Tennessee Titans mandatory minicamp week has finally arrived, and so will the rest of this rebuilt roster under head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Mike Borgonzi.

Quarterback Cam Ward will always be the headliner going in and out of every Titans discussion, as it comes with the territory of being the number one overall draft pick from a year ago.

We can (hopefully) put to bed the nonsensical week of social drama surrounding Ward’s OTA practices between fans and media.

Austin Stanley and Easton Freeze collaborate on the biggest questions we have going into the three days of practice, two of which (Tuesday June 16, Wednesday June 17) are open to the media.

Can Cam Ward bounce back? Will he?

This feels like an insane thing to say in June. But unfortunately, this is how the highly drafted young quarterback fan playbook works. And because Cam Ward struggling last week at OTA‘s became such a big narrative discussion, he could really use a couple of good days at mandatory minicamp this week. If he caps off the early summer portion of practice on a positive note, it will lend to a lot less strife amongst fans and media in the weeks between now and training camp in late July.

Again, this feels ridiculous, but it’s true: this Titans coaching staff surely knows what’s up. I know the Titans PR team knows what’s up. And surely the front office and GM Mike Borgonzi know what’s up. The thing about practice this time of year is that you can tailor it to be intentionally easy or difficult for different units on the field. It’s not uncommon that a “bad day for Cam Ward“ is due in a large part to the fact that they’re working difficult things. Sometimes it’s brand new concepts, sometimes it’s a blitz period for the defense, sometimes it’s third and long, and sometimes it’s other unique situational football that is lower percentage for the offense. The inverse can be true too, and this Titans coaching staff would be wise to schedule us some red meat offensive success this week.

Folks such as myself are going to be there on-site to give you our honest opinion of what we see. And while I selfishly hope that Ward looks better, I’ll tell you if he doesn’t. Will it be the end of the world if he doesn’t? No. Will it be a total nothing-burger that we should hand wave away? Also no. It will be something we have to monitor and keep in the back of our minds until late July when we pick this back up. For everybody’s sake, I hope that this week is a better one for the starting quarterback.

Defensive personnel finally arrives

These two days of open practice should be our first glimpse at something closely resembling the Titans’ actual starting defense. Superstar Jeffery Simmons has not been on the field yet at all, and neither has his counterpart John Franklin-Myers. We’ve seen practically none of Cor’Dale Flott or Alontae Taylor at starting cornerback. And other important pieces like Jermaine Johnson have practiced in pretty limited capacity.

This is the week where practice goes from voluntary to mandatory. So those guys will be back out there, and we’ll get to see the Titans offense operate against the first team. What will these returning defenders look like? Will they seem rusty? Will it change the composition of how practice feels? Will key offensive players like Cam Ward struggle that much more? We’ll have to see, but it’s something I’ll be watching.

Will we get any offensive line clues?

One of the tricky things about practices open to the media is that we are explicitly forbidden from telling you where players are practicing in the rotation. With very few exceptions, I cannot tell you if offensive lineman Jackson Slater is getting first, second, or third string reps on any given day. You all as fans are left to deduce who is likely playing where based on the more general notes we have coming out of practice.

But the good news is that you all are smart! And you’re pretty good at deciphering the clues that we drop. So on a personal level, I’m excited to keep track of the interior offensive line and who is playing where. I’ve got my eyes on Austin Schlottman, Jackson Slater, Cordell Volson, Fernando Carmona, and Pat Coogan. And I shouldn’t have to tell you that the ones we come away from this week talking about the most are probably the ones that you should pay most attention to going into training camp. This offensive line is one of the biggest question marks heading into this fall, and we need to see some competition start to take shape pretty soon. That ultimately won’t be decided until we put the pads on in a couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean that rotational patterns right now are meaningless.

Carnell Tate’s next challenge?

The Titans rookie fourth overall pick wide receiver has been on a heater that is reaching historic levels for the months of May and June. No other top rookie WR has seen the media and fan hype like Tate has received going back to the 2021 class.

Tate’s highlight catches from just about every practice have been without the Titans’ two highly paid free agent corners (Taylor and Flott) on the field. Reserve corner Micah Robinson has been competitive with Tate but consistently wound up on the wrong end of a future poster hanging on a young Titans fan’s bedroom wall.

Who are the ‘my guy’ fan favorites that will emerge for training camp?

There’s always one, or two, sometimes more. Fans are bound to fall in love with a back end of the roster player who is the ultimate long shot to make the team. Typically these are skill players who have a chance to shine with the ball in their hand. This Titans 90 man roster has a few really strong options.

• WR Xavier Restrepo: he’s not a rookie, but the Titans practice squad player and one of Ward’s best friends looks improved for year two, and like a better fit in Daboll’s offensive system
• WR Tyren Montgomery: he has the best ‘how I got here’ story that I’ve heard around here in some time. It’s a huge jump from DIII John Carroll to an NFL training camp, but he has the athleticism to hang right now. Can he keep that going when the pads are added and then add the WR polish needed to really hang?
• TE Jaren Kanak: the rookie seventh round pick is going to catch a lot of balls down the field from Will Levis against third team defenders.