NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Arden Key and Jihad Ward questioned the comportment of some Titans youth following the team’s Sunday loss to the Texans.
The two veteran pass rushers are not captains and they are hardly team pillars. Key’s been on four teams and Ward seven. That no team has grabbed on to them for long stays certainly says something about them.
But given the Titans’ current circumstances and their contributions from the edge, a position where the team was expected to be horrible, they have earned a platform.
“When I came in, they were going to talk to you, and you better get it right,” Key said about the veteran-young player relationship. “Now you talk to them, and huff puff, all that carrying on. It’s one of those things where you’ve got to learn how to talk to them and I’m kind of getting better at it.”
I know young people hear old people talk like that – “kids today” – and may scoff. And while age is accelerated in an NFL locker room, Key is still only 29 while Ward is 31.
They may be talking about a variety of guys.
But look at the roster, and it’s not hard to suspect they are talking about important guys who rank high, who carry high expectations, who have not necessarily lived up to expectations so far.
The first guy on that list would be JC Latham (pictured), who committed three false starts and a hold against the Texans and was very ho-hum about it afterwards. First team offense and defense don’t go against each other often in practices during the season, but Key and Ward would certainly have a sense of Latham.
Earlier this year, Mike Silver reported that Jeffery Simmons halted a practice because he didn’t like what he saw from Latham. The same day, an upset Simmons was in the locker room during the media period, showing Latham stuff on a tablet with which he was clearly dissatisfied.
Latham went to high school at IMG Academy and college at Alabama, programs that win a lot where players don’t face a great deal of adversity.
He’s in a completely different spot now and his primary early advocate, Bill Callahan, is gone.
“This league is going to show everybody adversity, coaches, players, everybody,” Nick Holz said. “I don’t think anybody’s ever come into this league and not really faced any adversity and it’s part of being a young player. You go through the ups and the downs and you’ve got to learn to play through it.
“The good things is that (Latham) played through it. He got a little better as it went, calmed down. When you go through these things, now he’s got a banked (game) of going through it and ‘God I really had some mess ups that were very noticeable and I came out the other side.’ I give him credit for that. This league is going to humble everybody.”
Another guy who may not be following advice in the second-round pick from 2024 chose behind Latham, T’Vondre Sweat.
Sweat needed to come in a make a huge commitment to work with keep his weight down and to make gains to be more than a run stuffer in the middle on the Titans’ defensive line. He’s impactful in spurts, but to be a guy who proves worth ther 38th pick in his draft he needs to offer more pass rush. He’s currently ranked 62nd among interior defenders by Pro Football Focus.
He missed a bunch of camp with an abdominal injury and a tonsillectomy, and then missed five games with an ankle injury.
Ward said he views everyone in the league as a grown man and said he’s not going to treat young players like rookies.
“A lot of young guys feel like they’re trying to take charge,” Ward said. “…My mentality is, “All right, fine, If you don’t want to listen, you’re going to hit adversity. In NFL, you’re going to hit adversity, early, middle and late.
“Bottom line is, you’re going to hit it. What are you going to do about it? It’s either you listen to the veterans or you’re just going to be in that deep hole.”
Dennard Walker said through his lens, he doesn’t see what Key and Ward see.
The coordinator mentioned Kevin Winston soaking in help from veteran safeties and Marcus Harris getting help from older guys around him.
Wilson said Sweat is still growing and played extremely well against Houston, chasing down one screen in impressive fashion.
“He understands that he’s still growing, he understands that there is more in the tank, and he’s going to get there,” Wilson said. “You’ve got to believe in him like he believes in himself. We have a bunch of coaches that surrounded him to help with his maturation process.
“So I love where he’s at and I love where he’s heading.”
