NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When the Titans drafted Kalel Mullings in the sixth round, he gave them the sort of bigger back who could change things up from the smaller, shiftier Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears.
Whether that would leave room for Julius Chestnut or another back was to be determined.
Now, with Tyjae Spears dealing with an ankle injury suffered in the preseason opener, there may have to be room for as many as five on the initial roster. The team concluded last season with four.
But to have a chance to be on a game-day roster, Mullings is going to have to make gains in the pass-blocking department. In Tampa, he blew a blitz pick-up and got Brandon Allen buried and in Atlanta, he grabbed a pass rusher outside his frame and drew a holding call.
“Both those pass pros, I saw it, my eyes were there, in the right spot,” Mullings said. “It was just little things you could get away with in college you obviously can’t get away with that anymore. The biggest thing is the importance of technique. Tampa, I didn’t place my hands in the right place. Atlanta, I didn’t place my hands in the right place. So I am just continuing to work on that.”
Mullings is a converted linebacker, and in Tampa, he flew by his rusher, looking a lot like Cedric Gray looked on his sack against the Falcons, zipping through the middle.
He and Chestnut did extra work during practice with running back coach Randy Jordan, knocking their shoulder pads into the side of a two-man blocking sled and setting up alignment.
Mullings has run reasonably well, as has Jordan Mims, who’s played later against lesser competition.
Through two games, they have the exact same stat line: Fifteen carries 58 yards for a 3.9-yard average with a long of 12.
But Mims went 12-50 in Atlanta for the best individual game so far and looked smooth, while Jemer Jefferson scored a 16-yard TD.
“(Mullings) is a young back learning how to protect in the NFL and I think all these guys— the young backs have always had a learning curve,” Brian Callahan said. “The one in the game, he just had his hands wrong. His hands are outside and they're going to call that every time. Had a bad miss in the Tampa game. So that's an area of improvement for him, certainly.
Never forget when Kalel Mullings entered the Heisman conversation for like a week after an insane game vs USC 😤
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) June 5, 2025
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“We need to see more effectiveness in the pass protection part. We have guys that can protect. I think Julius has done a nice job and Tony's (Pollard) an excellent protector, too. So (Mullings) has got to keep coming. That's an area of struggle for a lot of young backs. And he's had his moments that we need to improve on.”
Mims spent two seasons with the Saints, playing in 13 games and turning 20 carries into 70 yards.
He feels good about where he stands as a pass protector.
“I had a lot of opportunities last year learning from guys like Alvin Williams and Alvin Kamara,” he said. “I feel pretty solid about it. I’m comfortable pass protecting. It doesn’t matter whether it’s backer, nickel, safety, whatever the case may be, but you can always get better at it.”
Pollard didn’t play in Atlanta, and it won’t be a surprise if he sits against Minnesota on Friday night, which would give Chestnut, Mullings, Mims, and Jefferson more chances to help the team sort things out.
Mullings, in particular, really needs to have a clean game protecting the quarterback.
“I’ve definitely got to work on my hand placement and I was able to get a couple of good reps today,” Mullings said. “To me, it’s just continuing the process of fine-tuning the details and working on it every day so I can get to a place where I can consistently be one of the best there is.”