NASHVILLE – Titans assistant General Manager Dave Ziegler spoke to reporters on Tuesday, two days after the NFL Draft.
A look at some of the highlights from the presser:
-Ziegler answered a lot of questions about the team's plans on the offensive line, just a few days after the team drafted guard Fernando Carmona Jr and center Pat Coogan.
Ziegler said the team has options on the offensive line, while acknowledging the team might not be done adding at the position. Earlier in free agency, the Titans signed center Austin Schlottmann and guard Cordell Volson, adding them to a group that includes second-year player Jackson Slater.
"There's a level of competition that's still going to be taking place there, and there is an element for us … to continue to look to improve it," Ziegler said. "Free agency is over and the draft is over, but there's still different areas of the team we are going to continue to add competition to, and I think offensive line will be one of those positions along with some other ones.
"We're going to give those guys an opportunity, and they'll have an opportunity this spring to prove themselves and earn the trust of the offensive staff and have an opportunity to secure a role. But we're also going to look to bring competition in and if we can improve a position, we're going to improve it."
Ziegler noted Coogan has some "position flex," capable of playing center and guard.
-The Titans drafted former Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. in the second round of the NFL Draft, and Ziegler said he'll have a chance to compete right out of the gate.
"A lot of that will be up to Anthony when he gets here," Ziegler said. "He's going to have to own it, as Coach Saleh likes to say. He's going to have to own being responsible and being accountable for learning the defense, putting the time in there, taking care of his body, doing what he needs to do in the weight room and doing what he needs on the practice field. Those are the controllables for him."
Ziegler said Hill has a violence to him, along with sideline-to-sideline speed, and some other elements from a skill standpoint that will give him a chance to compete.
"He'll have to earn it for sure," Ziegler said. "But I think he has the skill set elements to do that and he'll have to do his part with the controllables."
-Ziegler said the Titans took receiver Carnell Tate fourth overall, in part, because the team had a consensus from an organization standpoint on how he would fit with the team.
"At the end of the day with Carnell," Ziegler said, "we just had a very good, consensus vision on what he is going to do, where he is going to play, how he is going to fit in and what he is going to bring to this team.
"We feel we are really getting a complete three-down player. … He was a clear guy for us to take and we are really excited about it."
-Ziegler said running back Nick Singleton, taken in the sixth round out of Penn State, has great size and speed, so he's capable of providing some explosive gains.
"We felt like we are getting a really good player," Ziegler said, "and a player that has a chance to earn a role and contribute, not just in year one, but down the road for us, too."
