The fifth-round rookie has climbed past two veterans while measuring himself against Jeffery Simmons and a standard he knows he hasn't reached.
By PAUL KUHARSKY
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When you’re a fifth-rounder leading a competition to start at right guard, drawing Jeffery Simmons on most plays, the best practice assessment you can hope for is probably OK.
How did Fernando Carmona rate his Monday practice?
“Not good,” he said. “We’ve got to work on some stuff. But you know, it's a day-by-day process and that's the way I'm taking it being a rookie. It's not going to be a finished product Day One. This is going to be years in the making.”
Carmona has moved ahead of Cordell Volson and second-year man Jackson Slater in the Titans’ one real camp competition, and Robert Saleh said he’ll “probably have first dibs” in Tennessee’s second preseason game, Sunday night against the Seahawks at Nissan Stadium.
Mike Borgonzi said the team had the Arkansas lineman rated a seven on its one-to-nine alpha scale, and former Titans scout Blake Beddingfield said while it’s early, he got a positive feel for Carmona from his play against the 49ers.
“Solid in both run and pass,” he said. “Played calm, probably due to his experience in college.”
Volson was poor, playing in relief of Carmona, which certainly could be a factor in the rookie’s stock.
The Titans had so much success running Derrick Henry behind Taylor Lewan and Rodger Saffold during some of their best years of the Mike Vrabel era that hats that said “Run Left” were popular.
In San Francisco, the Titans did well with Run Right.
