Buck Reising, Tennessee Titans reporter and host of Tackling Music City, provides four items of note from the team’s second day of 2018 Training Camp Thursday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There has never been a busier day at St. Thomas Sports Park in my time covering the Tennessee Titans than their second day of training camp. Here are the highlights:
- Boss Hogg
- Early Friday morning, two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan signed a five-year extension worth $80 million. As Lewan is want to do, his post-practice press conference featured a grandiose entrance no Tennessee fan will ever forget.
- “I don’t know if I could have ever painted it like this,” Lewan said of his extension and life in Nashville with the Titans. “This city has been awesome. I think with some of my antics and some of the stuff the O-line does, I don’t think we’d be welcome very much on other teams. I think Nashville has taken us in just fine.”
- In addition to Lewan’s deal, the Titans also extended tight end Delanie Walker’s contract for two more years at $17 million with $8 million in signing bonus. A busy day for general manager Jon Robinson.
- Oh no, Orakpo
- On a less positive note, outside linebacker Brian Orakpo left Day 2 of practice with what looked to be an upper-body injury.
- Orakpo was rolled up with tight end Luke Stocker on a running play during one of the team’s 11-on-11 drills. After the training staff looked him over, the 10-year NFL vet jogged off the practice fields towards the training room with a look of frustration on his face.
- No information has been disclosed about the injury, but Orakpo dealt with torn pectoral injuries three separate times in Washington before coming to the Titans as a free agent in 2015. A fourth injury of the same kind would be devastating.
- Recovery Speed
- By drafting rookie linebacker Rashaan Evans in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, second-year pro Jayon Brown’s playing time may see a decrease, if all goes according to plan.
- The fifth-round pick out of UCLA is making sure that he does everything to stay relevant when it comes to the Titans depth chart through two days of training camp, though. On Friday, Brown showed great recovery speed to force Derrick Henry out of bounds after the running back caught a check-down pass from quarterback Marcus Mariota for little to no gain on a play in seven-on-seven. Later, Brown snagged a goal-line interception of Mariota during seven-on-seven drills in a display of his best known commodity: coverage skills.
- Wide Receiver Big Play Day
- Tennessee’s offense has looked like a work-in-progress through the spring offseason and the first day at training camp. While the speed-bumps for that unit have not been unexpected, the young wide-receiving corps decided to exact their revenge on the much-heralded Titans secondary during Day 2.
- Corey Davis showed out with exceptional focus to make a play on a ball tipped up by corner Adoree’ Jackson. Jackson got a hand on the pass thrown by Mariota and, after bobbling it momentarily, Davis pulled the pass in and took it for a 65-yard seven-on-seven score.
- Draft classmate Taywan Taylor also made an eye-candy catch, snagging a one-handed over free-agent acquisition Malcolm Butler for another score.
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