have yet to be reported as of the time this was posted so it’s hard to comment too much on the value here.

DeAndre Hopkins
DeAndre Hopkins/ Courtesy Houston Texans

But if Hopkins maxes out his incentives – which would require him to reach 85 catches, 1,050 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns – he’ll prove to be an absolute steal at $16 million per year, which would rank him as the 18th-highest-paid receiver in the league.

How likely is it that Hopkins reaches those incentives? And how does he fit in Tim Kelly’s offense? Those are the questions I want to dive into, starting with the fit.

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PK TV: The Titans With DeAndre Hopkins, Plus Your Questions

Paul KuharskyNASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The homestretch of quiet time was pleasantly interrupted by significant news: The Titans reached a deal with DeAndre Hopkins and added the sort of receiver for which their simply screamed.

There were so many elements about the addition for us to talk about, and I think we covered them all Tuesday evening on PK TV in one of our always excellent chats.

We hit on a wide range of other stuff as well, and if you missed it you should definitely hit play and check it out.

Just head to the private Facebook page or below.

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