Before we talk about Day 2 of Tennessee Titans training camp, let's clean up with three quick quotes from Day 1:
"The trenches lead the team," said Jeffery Simmons.
"The team goes as we go," said John Franklin-Myers.
"Ahhh... (expletive) Jeff Simmons," a Titans offensive coach watching from the sideline as the All-Pro defensive tackle blows up a screen play.
Expectations on the Titans' defensive front are huge. Simmons is arguably the best interior defensive lineman in the league, and the Titans paid him like it. If Franklin-Myers is Simmons' sidekick, he's the NFL's second-highest-paid sidekick at that position coming off back-to-back seven-sack seasons and six straight years with 40 or more quarterback pressures. The supporting cast includes talented
top-60 draft picks (Keldric Faulk, Femi Oladejo), veterans of coach Robert Saleh's scheme (Jordan Elliott, Jacob Martin) and guys who fit both categories (Jermaine Johnson II, Solomon Thomas).
It's the strength of the team, full stop. And it's a peculiar strength at that. Maybe the best way to think about it is to think about cat toys.
You know those cat toys that are essentially just feathery strings dangling off of rods? If you lay the rod flat and slither it around the floor, your cat's going to chase the string. But not just chase. It's here where the phrase "cat-like reflexes" really does its work. It's less like the cat is moving with the string and more like the cat is moving with the rod. See toy, get toy. There's no doubt, no second-guessing, no delayed reaction. The first sign of movement is the only sign of movement.
Why bring this up? Because Titans defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton uses a device eerily similar to this sort of cat toy to simulate snap counts in individual drills. He gets down low and drags a rod that brings a string along with it, and that's the sign for players to get off and go upfield. See string, chase string. A drill concept so simple that Mittens, Whiskers and Fluffy could figure it out.
But this might be the core of why Saleh's defenses work. It's not about reading or reacting. It's all attack, all the time. Spend five minutes watching a Whitecotton-run drill and you'll hear a nonstop barrage of grunts, thuds, lessons, taunts and commands. Whitecotton has something to say about every rep, and his players do too.
Simmons, unsurprisingly, is the ringleader. On one rep on July 30, Simmons plowed through his blocking dummy so decisively that he bowled over Bill Walsh Coaching Fellow Malik Davis too. Then Simmons got up and taunted Davis and the dummy for about 15 seconds until he got to take another rep.
If the Titans accomplish anything in 2026, it's going to be because Simmons and his position mates are capable of doing things like that in a defense where they'll be encouraged to do things like that. Johnson, who was a Pro Bowler under Saleh with the New York Jets, says the two main philosophies are to keep things simple and to keep things stupid. Don't overthink. Don't overcomplicate. Get off the ball faster than your opponent. Go through them or go around them. Swarm. Pursue. Dominate.
It's a little early to talk about the "dominate" aspect there. The pads aren't even on, and the offensive line is working through some questions. But this combination of top-end talent, diversified depth and so-easy-a-house-cat-can-do-it approach looks every bit the part early on.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What's going to make Jeffery Simmons and the Titans' D-line great? It's already visible
