Tennessee Titans don pads for first time as physicality intensifies

The Tennessee Titans welcomed the first day of practice in pads on Tuesday at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.

Titans receiver Calvin Ridley admitted he’s now near his peak football conditioning but still has a ways to go before suiting up in the Titans first preseason game next weekend.

“I’m in shape. I feel like I can run now and my breathing is good. Now I gotta get used to moving in the pads,” Ridley said. “I want to move guys (off the line) a little bit better. I thought I wasn’t moving them as good as I wanted to.”

Ridley admitted it would take him about “two more days” with the pads on to fully get his movements and timing under control like the former All-Pro would like.

While there were some players like Ridley, who used the practice to help adjust to the feeling of the pads, others were using the new feeling as fuel to drive up the level of competition during the practice.

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Jeffery Simmons, the Titans Pro Bowl defensive lineman, is known for his talk on the field, which helps elevate the level of play for the entire defense. But during Tuesday’s practice his highly talkative nature spilled over a bit too much during the practice period.

Simmons got into two consecutive shoving matches and ultimately had to be separated from his teammates before being pulled by the coaches for the next few team reps to cool off. According to an on-field referee, the shoving and physicals would’ve resulted in Simmons being ejected during an official game.

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While some would call the physicality a bad thing that could waste valuable practice time or possibly even result in team-forced injuries, other players are looking at the physicality through an entirely different lens.

Titans tight end Josh Whyle welcomes the physicality and even thinks it’s an inevitable part of the game.

“I take that as just competitive spirit,” said Whyle. “We talked about it after practice. We’ve got to protect the team; we don’t want to get our own guys hurt but there’s always an edge when you’re playing professional football.”

Lawrence Goss is The Tennessean’s sports intern with the Sports Journalism Institute. Contact Lawrence at lgoss@gannett.com. Follow Lawrence on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @iamlgoss