‘Stay on the Xs and Os’ – Titans new coaching staff takes another critical hit for practice drills from private WR trainer
Carnell Tate’s first (open to media) Tennessee Titans practice video went viral over the weekend, which led to RouteGod criticizing the coaching staff’s drills. This is the second time this month a Titans drill has gone viral.
Here we are again with a Tennessee Titans practice drill getting criticized on social media by the football world for the second time this May in reaction to rookie wide receiver Carnell Tate having his first practice open to local media.
On May 1, Titans rookie minicamp had a special teams ‘obstacle course’ drill go viral when NFL social circles clowned it thinking it was for receivers.
Now we have video of Tate, the fourth overall pick in 2026’s NFL Draft, working his way through an actual WR drill sparking reaction from one of the biggest WR private coaches in the industry, James Everette Jr., known as Route God.
Route God criticizes Titans WR coach Greg Lewis’s drills on viral post
Let’s start with the drill itself. Tate, and all of the other Titans receivers present at OTA practice last Thursday, went through the early portion of practice called ‘individual period’ where each position group does a few drills with their respective position coach, typically before joining with another position group for the next period of practice.
As you see, Tate and free agent signing Wan’Dale Robinson work through each direction of the drill. Every WR did one rep cutting left, one cutting right.
Route God’s criticism is that the two aspects of the drill don’t make sense together.
“This right here don’t make no sense,” Everette Jr. said in an Instagram post. “We’re doing a hip drop drill, then we roll into a speed cut, for what? Either work the hip drop, work the down stop, work the snap down, and come out of a break. These is break points, not speed cuts. Speed cuts is a different thing.”
Everette Jr. starts off his critique by taking a shot at wide receiver coaches across the league with a message directed to wide receivers.
“They (NFL WR coaches) got them jobs, and they might know more Xs and Os than me, meaning the on the board stuff, the coverage stuff. But we’re talking about overall movement. When I tell y’all about these 20 minutes, these 25 minutes, maybe 30 minutes that you get in individual (period) with your receiver coach there… this is the times in y’all’s offseason why y’all come to people like us, people like me, people like Gold Feet, people like Receiver Factory, everybody else over the nation who’s doing good work. (Private coaches) translate the game movement wise and make it make sense. We know that you’re not going to get as much movement work as you need during the season.”
Greg Lewis, formerly with the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, and Philadelphia Eagles is in his first few months as the Titans WR coach, his 12th season as an NFL position coach. Lewis played eight seasons in the NFL after going undrafted in 2003. During his second NFL season Lewis caught a 30 yard TD in the Super Bowl for the Eagles in attempt to comeback against the New England Patriots.
I think this is a massive overreaction by the Route God, who saw one six second clip of one drill at a May OTA practice.
I’m not here to discredit Everette Jr. and the work, business that he’s created for himself. I’ve heard good things. He’s worked with a long list of NFL and college receivers. I’m also not trying to carry water for the NFL team that I cover. Hell, I’ve never spoken to Lewis. He’s a new coach to all of Titans media.
Here are the facts of why this is a blatant, disrespectful overreaction: Route God says 20 to 30 minutes of individual period. On this day, I was at practice taking videos for content. The drill rep from Tate has a time of 11:50am CT on my phone. It was the first drill the WRs did in their individual period. Another drill with the juggs machine followed. The Titans QBs were throwing routes on air at 11:55am CT based on my phone having a video of Tate catching a pass.
The WRs got six minutes at most to do two drills before joining the QBs. Of course Lewis will try to maximize that time by combining a hip drop and a speed cut. That’s all he had time for!
What Route God said to wrap up his rant was actually the most interesting thing to me of all. It’s worth paying more attention to who’s right and who’s wrong.
Route God calls out disconnect between private coaches and NFL coaches
“The disconnect is we just don’t get our respect,” Everette said. “And we respect them up there, and I stopped trying to want a job up there. I’m me, and I know what I do for the game to help people get better. This is the thing, believe it or not, they watch us, they probably watch two (private coaches), and put two drills together and thought they were doing their own thing. No, you f****** s*** up. Stay on the Xs and Os. I love y’all, though.”
Private coaches vs NFL coaches. Interesting conversation. Why is there a disconnect? I can’t speak on specifics, but I can hypothesize.
NFL coaches “up there” as Everette puts it, have gotten those jobs in roughly two ways: they played in the league or climbed the league coaching ladder.
My overall generalization is that most private coaches did neither of those. Sure, outliers can exist. Private coaches, in this generation more than prior, have ability to gain business on being exciting on social media. The term “TikTok route” has been created to describe pass catching routes run on social media clips that have a lot of cool cuts and jukes, but have zero chance of working in real football, because the QB is already sacked.
What do players get private coaches for? I should ask, what should players get private coaches for?
To be better and more skilled for what their jobs are going to be in the system they play in, under their coaches. And I think private coaches can be massive assets for players at any level, any sport. I was fortunate enough to have them in two sports growing up. At the same time, the wrong private coaches can be an issue. I’m not saying Route God is one or the other. I don’t know.
If there is a disconnect between NFL coaches and private coaches it feels like there’s only one side that can be the problem.
Again, I’m hypothesizing, but if you’re a private coach who’s disconnected with NFL coaches… then maybe “you f****** s*** up.”
But that’s just me hypothesizing.