NASHVILLE – The Titans hit the field on Friday for their sixth day of organized team activities.
Today's OTA was open to reporters.
Here's a look at some observations from today's session:
-Several highlights have already emerged from Carnell Tate's first two open OTA practices, including two more acrobatic grabs on Friday. The team's first-round pick has been a highlight-reel machine. Tate snagged a Cam Ward pass with one hand in a team drill, and later he went up high to fight off defender Micah Robinson on the sideline for the football. It was enough to earn him the top spot in today's observations. But I'm not going to pretend Tate had a perfect practice – he dropped one pass, and let another catchable ball escape his grasp. Still, on a day when he snagged four passes in all, the good outweighed the bad, and he gave more reasons for fans to be optimistic about his potential.
-I kept writing the No.2 down on my notepad on Friday as well, with an exclamation point beside a few plays. Titans running back Tyjae Spears looks explosive. He caught four passes himself, and he turned some short passes into big gains. Spears also busted through holes and into bigger spaces with some nice runs, juking defenders along the way. It started with the very first play of practice. Let's just say Tyjae had a day.
-Quarterback Cam Ward was the guy who delivered the pass on both of Tate's acrobatic grabs. Ward made several nice throws during a rainy practice, including a beautiful pass downfield to receiver Bryce Oliver for a touchdown – I think this was Ward's best pass of the day. Ward also completed a bullet across the middle to tight end Gunnar Helm. But on this day, there were some missed opportunities as well. I once again tallied all of Ward's throws on Friday, including spikes and throwaways (hey, they count in games). I had Ward going 5-of-7 in 7-on-7 work, and 12-of-24 in team drills, which made him 17-of-31 for the day. In the two open OTAs, Ward is 28-of-48 passes in 7-on-7 and team drills combined.
-Defenders deserve some love in here, too, especially when they make plays.
-Defensive tackle Solomon Thomas intercepted Will Levis early, and took it the other way. It was a bad pass by Levis, but let's give Thomas credit for taking advantage of it. In a game, I think he would have made it to the end zone.
-Cornerback Keydrain Calligan intercepted Levis later in practice when he was trying to get the ball to receiver Lance McCutcheon.
-Mitchell Trubisky wasn't at practice, and once again that gave Levis and Hendon Hooker more reps. Levis went 5-of-6 in the 7-on-7 portion, and 10-of-17 with the two picks in the team drills, making him 15-of-23 for the day. Levis threw a beautiful deep ball to receiver Courtney Jackson that went for a big gainer, and he connected with tight end David Martin-Robinson for a nice ball downfield as well. But it wasn't his best day.
-Receiver Wan'Dale Robinson had a practice-high six catches on Friday.
-In addition to Tate and Spears, I had Xavier Restrepo with four grabs as well.
-I mentioned Oliver earlier – he had three catches, including the deep ball and a nice, sliding grab.
-Hendon Hooker was 9-of-13 on the day, including 6-of-6 in 7-on-7, and 3-of-7 in the team periods. Hooker showed nice speed on a designed run, and he threw a dart to Jackson as well.
-Safety Bishop Fitzgerald had a nice PBU.
-Veteran Calvin Ridley was back on the practice field, and he took part in individual drills.
-Rookie running back Nick Singleton was more involved, even taking part in some team drills.
-Chimere Dike was more involved as well, and had two catches.
-Ward couldn't guide the Titans into the end zone on a late drive that started with 1:12 on the clock, but he showed during that period he's not afraid to go to Tate – two of his first three completions on the drive were to the rookie.
-There were a number of drops in this wet practice, and some general sloppiness.
-Once again, these OTAs are voluntary, so I'm not keeping attendance. Some guys are recovering from injuries, and others have personal business to take care of. In addition to Trubisky, I didn't see Jeffery Simmons, John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson or Femi Oladejo, and I didn't see Alontae Taylor or Cor'Dale Flott in uniform early. But again, these are voluntary, and some have been in and out. These are just some of the guys who weren't on the field today, so they didn't make observations.
-The Titans will be back on the field for four more OTA practices, beginning on June 8. The team will wrap up the offseason program with a minicamp starting on June 16.
