Quick Hits: Observations from Titans-Vikings

Welp - looks like Stoney finally got around to re-watching Saturday's game between the Titans and Vikings.

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Yeah, yeah – I know. I’m way the hell behind on getting any reaction to Saturday night’s game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings up. Forgive me – I took my foot off the gas for a couple of days this weekend to spend some time with my family and then decorate our house for fall with my wife. Take those opportunities to rest when you have a chance, folks! I swear they’ll do you some good.

Nonetheless, I did want to take some time this morning to offer up some of my general takeaways from the game and how I feel about where this team’s depth is at right now, because it seems like that’s the primary concern for this team at the moment. Starters are resting, most of whom haven’t played a single snap of preseason football yet. And, guys fighting for roster spots are getting the lion’s share of the work. What’s that tell you? They probably feel okay about what the starting 22 looks like right now, but they have to get these battles on down the depth chart sorted out.

  1. Mike Brown is listed as a safety, but I caught him tracking a Vikings running back and wondering if they could use him as more of an inside linebacker. Position-less football and what have you. Maybe that’s his way to the final 53…that he can do more than one thing. Also, I would’ve filed Otis Reese in this category too, but he’s actually already listed as a linebacker on the roster so fuck me.
  2. Eric Garror continues to have a pretty good preseason. In addition to him being all over the place like a gnat, I specifically love the way he’s swinging for the ball at the point of the tackle. He plays with a clear aggressive mindset.
  3. Chris Moore can do it all…run routes, get deep, block, play special teams. The Titans are lining him up all over the field, and I’m starting to feel a little excited about how he can perform in his role within this offense. We’re hyping up all of these rookie guys, but don’t sleep on the impact Moore could make.
  4. Chris Hubbard, woof. He was ran through on a couple of occasions, and I’m not saying he’s not their best option, but given how Justin Murray has played, I’d be giving Murray a chance to run with the 1s in this last game. He sets those feet in concrete, baby.
  5. Tyjae Spears is going to be good. Please respect my controversial opinion at this time.
  6. Jaelyn Duncan is officially in that ‘stash and develop’ category. The physical gifts are clearly there, but he needed a strong camp and preseason to make an immediate impact, and he’s just not consistently there yet. I’m not backtracking on my eval yet or anything. I just don’t think he’s going to be a factor in 2023. Let’s revisit in 2024.
  7. I’m intrigued by these young defensive backs, but man, I just don’t know how ready they’ll be if called upon this season. I looked at it the same way as I looked at the offensive line. The important thing is just to get your starters settled, and I believe they’ve done that. I also like the young DBs more than I like the offensive line depth. The Titans will have some difficult decisions to make between Garror, Armani Marsh, Steven Jones Jr., and Anthony Kendall. A couple of these guys are probably destined for the practice squad.
  8. We can’t be upset that the offensive line depth is bad because the Titans weren’t going to hit on a dozen new linemen all at once. The important thing is to get the starting unit in place and get them rep after rep after rep together to jell for the start of the season. If someone gets hurt, plug and play with what you have. But, no one should’ve expected that the back end of this unit was going to be a successful overhaul in the same offseason that they added three new starters.
  9. Alize Mack is fun. I initially had him pegged as a pass-catcher only, but damn man, go watch that block on the Spears touchdown run. This guy has some chops.
  10. Julius Chestnut runs hard. Any question of who RB3 is should have been answered by now. Derrick Henry > Spears > Chestnut.
  11. I don’t really have much to add to the conversation around Malik Willis. I feel like ball security is still a major issue with him despite making clear strides as a quarterback.

Finally, let’s give Teair Tart some more love for that lethal first step, baby! Dude’s been a force this preseason.

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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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