NASHVILLE – JC Latham knows built-in excuses have been out there for him.
In 2024, he was a rookie.
In 2025, Latham was asked to switch from left tackle to right tackle.
Heading into 2026, he's coming off a year when he was slowed by a hip injury, which limited his ability to work on his lower body. Not to mention the pectoral injury that slowed him this offseason.
Latham, however, doesn't want to hear any of it.
"There's no sympathy in it, no excuses," Latham said after Saturday's training camp practice. "There's none of that going on. I am here playing right tackle now. Our No.1 rule is protecting the team. So, are you helping the team or hurting the team? I am showing up every day doing my best for the team so we can have success."
Now in his third season, the Titans are counting on consistency from Latham at right tackle.
Coach Robert Saleh said he's been impressed by Latham's attitude and work ethic this offseason, even as he battled through a pec strain earlier this offseason.
"JC's worked his tail off, man," Saleh said. "I know he had a little setback at the end of OTAs. With the (pectoral), but give him credit, he stayed here the entire summer he's worked relentlessly to get back in, to get that thing back to the strength he's needed, he's at a really, really good weight to allow him to have footspeed. The man doesn't have a weight problem, he holds it really well, he's got a lot of lean muscle mass, he looks really, really good. But he understands that he doesn't need to be as big. The bigger you are, the less foot speed, and he's attacked the heck out of it and I'm really excited for it, for the season he's going to have."
A first-round pick of the Titans in the 2024 NFL Draft, Latham started all 17 games as a rookie before being limited to 13 starts in 2025, after he made the switch from left tackle to right tackle.
Latham admitted the injury last year was tough because he wasn't allowed to do lower body workouts during the season, so he only did upper body workouts. The training staff wanted to give the hip injury time to heal, so it made it hard for Latham to get conditioning, or footwork to help his technique.
Latham said he feels good physically heading into year three, and he feels like he's in a better place mentally as well. In the past, he admittedly struggled to put past bad plays/penalties behind him.
"You hear the phrase a lot: The game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical," Latham said. "I think it holds a lot of truth to it, being able to process the game at a high level, see the whole picture and execute it."
Latham plans on executing at a high level in 2026.
He knows the team is counting on him.
"This is year 3 for me," Latham said. "The thing that we say in the o-line room is there's no sympathy given. (This year) is extremely important."
